Anthony Bathurst accepted the last minute spot on Sir Charles Considine’s cricket team, thinking a week of fun and games with his old university friends was just was he needed. After a dinner conversation on the skills of fictional detectives, Bathurst is willing to bet on his skills standing up to Scotland Yard’s, given the same resources. And then Gerry Prescott goes and gets murdered.
Bottom Line: The Billiard-Room Mystery is for you if like sinking your teeth into classic whodunnit mysteries.
NOTE: The Billiard-Room Mystery was original published in 1929. Reprints are available or you can get it for free at the Gutenburg Project. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58413
The strength of this story is…the end. Really. I was getting frustrated reading, thinking this was one of the worst written mysteries I’d ever read and then WHAMMO. Everything fell into place…and it was awesome.
This story is told in the classic Holmes-Watson style. Bathurst is the detective, working in, under and around Inspector Baddeley. Bill Cunningham, a buddy from college, is drafted into the Watson role of narrator.
The police investigators of Inspector Baddeley and his junior officer Roper are good cops – not portrayed as bumbling, etc. The house party presents an ample pool of suspects, some with motive, some with opportunity.
Where this story fell short: I’ve been doing alot of thinking on this one and haven’t found a logic flaw. Bathurst is a good lead detective and Cunningham does his job as narrator.
While I loved the “gotcha”, I could see some readers taking exception to it. This is definitely personal preference and I fall on the “love it” side.
TG Wolff 