The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society discussion

Thanks to Mark for recommending...


Malice Aforethought (1931) by Francis Iles

It's a novel I've been aware of for some time but it would never have occurred to me to read it

It sounds as though it might have shades of Donald Henderson - but that's just a guess

And who is Francis Iles?

Anthony Berkeley Cox was born in 1893 in Watford, and educated at Sherborne School and University College, Oxford. After serving in the British Army in the First World War, he worked as a journalist for many years, contributing to such magazines as Punch and The Humorist.

His first novel, The Layton Court Mystery, was published anonymously in 1925. It introduced Roger Sheringham, the amateur detective who features in many of the author's novels including the classic Poisoned Chocolates Case. In 1930, Berkeley founded the Detection Club in London along with Agatha Christie, Freeman Wills Crofts and other established mystery writers.

His 1932 novel (as "Francis Iles"), Before the Fact was adapted into the 1941 classic film Suspicion, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. Trial and Error was turned into the unusual 1941 film Flight From Destiny starring Thomas Mitchell.

In 1938, he took up book reviewing for John O'London's Weekly and the Daily Telegraph, writing under his pen name Francis Iles. He also wrote for the Sunday Times in the 1940s and for the Manchester Guardian, later The Guardian, from the mid-1950s until 1970. A key figure in the development of crime fiction, he died in 1971 in St John's Wood, London./i>

And a bit about Malice Aforethought (1931)....

Malice Aforethought (1931) is a crime novel written by Anthony Berkeley Cox, using the pen name Francis Iles. It is an early and prominent example of the "inverted detective story", claimed to have been invented by R. Austin Freeman some years earlier. The murderer's identity is revealed in the first line of the novel, which gives the reader insight into the workings of his mind as his plans progress. It also contains elements of black comedy, and of serious treatment of underlying tensions in a superficially respectable community. It is loosely based on the real-life case of Herbert Armstrong, with elements of Doctor Crippen.

When I read it I'll report back

I finished it yesterday morning and I've just noticed it's Anthony/Francis' birthday, born 127 years ago today!

Serendipity CQM


And another five star rating

I've got my copy now

I finished the other day... absolutely loved it as much as I’ve ever loved any novel. There’s no chance that you’ll in any way find it disagreeable, Nige.

I noticed that the BBC’s four-part mini-series adaptation, from 1979, is on YouTube... must find time to watch it.

High praise Mark


I've got my copy and plan to read it soon

Please let us know about the BBC adapation

Ah, good, if you find yourself in the mood for a whole lot of fun, shift it nearer the top of your To-Read pile.

one nice surprise for me was how easily and nicely it slots in beside Hamilton and Maclaren-Ross.

Mark wrote:


"One nice surprise for me was how easily and nicely it slots in beside Hamilton and Maclaren-Ross"

I couldn't ask for much more

Thanks again

The edition that I bought -- the beautiful little hardback with dustwraps, silky ribbon bookmark, and gold-edged pages from the Macmillan Collector’s Library series -- includes a very informative afterward, which serves as an incredibly handy guide for anybody wishing to read more from the author. Our Francis went through pen names like Dean Martin went through bottles.

Yes, he loves a nomme de plume doesn't he?


I'm underway with Malice Aforethought and, so far, I am really enjoying it. As you suggested Mark it has a vague Hamiltonian vibe and is also great at nailing the claustraphobia of village life in the opressive world of genteel 1930's English life.

Dr Edmund Bickleigh's wife sounds horrendous. She could drive anyone to murder.....

Dr Bickleigh, is quite the Don Juan


That Malice Aforethought has elements of Herbert Rowse Armstrong...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert...

...and Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawley_...

Prompted me to read up on their cases

Interesting reads, thanks for turning those up. Safe to assume you’ve been enjoying Malice Aforethought, then?

Yes I am. Very enjoyable. Thanks for another top tip Mark

My pleasure, entirely. It was a hell of a lot of fun, and I’m determined to track down more from him. Apparently, apart from the 1979 BBC mini-series, there was another televised adaptation in 2005. Knowing that neither could hold their own against the novel, I’m not in any rush to watch them.

Into the second half now, and Malice Aforethought is getting better and better as the tension continues to build

I've finished Malice Aforethought


Here’s my review

4/5