The Red House Mystery

By: A. A. Milne

Narrated by: William Sutherland

Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

"Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories.... After all that you have done for me, the least that I can do is write one." So wrote A. A. Milne, beloved creator of Winnie the Pooh, to his father, to whom he dedicated this delectable mystery.

Mark Ablett's stately mansion, the Red House, is filled with very proper guests when his most improper brother returns from Australia. The prodigal brother enters Mark's study, the parlor maid hears arguing and the brother dies...rather suddenly, with a bullet between the eyes. The study is locked from the inside and Mark is missing!

Investigating the crime is wealthy Antony Gillingham, who rivals Sherlock Holmes in his remarkable powers of observation. He is aided by the perfect Watson, his friend Bill Beverley, a cheerful young man in white flannels. Echoes of Christopher Robin and his friends chime nostalgically throughout this charming classic of detection!

Public Domain (P)1999 Blackstone Audiobooks

What fun

The writing and cadence is very much A. A. Milne, but the story is a gem. I guessed a bit of it early, but the unfolding was delicious and I didn’t guess the ending. The characters were just full enough to be interesting. The narrator was gifted but did little to change voices. The story did that. Too bad it is a one and done.

Great overall. Narrator difficult to understand

This was very good overall and the narration was engaging, if difficult to understand due to lack of annunciation. Famous voice though, slso one knows what they are getting into.

Good story terrible narrator

I could not fully enjoy this book because of the narrator. He was unable to change his voice for any character so most of the time I couldn't tell who was speaking because they all sound the same. His voice sounds like he was mumbling throughout the whole book, sluring his words together so sometimes it was difficult to understand what he was saying. If you can get over his voice the story is pretty good and enjoyable. But I would honestly skip this version and get another with an different narrator.

The Red House Mystery

I struggled to finish this one. finished it tho with a dislike of the characters and the story. I listened to the audio book.

No Sherlock Holmes, But Clever in its Own Way

I can imagine that the author must have grown up reading Sherlock Holmes mysteries and thinking that he could write them better. While I agree with him that Sherlock was way too stuck on himself and mean, I think Mr. Milne missed the secret ingredient that actually made Sherlock novels so good, at least for me. I think the friendship between Watson and Holmes was more believable. This book did keep you guessing quite well though and made some interesting twists and turns. The reader was not very talented though.

An unlikely mystery

I was able to manage with the mumbly narrator once I dressed him in period clothes and gave him a pipe. I did have to resort to making a list of the many characters in the beginning but that sorted itself out quickly for the most part. The ending comes all at once, a la Poirot, but quite satisfying.

English mystery

I had never heard of this book, until just recently. I was pleasantly surprised to find it. I had such a great time listening to this title. A. A. Milne was an amazing author. Such talent is rare. He so well known for his children's books and I wish everyone knew about this title.

Didn’t like the narrator

It was a pleasant story, even though predictable. It would have been much more enjoyable to listen too if the narrator was easier to listen too. I was able to finish listening because I wanted to hear how it ended. A good cozy mystery if you don’t mind listening.

Good story line, narration choppy

Enjoyable story, loved the setting and descriptions. Pictured it perfectly in my mind. Narration was choppy and would fade from quiet to loud and back. Also monotone Narrator.

Horrible Narration

This may well be a fantastic book but the narrator sounds like he has marbles in his mouth! I couldn’t get through chapter two before figuring out even if I had listened to the whole thing, I would not know anymore about this book but what the summary said.