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The House of Disappearance
‘Compelling… much mystery’ New York TimesThe much-revered crime writer J. Jefferson Farjeon’s country house murder mystery back in print for the first time in almost a century‘J. Jefferson Farjeon is quite unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures’ Dorothy L. Sayers
An inspector and four uniformed constables arrive one morning, unannounced, at Greystones, the imposing and remote country house of the Elderly family. Inspector Biggs brushes past the immaculate and outraged butler and demands to see John Elderly, head of the family. Behind the dark oak library door is the scene of a struggle; overturned and disarranged furniture, the telephone receiver is off the hook…
Where has the master gone? Who has cut the telephone wires and disabled the motor-cars? What is the inspector holding back from the assembled guests and country house staff?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon was born into a literary family in Hampstead, north west London in 1883. He was a prolific crime writer, writing over sixty novels over the course of thirty years, many published by William Collins & Sons and featuring in their hugely popular Collins Crime Club. Dorothy L. Sayers said of his work, ‘every word is entertaining.’ His best-known novel (and play) Number 17, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock. He died in 1955.
PRAISE FOR J. JEFFERSON FARJEON
Uninvited Guests
‘An ingenious country house mystery… absorbing’
New York Times
The Master Criminal
‘A Sherlock Holmes novel of the first degree’
New York Post
The ‘Z’ Murders
‘A classic serial killer mystery’
Martin Edwards
Mystery in White
‘The perfect book for a winter's evening, a cosy chair and an open fire’
The Daily Mail
Thirteen Guests
‘A country house mystery story firmly in the tradition of the “Golden Age of murder”… lively entertainment as well as a teasingly constructed mystery’
Martin Edwards
No 17
‘Works its way up by delicate graduations of horror to a climatic explosion of gun-play, diamonds and false identities, leaving the criminals safe in the hands of Scotland Yard’
New York Times
An inspector and four uniformed constables arrive one morning, unannounced, at Greystones, the imposing and remote country house of the Elderly family. Inspector Biggs brushes past the immaculate and outraged butler and demands to see John Elderly, head of the family. Behind the dark oak library door is the scene of a struggle; overturned and disarranged furniture, the telephone receiver is off the hook…
Where has the master gone? Who has cut the telephone wires and disabled the motor-cars? What is the inspector holding back from the assembled guests and country house staff?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon was born into a literary family in Hampstead, north west London in 1883. He was a prolific crime writer, writing over sixty novels over the course of thirty years, many published by William Collins & Sons and featuring in their hugely popular Collins Crime Club. Dorothy L. Sayers said of his work, ‘every word is entertaining.’ His best-known novel (and play) Number 17, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock. He died in 1955.
PRAISE FOR J. JEFFERSON FARJEON
Uninvited Guests
‘An ingenious country house mystery… absorbing’
New York Times
The Master Criminal
‘A Sherlock Holmes novel of the first degree’
New York Post
The ‘Z’ Murders
‘A classic serial killer mystery’
Martin Edwards
Mystery in White
‘The perfect book for a winter's evening, a cosy chair and an open fire’
The Daily Mail
Thirteen Guests
‘A country house mystery story firmly in the tradition of the “Golden Age of murder”… lively entertainment as well as a teasingly constructed mystery’
Martin Edwards
No 17
‘Works its way up by delicate graduations of horror to a climatic explosion of gun-play, diamonds and false identities, leaving the criminals safe in the hands of Scotland Yard’
New York Times
285 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1927
39 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
J. Jefferson Farjeon
90 books92 followersJoseph Jefferson Farjeon was always going to be a writer as, born in London, he was the son of Benjamin Leopold Farjeon who at the time was a well-known novelist whose other children were Eleanor Farjeon, who became a children's writer, and Herbert Farjeon, who became a playwright and who wrote the well-respected 'A Cricket Bag'.
The family were descended from Thomas Jefferson but it was his maternal grandfather, the American actor Joseph Jefferson, after whom Joseph was named. He was educated privately and at Peterborough Lodge and one of his early jobs, from 1910 to 1920, was doing some editorial work for the Amalgamated Press.
