Four Days’ Wonder – A A Milne (1933)

My first adult A A Milne book has been a long time coming. Having seen other bloggers reviewing his books now and again over the years, I had meant for a long time to acquire some for myself. The recent offer from the Book People gave me the chance, and I started reading my first one, almost as soon as the package of books arrived.

Four Days’ Wonder ticked off 1933 in my A Century of Books list, and made for delightful, weekend reading, last weekend. I was hooked by Milne’s tongue in cheek humour from the first page.

“It had been known for years, of course, that Aunt Jane would come to a bad end. Not only was her black hair cropped short like a boy’s, but she smoked cigarettes out of a long holder, and knew the Sitwells.”

Despite the appearance of a body very early on – you couldn’t really call this a detective story – though there are elements of a comic crime story that fans of vintage mysteries might enjoy.

Jenny Windell is eighteen, fascinated by murder mysteries and blessed with a riotous imagination. Brought up by her aunt Catherine at Auburn lodge, she is now living with her guardian, the family lawyer, following her aunt’s death. Jenny never knew her father, the handsome Hussar, though she keeps his picture by her bed, and talks to him in moments of quiet or indecision – her darling Hussar is her comfort and constant companion.

One day, using the latch key she found trapped in the lining of her bag, she absentmindedly lets herself into Auburn Lodge, where other people are living now. There, rather surprisingly, lying dead on the floor of the drawing room, is her other aunt, Jane Latour, who Jenny hasn’t seen for eight years. Jane Latour was an actress with a scandalous reputation as a flapper.

“Jenny was a well-read girl, and knew that people were continually drifting upstairs and finding bodies in the drawing-room. Only last night Michael Alloway, a barrister by profession, had found the body of a well-dressed woman on his hearth-rug, with a note by its side which said ‘A K 17 L P K 29 Friday.’”

As a reader of detective fiction, Jenny knows exactly what to do, she hears people coming back, and hides, she climbs out the window, leaving behind a monogrammed handkerchief and footprints beneath the window. Realising just how this all could look, Jenny immediately goes on the run, drawing her friend Nancy into her crazy schemes. Jenny decides to go hiking, all set for adventure, she cuts her own hair, buys a rucksack, and something called the Watson Combination Watch Dog and Water Pistol (which she uses to ward off a harmless tramp) and prepares to sleep on haystacks. Jenny’s adventures are marvellously comic, verging on the ridiculous, they are nonetheless well paced and highly entertaining.

Nancy is a secretary to a pompous, self-satisfied writer, and she is delighted to help Jenny in her adventure, allowing Jenny to swap her clothes at her flat, and arranging to send her money. Unwittingly, Nancy’s boss Archibald Fenton is drawn into the confusion too – when Nancy asks a small favour of him.

Meanwhile the investigation into how Jane Latour met her death is supervised by Inspector Marigold, a man who has never investigated a potential murder before – and he isn’t really up to the job. Marigold is rather dim, but even he can’t help but notice Jenny’s handkerchief and footprints. Having questioned the bemused new tenants of Auburn Lodge, it doesn’t take Marigold long to fasten on the previous occupants of the lodge. Finding a connection to Jane Latour in her niece Jenny, Marigold sets up the hue and cry, and soon Jenny’s name and photograph are plastered all over the papers.

As she tramps across the countryside, Jenny meets Derek Fenton, the handsome younger brother of Archibald Fenton who her friend works for. Jenny tells Derek all about what happened at Auburn Lodge and soon he too is drawn into Jenny’s adventure – the pair even find time for a little gentle romance. Naturally, Jenny, Derek, Nancy and Archibald Fenton all get themselves into a thorough pickle – and the police are hard (ish) on their heels.

Four Days’ Wonder is joyful, breezy fun, A A Milne was no doubt poking gentle fun at the Golden Age of crime type novels.

My first A A Milne for adults was adorable fun, and I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of my Milne novels – ACOB permitting.