Death in the House [Paperback]

Anthony Berkeley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2001

Lord Wellacombe, Secretary of State for India, dies whilst giving a speech to introduce a new bill on the floor of the House of Commons. His untimely demise looks like a stroke, but is it mere coincidence that a threat on his life had been made? The bill needs to be passed, but is anyone brave enough to defy the threats and risk potential murder?

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

‘Anthony Berkeley is the supreme master not of the "twist" but of the "double-twist".’ - The Sunday Times

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Born in 1893, Anthony Berkeley (Anthony Berkeley Cox) was a British crime writer and a leading member of the genre's Golden Age. Educated at Sherborne School and University College London, Berkeley served in the British army during WWI before becoming a journalist. His first novel, The Layton Court Murders, was published anonymously in 1925. It introduced Roger Sheringham, the amateur detective who features in many of the author's novels including the classic Poisoned Chocolates Case. In 1930, Berkeley founded the legendary Detection Club in London along with Agatha Christie, Freeman Wills Crofts and other established mystery writers. It was in 1938, under the pseudonym Francis Iles (which Berkeley also used for novels) that he took up work as a book reviewer for John O'London's Weekly and The Daily Telegraph. He later wrote for The Sunday Times in the mid 1940s, and then for The Guardian from the mid 1950s until 1970. A key figure in the development of crime fiction, he died in 1971. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: House of Stratus Ltd; First Thus edition (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755102126
• ISBN-13: 978-0755102129
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,813,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but not too puzzling, April 26, 2011

By 

John D. Newell - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Death in the House (Paperback)

This is the second Anthony Berkeley book I have read; and like the first ("Layton Court Mystery"), it is a good example of the British "Country House" type --- except that in this case the "House" is the House of Commons, where a series of ministers are murdered while trying to introduce a very controversial bill. Berkeley is a good story-teller. The action moves at a quick pace and reaches a dramatic crescendo in a wild scene, the likes of which are more typical of a Tom Clancy thriller than the sedate suspects-gathered-in-the-library format we expect. My only problem is that, as in the Layton Court Mystery, the identity of the murderer is pretty obvious about 80% into the story -- so much so in fact that I assumed that the give-away clue was an obvious plant to mislead the reader. It wasn't. But the plot is still a good one; and the book entertains from beginning to end.