His first published work was in 1924 when Brentano's produced 'The Master Criminal', which is a tale of identity reversal involving two brothers, one a master detective, the other a master criminal. A New York Times reviewer commented favourably, "Mr. Farjeon displays a great deal of knowledge about story-telling and multiplies the interest of his plot through a terse, telling style and a rigid compression." This was the beginning of a career that would encompass over 80 published novels, ending with 'The Caravan Adventure' in 1955.
He also wrote a number of plays, some of which were filmed, most notably Number Seventeen which was produced by Alfred Hitchcock in 1932, and many short stories.
Many of his novels were in the mystery and detective genre although he was recognised as being one of the first novelists to entwine romance with crime. In addition he was known for his keen humour and flashing wit but he also used sinister and terrifying storylines quite freely. One critic for the Saturday Review of Literature reviewed one of his later books writing that it was "amusing, satirical, and [a] frequently hair-raising yarn of an author who got dangerously mixed up with his imaginary characters. Tricky."
When he died at Hove in Sussex in 1955 his obituary in The Times wrote of his "deserved popularity for ingenious and entertaining plots and characterization".
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
The family were descended from Thomas Jefferson but it was his maternal grandfather, the American actor Joseph Jefferson, after whom Joseph was named. He was educated privately and at Peterborough Lodge and one of his early jobs, from 1910 to 1920, was doing some editorial work for the Amalgamated Press.
His first published work was in 1924 when Brentano's produced 'The Master Criminal', which is a tale of identity reversal involving two brothers, one a master detective, the other a master criminal. A New York Times reviewer commented favourably, "Mr. Farjeon displays a great deal of knowledge about story-telling and multiplies the interest of his plot through a terse, telling style and a rigid compression." This was the beginning of a career that would encompass over 80 published novels, ending with 'The Caravan Adventure' in 1955.
He also wrote a number of plays, some of which were filmed, most notably Number Seventeen which was produced by Alfred Hitchcock in 1932, and many short stories.
Many of his novels were in the mystery and detective genre although he was recognised as being one of the first novelists to entwine romance with crime. In addition he was known for his keen humour and flashing wit but he also used sinister and terrifying storylines quite freely. One critic for the Saturday Review of Literature reviewed one of his later books writing that it was "amusing, satirical, and [a] frequently hair-raising yarn of an author who got dangerously mixed up with his imaginary characters. Tricky."
When he died at Hove in Sussex in 1955 his obituary in The Times wrote of his "deserved popularity for ingenious and entertaining plots and characterization".
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 4, 2025
Racist, class-ridden Golden Age murder mysteries - don’t you just love ‘em?!
We join the goings-on with a carload of policemen as they arrive at the gates of Greystones to investigate the disappearance and/or murder of Mr Elderly, the owner. His niece, Angela, and her suitor, Peter, along with Sir Julius Hughes, an MP, are soon embroiled in the race to unmask the villain. It’s a ridiculous story but my interest was held by the number of unexpected twists and turns involved. I couldn’t have put it down unfinished if I’d tried!
It’s all frightfully English and, as I’ve experienced previously with Farjeon’s dialogue, I end up reading it in my mind’s ear in clipped Brief Encounter accents. There are a couple of racist references that have gone unchecked and the snobbery of the house guests towards the ‘lower classes’ is shocking to us now. For example -
As he took his seat beside the chauffeur Sir Julius reflected upon this odd intimacy. He was not sure that he altogether approved of it. A kindly man, he had learned to mistrust familiarity in his inferiors - and a chauffeur was admissibly inferior a Member of Parliament. It destroyed efficiency and impeded advancement.
As always in England, in the UK as a whole in fact, tea solves all woes, although Midday is not the most hygienic time to take tea. At the end of the book, when all has been said and done, they all sit down to a nice cup of tea. As we all know, Tea takes the edge off horror!
3.5 stars. Quite ridiculous but great fun to read.
We join the goings-on with a carload of policemen as they arrive at the gates of Greystones to investigate the disappearance and/or murder of Mr Elderly, the owner. His niece, Angela, and her suitor, Peter, along with Sir Julius Hughes, an MP, are soon embroiled in the race to unmask the villain. It’s a ridiculous story but my interest was held by the number of unexpected twists and turns involved. I couldn’t have put it down unfinished if I’d tried!
