The Wychford Poisoning Case (Detective Club Crime Classics)

By: Anthony Berkeley

Narrated by: Mike Grady

One of the earliest psychological crime novels.

Mrs Bentley has been arrested for murder. The evidence is overwhelming: arsenic she extracted from fly papers was in her husband’s medicine, his food and his lemonade, and her crimes are being plastered across the newspapers. Even her lawyers believe she is guilty. But Roger Sheringham, the brilliant but outspoken young novelist, is convinced that there is ‘too much evidence’ against Mrs Bentley and sets out to prove her innocence.

Credited as the book that first introduced psychology to the detective novel, The Wychford Poisoning Case was based on a notorious real-life murder inquiry. Written by Anthony Berkeley, a founder of the celebrated Detection Club who also found fame under the pen-name ‘Francis Iles’, the story saw the return of Roger Sheringham, the Golden Age’s breeziest – and booziest – detective.

Critic reviews

‘Anthony Berkeley is the supreme master not of the “twist” but of the “double-twist”.’ Milward Kennedy in the Sunday Times

‘Detection and crime at its wittiest – all Berkeley’s stories are amusing, intriguing and he is a master of the final twist.’
Agatha Christie

Character Heavy

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not really. It was not bad, but had so many characters that it was a difficult book to listen to as opposed to reading. When one reads a book one can flip back to refresh the memory as to whom the character is.

Great plot, full of twists

The performance was excellent, the plot well crafted and not predictable, even for murder mystery aficionados. Some aspects might be a bit obsolete but all in all an entertaining picture of its time.

Couldn’t finish it

I’m a big fan of AB but this one is pretty awful. The prologue says that for some reason AB didn’t let this novel be reprinted. Easy to see why. Politically incorrect these days but who cares about that - the semi romantic subplot would disgrace a YA offering. Couldn’t take any more. Not recommended.