A game of two halves... 3 stars

Dr Edmund Bickleigh is married to Julia, a woman some years older than him and far above him in the social status stakes. Her domineering manner feeds into his inferiority complex, but he compensates by having a string of affairs with the surprisingly willing young ladies of his Devonshire village. Gossip is a problem, of course, but Julia is willing to look the other way since she’s not the least bit in love with Edmund herself. So all remains well, until Edmund meets the one woman that he knows is his real, true love – the woman he should have married, would marry now if only he were free. Divorce is a problem – reputation is everything for a professional man. So there’s really only one course left to pursue...

The first half of the book tells of the lead up to Edmund’s attempt to murder his wife and is full of rather sly mockery of him and all the other characters. It’s written in the third person but told almost exclusively from the viewpoint of the doctor, so that the reader can’t be sure how distorted the picture of the other characters is by his perception of them. As often happens in books that set out to be ironical or satirical, there are really no characters in this that are likeable, and I must say I found the women in particular come off really badly – either silly, mindless girls desperate to be admired and loved, or gossiping middle-aged spinsters, or domineering/dominated wives.

I enjoyed the first half a lot as we follow Dr Bickleigh through his various romantic entanglements until he reaches the ecstasy of total infatuation with the new girl in town. Julia behaves more like a stern mother than a wife, disapproving of Edmund’s behaviour rather than exhibiting any signs of jealousy. The odd thing is that everyone appears to like Edmund, and that seems to be more than his distorted perception. He appears to have an outward charm that conceals his narcissistic, selfish interior self effectively from the world. We are shown how he uses fantasies to bolster his self-confidence but that those fantasies seem to have gone so far as to over-inflate his ego. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say I liked Julia, I vastly preferred her to this obnoxious little creep, who failed to charm me in any way at all! So I found an unexpected sympathy for the proposed victim, which I’m not at all sure we are supposed to feel.

There’s some doubt up to the halfway mark as to whether the murder attempt will come off or fail, and that added the necessary element of suspense to hold my interest, so I won’t spoil it by telling. But after we know whether Julia survives or not, the second half is spent with Edmund trying to cover up his plot, and I found it dragged interminably. Of course, largely this was because I disliked him so much I hoped he would be found out, but also the story spiralled further and further beyond my credulity line as it went on. The reasonable psychology of the first half disappears in the second, and from being mildly amusing, Edmund descends to being simply annoying. I spent the final third wishing it would hurry up and get to the end and when it did, it didn’t surprise me as much as it was intended to, I think.

So a game of two halves for me – I thoroughly enjoyed the first and was thoroughly bored by the second. But then, irony has never been one of my favourite things, so I have no doubt it will work better for plenty of readers.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Dover Publications.

Thank you to #MaliceAforethought #NetGalley and Dover Publications for for providing an ARC of this novel, in exchange for my honest and fair review.
4*. Originally published in1931, “Malice Aforethought” by Francis Iles, inverts the murder story in that rather than a mystery whodunnit, we are in the mind of the murderer, Dr. Edmund Bickleigh from April 1928 to 1929. Francis Iles was a pen name of author, Anthony Berkeley Cox (1893-1971).

Set in an English hamlet (defined as being smaller than a village) of Wyvern's Cross, “Malice Aforethought” is rife with small village gossip and affairs. That a medical doctor would try to murder anyone is unusual in itself. The first half of the novel meanders through life in the village and in the Bickleigh household, where Julia Bickleigh, nee Crewstanton of an upper-class family, wears the pants and rules the roost. She constantly reminds the relatively diminutive Dr. Bickleigh of being of a lower class and of her estimation of his lack of worth. From liking Dr. Bickleigh initially, the reader is exposed to his chauvinist ways, his many successive dalliances in efforts to raise his self-esteem, and his developing egotistical bent.

There is constant humour, often dark, throughout the book. So late is the murder attempt in the story that the reader suspects that the protagonist, Dr. Bickleigh, may be thwarted in his efforts. As Dr. Bickleigh undertakes one underhanded manoeuvre after another, and progressively gets away with more than he fails at, one sees him develop into a narcissistic, sociopathic personality.

The court scenes at the end of the novel are written with greater concision than the preceding 90 percent of the book and are better for that. The findings in the petri dish in a court scene are a surprise lead-up to the twist in the ending. Meandering but humorous and well written.