It’s all frightfully English and, as I’ve experienced previously with Farjeon’s dialogue, I end up reading it in my mind’s ear in clipped Brief Encounter accents. There are a couple of racist references that have gone unchecked and the snobbery of the house guests towards the ‘lower classes’ is shocking to us now. For example -
As he took his seat beside the chauffeur Sir Julius reflected upon this odd intimacy. He was not sure that he altogether approved of it. A kindly man, he had learned to mistrust familiarity in his inferiors - and a chauffeur was admissibly inferior a Member of Parliament. It destroyed efficiency and impeded advancement.
As always in England, in the UK as a whole in fact, tea solves all woes, although Midday is not the most hygienic time to take tea. At the end of the book, when all has been said and done, they all sit down to a nice cup of tea. As we all know, Tea takes the edge off horror!
3.5 stars. Quite ridiculous but great fun to read.
April 30, 2024
What a wild ride.
May 16, 2023
“A somewhat weary and very dusty labourer, trudging in the same direction, paused as the car approached, and, standing aside to let it overtake him, regarded it with solemn eyes.
‘Four and a nob,’ he murmured, counting the inmates. ‘Somethink’s up. One fer the traffic, two fer a drunk, three fer a thief, and four fer a murder.’ According to this formula, it could be nothing less than a murder…”
Four uniformed constables and an inspector arrive unannounced at Greystones, the remote country house of Mr. John Elderly, demanding to see him. What they find behind the locked library door is the scene of a struggle, but the room is empty. Has Elderly disappeared? Or is it murder?
Farjeon is known mostly as a writer of thrillers, but here he has combined thriller with a country house mystery. Farjeon’s plot is complex, and he makes it clear from the very beginning that things are not what they seem. The story is packed with plenty of strange incidents and unsettling revelations. There is also a plethora of characters to keep straight. Yet the story unfolds at a brisk pace, never bogs down, and even after you think you’ve figured things out Farjeon keeps the twists coming.
This is my fourth Farjeon and I continue to enjoy his writing, which is descriptive and natural. It’s that skill which gives him the ability to create an atmosphere of sustained tension.
“An unnatural silence reigned in Greystones. It was akin to the unnatural silence that precedes the storm. The storm, when it comes, will drown all sounds, but just before its crash a voice may be heard a mile off, or a cow may low with odd distinctness in the distance. So, now, the momentary rattling of a window in a fitful breeze fell upon the straining ears of Angela and Peter, and the deep drone of the clock in the hall below.”
And speaking of Angela and Peter, I’d have to say that of all of the protagonists I’ve come across in Farjeon’s books, they are by far my favorite. While they meet all of the usual requirements for likeable characters — “engaging”, “intelligent”, or “relatable”— those aren’t the qualities that I found the most compelling. It is the almost modern way in which they relate to each other, and the situation. Angela is no melodramatic shrinking violet. She insisted on being a part of everything, determined not to be left behind. And while Peter would be happier if Angela could be away from the danger that surrounds them, he is smart enough to know that she has the right to be a part of the investigation. For a book written in 1928 it’s rather refreshing.
I think that I may be in the minority of readers who enjoy Farjeon and I wish I could find more if his books in print. I also hope that other readers, and publishers, will give him a look. Highly Recommended.
‘Four and a nob,’ he murmured, counting the inmates. ‘Somethink’s up. One fer the traffic, two fer a drunk, three fer a thief, and four fer a murder.’ According to this formula, it could be nothing less than a murder…”
Four uniformed constables and an inspector arrive unannounced at Greystones, the remote country house of Mr. John Elderly, demanding to see him. What they find behind the locked library door is the scene of a struggle, but the room is empty. Has Elderly disappeared? Or is it murder?
Farjeon is known mostly as a writer of thrillers, but here he has combined thriller with a country house mystery. Farjeon’s plot is complex, and he makes it clear from the very beginning that things are not what they seem. The story is packed with plenty of strange incidents and unsettling revelations. There is also a plethora of characters to keep straight. Yet the story unfolds at a brisk pace, never bogs down, and even after you think you’ve figured things out Farjeon keeps the twists coming.
This is my fourth Farjeon and I continue to enjoy his writing, which is descriptive and natural. It’s that skill which gives him the ability to create an atmosphere of sustained tension.
