The Murder of My Aunt – Richard Hull (1934)

The British Library Crime classics are always good escapism, perfect weekend reads or for when times are difficult or especially tiring. The Murder of My Aunt was particularly enjoyable for me because of its rather mischievous, comic tone. Richard Hull was clearly an author who enjoyed playing with the whodunnit genre a little. I read Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull a couple of years ago and found his different approach to storytelling quite refreshing and certainly compelling.

“What are games for, except to release one’s complexes by a little flavouring of spite?”

Like Excellent Intentions, this Golden Age mystery is told rather differently. Here we have less of a whodunnit and more of a will he do it and how. The tone throughout the novel is wickedly playful and rather arch, the narrator while fairly unlikeable is written in such a way as to make the reader want to know what comes next. Then, right at the end Hull hits us with a quite brilliant little denouement – which I had sort of started to see coming but is so well done I couldn’t help but enjoy it.  

The story is narrated by Edward, a rather idle, effete young man who has lived most of his life with his spinster aunt. He relies on her for all his money – money which wouldn’t be available to him if he were to move away. The problem is that Edward hates his aunt and he hates the Welsh village of Llwll where they live – he hates the countryside. His aunt, knowing full well her nephew’s weaknesses and love of ease, enjoys nothing more than to make him do things he dislikes – for example walking the mile to the village when he would rather drive. She goes to long and rather exhaustive lengths to achieve this – and the two are continually locked in a battle of wills. Aunt Mildred is a woman of fairly sharp intelligence, and Edward has to work hard to keep up with her. All of this takes rather more effort than Edward is used to taking with anything. He much prefers to sit inside, undisturbed with his little lap dog and a French novel. Those novels just one of the things that convinces Aunt Mildred of Edward’s dissolute temperament.

Following the incident of Edward’s efforts to avoid walking to the village and his aunts rather clever attempts to make him, Edward becomes obsessed with the idea of getting rid of his aunt. He is her only living relative – her money would enable him to go away – live a different kind of life – enjoy a bit more freedom. However, aware he will be an obvious suspect Edward starts to think about possible accidents.

“For some time past now that particular spot on the road just outside Brynmawr has fascinated me. The front gate of the house is some thirty or forty yards from the front door, before which is an open space of asphalt, useful but hardly ornamental. I think my aunt is aware of its lack of beauty for, on the left-hand side of this space as you come out, is a border containing bulbs in spring, various flowers in the summer, and dahlias in the autumn on which my aunt lavishes even more than her usual considerable care, for she is devoted to her garden and even occasionally forces me into assistance in this pursuit, so tiring for the body and the intellect. Still I must admit the success of her efforts as to flowers and vegetables. Fruit eludes her as a rule, since the sun so seldom shines in this desolate spot.”

He begins to toy with some ideas – only Edward finds his knowledge of certain things to be seriously lacking – and he finds he is obliged to undertake a little research. He has to ask questions, consult encyclopaedias and go on shopping trips away from the village. He tries not to leave any evidence behind him – but Aunt Mildred is no fool. Edward has to step up his efforts, in order to get around his aunt’s natural suspicions.

“I am now quite sure I am right. My aunt is an extremely deceitful woman. She must, I suppose, for years past have been in the habit of concealing her feelings towards me. At any rate, it is quite certain that she suspects very much more than she says of what has been happening.”

Cleverly, Hull makes Aunt Mildred every bit as unlikable as Edward. She is petty and unkind, clearly frustrated by years of lazy ingratitude from her nephew she now enjoys making him uncomfortable and thwarting him at every turn. I can imagine many readers will want to see an end to Aunt Mildred too. Will Edward achieve his objective? And will he get away with it? These are the questions that keep the reader flying through this entertaining Golden Age mystery.