"The More Detective Stories Are Unlike the Sort of Story I'm Living, the Better I'm Pleased"

SINCE THIS IS a detective fiction-related weblog, we were pleasantly surprised when a few years ago we first encountered the mystery fiction of well-known children's author and humorist A. A. Milne; a little research has shown our author's abiding interest in Sherlock Holmes and his own forays into the crime fiction genre. In "Not Guilty" (below), Milne tells us why having a good reputation for honesty could backfire; in "The Watson Touch" and "Dr. Watson Speaks Out" he has some fun with the Holmes-Watson dynamic; in "Introducing Crime" he scores humorous—but accurate—points against the prevalent detective fiction clichés of his time; and while "The Dear, Dead Past" and "Murder at Eleven" are rare examples of his short crime fiction, The Red House Mystery (1922) is even scarcer, his 
only detective fiction novel. [Note: All publishing data below are from FictionMags.]

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   ". . . I knew that the day was bound to come when I should be arrested and hurried off to prison."

"Not Guilty."
By A. A. Milne (1882-1956).
First appearance: Unknown.
Reprinted in If I May (1920; HERE).

Vignette.
Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE and scroll down).
(Note: Might require more than one click.)

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   "You can understand now how The Red House Mystery came into being."

"Introducing Crime."
(Introduction to a later edition of The Red House Mystery.)
By A. A. Milne (1882-1956).
First appearance: Unknown.
Reprinted in By Way of Introduction (1929).

Short essay (5 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

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   ". . . for though I am a man of even temperament (save when the weather adversely affects my old wound) I am not one who can sit down under injustice, and in the matter of this book 
I feel that a grave wrong has been done to me."

"Dr. Watson Speaks Out."
(A "review" of Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories.)
By A. A. Milne (1882-1956).
First appearance: Unknown.
Reprinted in By Way of Introduction (1929).

Review (8 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

Note: The stories referenced—but not necessarily mentioned by name—in the article: "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" (HERE and scroll down), "The Retired Colourman" (HERE and scroll down), "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" (HERE and scroll down), "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" (HERE and scroll down), and "The Decentralized Tomato" (not HERE).

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   "I am prepared to state, though I do not propose to make a song about it, that every nice man loves a detective story."

"The Watson Touch."
By A. A. Milne (1882-1956).
First appearance: Unknown.
Reprinted in If I May (1920; HERE).

Vignette.
Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE and scroll down); also reprinted and featured (HERE).
(Note: Might require more than one click.)

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   "Sir Vernon knew that Scroope didn't like blackmailers—but would probably understand a youthful wild oat like murder."

"The Dear, Dead Past."
By A. A. Milne (1882-1956).
First appearance: Collier's, July 10, 1948.

Reprinted in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (EQMM), November 1952; EQMM (Australia), March 1954; and EQMM (U.K.), September 1954 as "A Perfectly Ordinary Case of Blackmail."

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at UNZ starting (HERE) and finishing (HERE; scroll down to page 62).
(Note: Might require more than one click.)

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   "A straight detective story by a famous British poet and humorist."

"Murder at Eleven."
By A. A. Milne (1882-1956).
First appearance: A Table Near the Band, and Other Stories (1950).
Reprinted in EQMM, March 1954 and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (AHMM), April 1989.

Short story (11 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

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   ". . . if any of ‘em should happen to be murdered, you might send for me. I’m just getting into the swing of it."

The Red House Mystery (1922; Wikipedia HERE, no spoilers).
By A. A. Milne (1882-1956).

Novel (109 pages as a PDF).
Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE); featured (HERE) and (HERE).

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Resources:
- You can find out a lot about Alan Alexander Milne on Wikipedia (HERE), the Encyclopedia of Fantasy (HERE), and the ISFDb (HERE); during and beyond his lifetime Milne racked up a respectable 97 TV and movie writing credits on the IMDb (HERE). Some of his mystery fiction was adapted for television, including, several times, his original play The Perfect Alibi (1949 HERE; 1956 HERE; and 1960 HERE) and two stories for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The Three Dreams of Mr. Findlater" (1957 HERE; SPOILERS) and "A Man Greatly Beloved" (1957 HERE).

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