Please refer to my website and goodreads.com for this and other reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2640203247
https://thereadersvault.blogspot.com/2018/12/malice-aforethought-by-francis-iles.html

This is an ambitious experiment to expand the Golden Age mystery conventions, and the author brings considerable skill and imagination to the task. Instead of starting with a puzzling murder and unraveling the psychology and history that explains it, the book begins with a seemingly ordinary man and chronicles the internal and external events that lead to attempted and completed homicides.

Unfortunately, most modern readers will have completely different perspectives than the author. She obviously saw a weak but likable man disintegrating under slights and teasing, who cannot see the brutal nature of his affairs and very, very gritty crime. The plot has some vague parallels to Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, but Nabokov took seriously the stuff Iles treats as minor or humorous, and the stuff Iles takes seriously seems silly today.

You can enjoy this book for the writing and the story, without thinking too much about what it means. I also recommend it as an important book in the development of the modern mystery. But it will likely leave you feeling somewhat baffled and unsatisfied as what the author treats as psychology most people today think of a social repression.

Classic crime story of a hen-pecked husband who murders his wife - she is older, richer, taller, of better social standing and cold; he is a small, quite country GP, well liked and flirtatious.

There is no spoiler alert here as the intention is there from the start. What follows is how he plans this murder for "murder is a serious business. The slightest slip may be disasterous." The questions is: how will he do it, and will he get away with it.

Whilst the story takes its time, rambling along, it eventually does pick up speed with a clever twist at the end.

Definitely for those who love classic crime.

It's a classic that every mystery fan should read. Surprisingly starts with identifying the killer and then unveils the entire story of how he got to that point and why. Highly recommended.

Dr. Edmund Birkleigh never really loved his wife but it wasn't until a summer's tennis party that he decided to kill her. And we know that from the opening line of the book. The rest of the book takes us through the actual murder, the investigation, the trial, and the twist.

This was an okay story but not one of my favorites from the crime classics. Plodded in places and I did end up skimming quite a bit.



Three stars
This book came out September 12
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Malice Aforethought is a great British golden-age mystery with a killer twist.

Mrs. Julia Bickleigh was born into wealth and minor aristocracy. When her father blew the family fortunes before his death, Julia was forced to marry a common doctor. She never let her husband, Dr. Edmund Bickleigh, forget he was a worm well below her status.

“Dr. Bickleigh’s reactions to his wormhood were perfectly normal. He accepted it as one accepts a scar on the face. It was a pity, but there it was and it could not be helped.”

One day, the worm turned and the doctor began plotting his wife’s murder. He already had her replacement in mind, the extremely rich Miss Madeleine Cranmere. But first he must rid himself of his mistress.

Malice Aforethought was originally published in England in 1931. It had innovative plotting for its day with the whodunnit resolved on the first page leaving only the how to the rest of the book. After watching years of Columbo, the plot device seems rather creaky. However, the powerhouse ending makes up for it. If you like British golden-age mysteries, this is an excellent choice. It is also recommended to fans of Alfred Hitchcock films. 4 stars!

Thanks to Dover Publications and NetGalley for an advance copy.

"Dr. Edmund Bickleigh married above his station. Although popular and well respected in his little Devonshire community, he seethes with resentment at the superior social status of his domineering wife, Julia. Bickleigh soothes his inferiority complex by seducing as many of the local women as he possibly can — but with the collapse of his latest fling and a fresh dose of sneering contempt from Julia, the doctor resolves to silence his wife forever and begins plotting the perfect murder.

With Malice Aforethought, Francis Iles produced not just a darkly comic narrative of psychological suspense but also a landmark in crime fiction: for the first time, the murderer's identity was revealed at the start of the tale. Hailed as a tour de force by the British press of its day, the book retains its shock value and stands at #16 in the Crime Writers' Association ranking of the Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time."

Years ago I watched the two part series this book is based on and just loved it. Now you can have the book on your shelves with this wonderfully period cover!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dover Publications for a digital galley of this novel.

According to information in the book this is "an unabridged republication of the work originally published by Victor Gollancz, Ltd. London, in 1931." There will also be a new cover which is probably more in line with the one that might have appeared on the 1931 book.