“An unnatural silence reigned in Greystones. It was akin to the unnatural silence that precedes the storm. The storm, when it comes, will drown all sounds, but just before its crash a voice may be heard a mile off, or a cow may low with odd distinctness in the distance. So, now, the momentary rattling of a window in a fitful breeze fell upon the straining ears of Angela and Peter, and the deep drone of the clock in the hall below.”
And speaking of Angela and Peter, I’d have to say that of all of the protagonists I’ve come across in Farjeon’s books, they are by far my favorite. While they meet all of the usual requirements for likeable characters — “engaging”, “intelligent”, or “relatable”— those aren’t the qualities that I found the most compelling. It is the almost modern way in which they relate to each other, and the situation. Angela is no melodramatic shrinking violet. She insisted on being a part of everything, determined not to be left behind. And while Peter would be happier if Angela could be away from the danger that surrounds them, he is smart enough to know that she has the right to be a part of the investigation. For a book written in 1928 it’s rather refreshing.
I think that I may be in the minority of readers who enjoy Farjeon and I wish I could find more if his books in print. I also hope that other readers, and publishers, will give him a look. Highly Recommended.
June 6, 2023
I Can’t Recommend This Book Strongly Enough
I found this book so stressful that at one point I almost gave it up. The reader will fairly early realize what is going on and who the bad people are. I am the type of person who enjoys relaxing while watching the detective find the killer. This is not that kind of book. Nobody is who you think they are; nothing is what you think it is. I don’t think I am giving anything away. This really is a fantastic book. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I am so thankful that so many of these Golden Age mysteries are being republished after close to a century.
I found this book so stressful that at one point I almost gave it up. The reader will fairly early realize what is going on and who the bad people are. I am the type of person who enjoys relaxing while watching the detective find the killer. This is not that kind of book. Nobody is who you think they are; nothing is what you think it is. I don’t think I am giving anything away. This really is a fantastic book. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I am so thankful that so many of these Golden Age mysteries are being republished after close to a century.
August 16, 2023
Discounted | Requires absolute suspension of disbelief, because it's all ludicrous and obvious | I knew what was going on by page 12, and every intended "twist" following that was so heavily telegraphed that there were no surprises. It was also entirely outside the bounds of reality. I've read cozy mysteries with completely ridiculous plots and enjoyed them, but those authors usually inject just enough humor to make it slightly slapstick, so the unreality is acceptable. Farjeon wrote this entirely straight, so it just grates when nobody acts like humans would act.
February 8, 2025
Unusual but fascinating story
I wish I could describe this book, but it was all things to all people. Just when you thought you had figured out what was going on, the whole scene changed and you were left to find an end to the string and start all over again. Not once but several times. It was a great book, one I shall remember for a long time. You must read it and see if you can assemble the puzzle before the story ends.
I wish I could describe this book, but it was all things to all people. Just when you thought you had figured out what was going on, the whole scene changed and you were left to find an end to the string and start all over again. Not once but several times. It was a great book, one I shall remember for a long time. You must read it and see if you can assemble the puzzle before the story ends.
May 3, 2024
Like Enid Blyton’s Adventure stories with bodies and a romantic sub-plot
But very much earlier! Wildly improbable adventure story, not a whodunit, but an entertaining read though not the author’s best.
But very much earlier! Wildly improbable adventure story, not a whodunit, but an entertaining read though not the author’s best.
August 12, 2020
I wasn’t able to finish it. Now the i am about o well it I wonder if I should have? NO REGRETS!
July 25, 2023
It isn't possible to review this book without giving spoilers. If you love Golden Age mysteries, this is a five star book. If you don't love mysteries from that era, it's less.
December 1, 2023
Peter and Angela were the only good part of this mystery.
February 6, 2025
Spoiler: you can’t disguise yourself just by putting on a wig.
September 23, 2025
Above average Golden Age mystery.
January 3, 2024
Farjeon wrote several great mystery novels. This isn’t one of them.
May 20, 2024
Another page turner from J. Jefferson Farjeon. This one gets going immediately with a mysterious disappearance and what was to be a lovely weekend in the country with guests turns dark and threatening. Who is to be trusted? What is behind all the chaos?
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews