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Monday, July 17, 2023

Heads You Lose (1941) by Christianna Brand: A Golden Age Mystery




πŸ‘’ Grace Morland is a spinster who's in love with Stephen Pendock, her landlord and squire of Pigeonsford village. She likes to paint on his porch, usually quite late in the morning, in the hope of being invited for tea at the cottage. However, Pendock is in love with another, a younger girl called Francesca (Fran) Hart, who, at the moment, is staying at the cottage with her twin sister Venetia Hart, her brother in law, her grandmother, Lady Hart, and a young man called James Nicholl, who 's in love with her.

πŸ‘’ On that fatal day, after tea, Fran is showing a hat she's just bought. In her jealousy, Grace, after witnessing Pendock having been smitten by Fran, blurted out that she hates the hat, and that "I wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch in a hat like that!" Indeed, that night, Grace is found dead, inside a ditch in Pendock's garden, with decapitated head, and Fran's new hat on it!

πŸ‘’ The murder investigator is Inspector Cockrill from Scotland Yard - an old friend of Pendock and his guests, whom they usually call Cocky. It is a difficult task to investigate one's own friends, let alone six people who are attached to each other. There's always chance they don't speak the truth to cover the others.

πŸ‘’ Everyone hopes the murderer is committed by outsiders - Pippi Le May, Grace Morland's cousin who's staying with her perhaps? Or maybe Pendock's butler, who was always away visiting his sick sister when the two murders were committed? There're two murders, then? Yes, they were. But what is the motive? Surely it's done by a lunatic out there? All six people at Pigeonsford cottage hope it was, but Inspector Cockrill is also sure it was committed by one of those six. Which one? Why?

πŸ‘’ This was my first introduction to Christianna Brand, and I am impressed. Her style reminds me much of Christie's, particularly the psychological aspect. It is a very character-driven story, with a brilliantly plotted crime. Brand meticulously built tension among the closed-circle suspects; we get to know little by little their true personalities, fears, and secrets along every chapter. And I loved the way Brand told us most of what's happening through dialogs and actions, while cleverly keeping only the key to the mystery. There are writers who hide these facts from readers, and they're only become known to us later in the narrative, which I dislike.

πŸ‘’ All in all, for me, this was a satisfying murder crime. I could guess the murderer, though I was doubting a bit on the middle, with the red herrings and what not. The motive is quite surprising, though I should have seen it coming. Now I can't wait to read more from Brand!

πŸ‘’ I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Derek Perkins. It's not very pleasant at first, due to the narrator's dragging speech, but after a while I was getting used to it, and focusing more on the story.

Rating: 4,5 / 5





For Bingo Card: Closed Circle of Suspects


13 comments:

  1. Fanda! I read this just a couple of days ago! How fun that we read it at the same time.

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    1. Hi Jean! How awesome it was to have read the same book together even if we didn't realize it at that time! :) I'm eager to know how much you liked the book!

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    2. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I agree with you that the ending wasn't really nice. This is the second? Christianna Brand mystery I've read, and I think I like her.

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    3. The ending really reminded me of one of Zola's! But yes, I think I'll read more of her too.

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  2. Also that was Jean @ Howling Frog, for some reason my Google login didn't go through. :)

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  3. I wish my library had a copy of this one. It sounds like a fun mystery.

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    1. The murders are actually rather gruesome, and the ending is... perhaps not really nice. But other than that, it's a quite fun closed-circle mystery!

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  4. I read Brand's Suddenly at his Residence, which was excellent. It's a traditional closed room mystery, with a handful of family suspects, and I thought the way the murder was carried out was very ingenious.

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    1. Ah, I've been searching for a locked-room mystery. Now I might pick another Brand's. Thanks for the suggestion! :)

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  5. Glad to see you enjoyed this. I recently read her Green for Danger and liked it very much; was looking forward to trying more by her and this looks just the book to try next.

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    1. I've heard about Green for Danger a lot - it's regarded as Brand's best work, isn't it?

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  6. I have Brand's novels in my TBR. I will be reading them in August (Authors new to me theme). Since you mentioned her writing style reminded you of that of Christie's, I cannot wait to read her novels! (4 more days to go!! ;) )

    Thank you for participating in BCCC. :)

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    1. Hope you'll like it too, Rekha! I might read another Brand's for BCCC this year. ;)

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