The Wintringham Mystery (1927) aka Cicely Disappears by Anthony Berkeley

🕵️‍♂️ To me, our hero Stephen Munro, with his batman-turned-manservant Bridger, is a cross between Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey with his butler Bunter and Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster with his Jeeves. Steven Munro is as intelligent as Peter Wimsey, though much poorer. And the dynamic relationship between master and servant, is not unlike that of Wooster-Jeeves, though less comical.

🕵️‍♂️ The story begins when Steven Munro found himself without a penny. But for the amount of Bridger wages for the month, his wealth had exhausted to nothing - a situation which forced him to accept a job as footmen at Wintringham Hall, where his younger self used to be invited as guest. Surprisingly, he faced this calamity stoically, and was even a bit excited with the new adventure. Bridger, who had anticipated his master's new situation, has also secured a job as under gardener at the same house.

🕵️‍♂️ A dinner party is held that night, and we were introduced to the curmudgeonly Lady Susan, the proprietor of Wintringham Hall; her nephew, Freddie (also Munro's childhood friend); her distant relative Cecily, and companion Millicent; as well as some invited guests. Freddie insisted in having a kind of ritual or seance, where one of them would disappear, He also insisted upon Munro joining them to cite the rites. Cicely volunteered to be the one to disappear.

🕵️‍♂️ The silly fun soon turned to disaster when strange voices and even a scream was heard in the dark. And Cicely was nowhere to be found! At first they thought Cicely had cleverly pranked them, and she's hidden somewhere laughing at their ignorance. But few days had gone, and still, no Cicely. Now they were terrified. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong.

🕵️‍♂️ Steven Munro hadn't been a footman for long. The oily butler didn't like him, and got him sacked. Only to be "invited" later on as guest by Lady Susan, as she realized his true quality. Good for her and the household, because at the end of the day, he helped investigating the mystery, together with Pauline, his longtime sweetheart but now engaged with a hideous man.

🕵️‍♂️ This book a is the perfect old school Golden Age detective story. Interestingly, Berkeley first published it under his pen name: A. Monmouth Platts, as a serial in The Daily Mirror, along with a competition with prizes for those who could solve the mystery. Even Agatha Christie couldn't refrain from competing, and eventually won the second prizes. The mystery is puzzling, a combination of a missing person, stolen jewelry, double identity, superstitious, and of course... murder. Quite a jolly read for this rainy season!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2