Golden Age of Detective Fiction

With only four books in my #20BooksOfChristmas Challenge left to go, I’m starting to feel the end is in sight. I’ve read Seven Dead and The Crook’s Shadow by J. Jefferson Farjeon and have been looking forward to reading his take on a Christmas story in Mystery in White since my previous two Farjeon reads were like nothing else I have ever read.

J. Jefferson Farjeon’s Mystery in White is a delightful and hauntingly atmospheric read that transports readers to a snowbound countryside on Christmas Eve, where the snow feels threatening and dangerous instead of cozy and comforting. Initially published in 1937, this book is a shining example of the Golden Age of detective fiction, blending a sense of period charm with an intriguing and puzzling mystery.

The Story

The story begins on a train traveling through the English countryside, thwarted by a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. A group of passengers—strangers to one another—abandon the train and search for shelter. They soon stumble upon an empty house, mysteriously prepared for Christmas, complete with a roaring fire and a table set for tea, but devoid of occupants. This setup immediately sets an eerie and suspenseful tone, with the snowstorm adding an element of isolation and danger.

Farjeon assembles an eclectic cast of characters, each with their secrets and motivations. Among them are a can-do brother and sister, an actress, a sick, lovestruck young man, a psychic with a dubious reputation, an elderly bore who seems to know more than he lets on, and a mysterious man whose intentions remain unclear. The interactions between the characters are central to the story, as their differing personalities and perspectives create tension and suspicion. Farjeon’s sharp and often witty dialogue brings these characters to life, and their development throughout the book keeps readers engaged and intrigued. 

At the story’s heart is a series of unexplained occurrences: why was the house abandoned so suddenly? What is the significance of the objects left behind? And how are the passengers connected to the house and its unseen inhabitants? Farjeon skillfully weaves these questions into a narrative that keeps readers guessing until the final pages, where multiple murders and killings are revealed.

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The Review

One of the standout features of Mystery in White is its atmosphere. Farjeon’s vivid descriptions of the snowstorm and the eerie, empty house create a sense of unease that permeates the story. The juxtaposition of the cozy holiday setting with the sinister undertones of the mystery is particularly effective, making this an ideal read for winter nights.

However, Mystery in White has some flaws. The first is that the book sets up that there was a murder on the train, unbeknownst to the passengers that left, and the murderer takes very little care to disguise their identity or the reason for the killing; in fact, this whole first murder is sort of a red herring. It’s brought around again at the end, but this plot thread is on the back burner for most of the story.

Instead, we get a more compelling story of being stranded in the house with strangers, having a pervading feeling of hostility, or being watched imbued in the house. The evil of the house is so pervasive that several characters remark that they feel like they are being watched. We spend two-thirds of the book watching the characters navigate their unease with the house and each other, only for two new characters- family heirs to the house who haven’t been back in decades- to arrive on the scene and blow up the carefully crafted relationships.

However, the arrival of these new characters in the last third of the book deflated the atmospheric tension. Their lengthy explanations of the various murders and evil doings that have happened in the house, and the constant flashback after flashback, slowed down the book’s momentum.

Mystery in White had been crafting a lot of funny mishaps, awkward moments, and possible romances between the strangers on the train, some of which crossed class and social lines, but with the additional characters that arrived in the last third of the book, romances that had been blossoming were eschewed for matches along social standing, which isn’t nearly as provocative as Farjeon’s other works.

In the end, I liked Mystery in White. It was a good twist on the locked room train mystery by not really being a locked room train mystery and instead making it a haunted house story. However, the big twist that the story wasn’t about a sort of haunted house with ghoulish latent feelings- but instead rehash decades of family squabbling and murder- was a disappointment. Farjeon can do haunting; he can do grisly, desperate, and terrifying: read Seven Dead and tell me otherwise. The conclusion of Mystery in White seemed so conventional by comparison. Ultimately, the tense, emotionally charged scenes that made Mystery in White compelling led to a relatively tame but mildly satisfying conclusion, leaving me yearning for a more satisfying ending.

Despite not entirely sticking the landing for me, I found the characters so incredibly diverse and intriguing. I was fully invested in their relationships and whether they would survive the snow-storm- the first few chapters when they were wandering around in the blizzard was legitimately terrifying, and then the slow realization that the shelter they found might be just as deadly was hair-raising.

If you’re a fan of snowbound thrillers, I think Mystery in White will thrill and entertain you.

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#20BooksOfChristmas Reviews

1. The Night of Fear by Moray Dalton (1931) | REVIEW
2. Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer (1944) | REVIEW
3. Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan (1949) | REVIEW
4. Groaning Spinney a. k. a. Murder in the Snow by Gladys Mitchell (1950) | REVIEW
5. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie (1960) | REVIEW
6. The Twelve Deaths of Christmas by Marian Babson (1979) | REVIEW
7. Murder on a Mystery Tour by Marian Babson (1985) REVIEW
8. Mistletoe Murder by Leslie Meier (1993) | REVIEW
9. Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn (1994) | REVIEW
10. A Highland Christmas by M. C. Beaton (1999) | REVIEW
11. The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict (2021) | REVIEW
12. The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett (2023) | REVIEW
13. Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah (2023) REVIEW
14. Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson (2024) | REVIEW