James Anderson's Parodic Homages

Jon L. Breen ("The Case of the Golden Age Gems," MYSTERY SCENE, 2011) reminds us of several "lighthearted puzzle mysteries" that are worth your attention. Excerpts:

James Anderson’s lasting contribution to mystery fiction consists of three novels about English house-party murders, all taking place in the same country house, Lord Burford’s historic Alderley, and all investigated by the same easily-overlooked but sneakily clever policeman, Inspector Wilkins . . . .

. . . Clearly reflecting a love of the classical puzzles of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, unapologetically artificial and light-hearted, they managed both to parody and to provide genuine examples of the traditional British detective novel between World Wars.

Anderson's three novels are also available as e-books:

THE AFFAIR OF THE BLOODSTAINED EGG COSY (1975)

THE AFFAIR OF THE MUTILATED MINK (1981)

THE AFFAIR OF THE THIRTY-NINE CUFFLINKS (2003)

Wikipedia has a nicely concise article about Anderson.

Category: Detective fiction