The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull (1934)

“Wales: the land of my fathers. My fathers can have it!”

Edward Powell, narrator of this story, would completely agree with Dylan Thomas’ assessment of his homeland. He violently objects to living in the Welsh countryside, just outside the village of Llwll (pronounced “Filth” in his own mind). More than this, he objects to living with his Aunt Mildred who delights in tormenting him and disapproves of almost everything he says and does. Unfortunately for Edward he has no independent means and is unsuited to a working life.

Following an episode where he is forced into walking into the village and back to collect his regular parcel of French novels, he determines that it is high time that his aunt met her demise which will give him the freedom he always craved. And so, with the aid of So-So, his beloved Pekinese, he plans an “accident”. But he finds that, to quote another Richard Hull title, murder isn’t easy…

I had been aware of this book long before I returned to reading GAD fiction and having read a little bit about it had a fair idea of how events would play themselves out and in this I was not wrong. I also picked up on something which I thought could have been worked better into the outcome and so overall was slightly disappointed by the resolution. I think in general I prefer a different take on an inverted mystery to the one that is presented here.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

Fulfils “What – Inverted mystery”.