I am a fan of the writing of Francis Iles but have never read this book. I'm so glad I was able to read it now because Iles wrote a psychological thriller where the reader knows from the first few chapters that Dr. Edmund Bickley is going to kill his wife. This was quite a groundbreaking device at the time the novel was written and it was most entertaining to watch Bickley plan, carry out and then deal with the aftermath of Julia's death. Bickley also congratulates himself that he will be able to remove Julia from his life without anyone being aware of what he had done. Murder? No, Dr. Bickley will not have it that he is planning a murder.

Watching Dr. Bickley go through all the personality changes that took him from a timid, henpecked husband to a self-confident man contemplating murder for anyone who aroused his anger was completely absorbing. What I had not realized is that I would be experiencing humor inserted throughout the book. Dr. Bickley's partial description of a woman with Titan hair included "...she was so excessively lady-like that butter would obviously not melt even in her flaming hair."

I'm so glad I took the time to read this wonderfully written novel. If you enjoy good mystery fiction, this just might be a good fit for you. Being without all the modern day technology takes the book along at a seeming slower pace. Although it certainly didn't seem to slow down the spread of gossip through the village.

Dr. Edmund Bickleigh had decided to murder his wife, Julia.

The reader discovers that Edmund Bickleigh is a serial cheater. He continues on this path by attempting to lure a guest at his own tennis party. The statement "I should have married..."comes into play a few times...
Julia, Edmund's wife, was a brow-beating, controlling prude. The only way that Edmund could shake his inferiority complex was by having repeated affairs. Then came the lovely, delicate heiress, Madeline Cranmere. Although not strikingly so, Madeline was beautiful in many ways. She listened to Edmund, elicited and partook in conversation, had much in common with him - clearly a breath of fresh air.

Edmund was a minor artist with some talent - Madeline suggested that he sketch her. This is when they fell deeply in love. Truly, thought Edmund, Madeline was unique. She was "the one". Meanwhile, Edmund and Julia play a game of "polite make-believe" at home (when he was there). Julia did have awful headaches that she had begun to take morphia for.

As Madeline and Edmund became closer, he truly wants to divorce Julia and marry Madeline. Yet, Madeline told him that she had a real problem marrying a divorced man. But, oh how she loved him... She had to distance herself from him in so the townspeople didn't find out about their intense affair. She put them on a schedule for "dates".and began telling Edmund how unfair they were being to Julia. He promises to tell Julia everything, so that Julia will divorce him. Madeline says, "NO!" She waffles constantly between telling Edmund that she would go anywhere, do anything - just to be with him, and at other times that they had to break up. Edmund goes ahead and tells Julia about his love for Madeline and his plan to marry her Madeline ,finds out and throws a fit!

Edmund begins to spike Julia's food with headache-inducing meds. Then, he gave her morphia for relief. Julia meets with Madeline. Upon return, she tells Edmund that he is being used, Madeline has no feelings for him and is merely amusing herself. Also, Madeline is with Denny Bourne at least as much as she is with Edmund ! Edmund takes this as jealous nonsense.

Madeline was in tennis matches, toured Europe and was away for awhile, Meanwhile, Edmund gives Julia a lethal dose of morphia. Madeline is with Denny the day Edmund becomes a widower. He goes to tell Madeline the news that he is free. Yet, Madeline and Denny are engaged to marry. Huh.

A rat of a local attorney, Chatford, is married to Ivy - a long ago "friend" of Edmund. Insanely jealous, He goes to Scotland Yard to tell them that Julia was murdered - there was no accidental overdose.

And then the fun begins...

A charming - almost enchanting - story of intense love and hatred, (and, perhaps, murder), this book is a MUST READ!

Many thanks to Dover Publications, Inc. and NetGalley for an interesting, and at times exciting, read !

First published in 1931, this novel is highly rated as an example of the inverted murder story and as a psychological study of a murderer. It tells the tale of Dr Bickleigh who plans to murder his apparently domineering wife, and is loosely based on the famous Herbert Armstrong case of a decade earlier.

Much of the book is more of a black comedy, a satire on the manners and mores of an English village.

I admit to not being a great fan of Iles/Berkeley in any of his guises. Others did “inverted” and “psychological” before and after, and more effectively. The author obviously had difficulties in his relationships with women and I found this book fairly misogynistic in outlook. The book is dedicated to his first wife, although they divorced in the year of its publication, and I suspect that Julia Bickleigh is based on the author’s mother.

All of the characters are unremittingly awful and unlikeable, which is perhaps the whole point, but I found the overall tone rather wearing after a time. The surprise ending is not much of a surprise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dover Publications for the digital review copy.