Additional information
by A. A. Milne (Author)
The Red House Mystery is a mystery novel by A. A. Milne, published in 1922. It was Milne's only mystery novel; he is better known for his children's stories like "Winnie the Pooh" and poems. The Red House is an English country house loaded with guests, including a British major, a willful actress, and a young jock athlete. Tony Gillingham arrives at the Red House moments after a gunshot is heard. The room is locked, the murderer has disappeared and, in Tony's opinion, the police are going about it the wrong way. Antony, who was looking for a new profession anyway, decides to solve the murder himself, with a little help from his friend Bill. The Red House Mystery was immediately popular; Alexander Woollcott called it "one of the three best mystery stories of all time," but Raymond Chandler complained that the amateur detective's success comes only because the police are incompetent.
Author Biography
Alan Alexander Milne was born in London. Youngest son of schoolmaster John Vine Milne, he attended Westminster School and later Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was graduated in 1903 with honors in mathematics. Upon completion of his studies, he immediately began his long career in writing, contributing light essays to several magazines. His first novel, Lovers in London (1905), was published when Milne was twenty-three. In 1906 he joined the staff of Punch as an assistant editor, contributing a weekly essay. His work as a dramatist began a decade later, during his service in World War I. His first play, Wurzel-Flummery, appeared in 1917, and his one unqualified success in the theater, Mr. Pim Passes By, was completed and produced in 1919. By the time of his death in 1956, more than two dozen plays by Milne had been produced in London or New York. However, there is no question that Milne's most lasting monument lies in four slim volumes of children's literature: two books of poems and two books of the adventures of Christopher Robin's friend Winnie-the-Pooh. He also wrote two mystery novels; his Red House Mystery (1921) is considered a classic in the genre. In later years the author lived a rather uneventful life in London, answering questions about the mythical bear of his stories and trying unsuccessfully to fend off the label "whimsical." He traveled in the United States in the fall of 1931 and continued writing mostly unnoticed books and plays until 1952, four years before his death at his home in Sussex.
