I have been enjoying these British Library Classic Crime books, they are nicely presented too, I love the covers. This is set in the House of Commons and was actually written by an MP. An easy, entertaining read.

I love the British Library Crime Classics imprint, and this is latest title from that series I've read. It's a great locked room mystery that reads as only slightly dated, despite dating to 1932. Further enjoyable since the portrayal of the politicians shows some of them to be just as inept and out of touch as to have been pulled from today's headlines. We can enjoy that ineptness more because it's fictional. Wilkinson served in Parliament, so her insight into the inner workings of that political body are fascinating. I can only hope that this just demonstrates that 85 years later, things have changed and yet some things have remained the same, which may mean peril can be averted.

Another great British Library Crime Classic book. I disliked most, if not all, the characters, but still found them amusing and entertaining. In fact, I think that's partly what I enjoyed. The story flows quite well and it's particularly interesting right now with all the Brexit madness. The ending is a bit... not realistic, but not particularly disappointing either.

All in all, I would recommend this book as a light summer/weekend read. Entertaining, quick, well written.

I received this book free from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!

*Mant thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A detective story on the premises of the British Parliament, written in the early 1930s by Ms Wilkinson who was one of the first female British MPs. I found the intrigue interesting, although at time the background of the workings of the Parliament was hard for me to follow. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and recommend it to all classics fans.

The mystery itself is quite average. A murder in a locked room (really, those are dangerous places, it seems to be much safer to be out in open spaces, possibly surrounded by your enemies…), an amateur sleuth who semi-reluctantly gets involved in the whole affair (after the victim’s very beautiful daughter asks him very nicely) and police who are only semi-bothered by said amateur meddling in their investigation.

The uniqueness of the story comes from the fact that the locked room isn’t situated in a country house but in the House of Commons. And that the book was written by an MP (and minister) who had an actual insight into the going-ons there, so the setting isn’t just some nice window-dressing, it’s an important part of the story and it feels real. And more than that: Wilkinson also had actual insights into politics itself…and a sharp tongue (feather? typewriter?) so we are treated to paragraphs like that:

[h]e was always assuring himself that some time or other he would settle down and find out how the country ought to be run, and why politicians made such a mess of running it. But as a popular young bachelor he found life too interesting at any particular moment to acquire sufficient of that knowledge to be awkward to his party whips.

Additionally, Wilkinson also had actual insights into being a woman in politics (and some idea of what men thought them):

“And why should I help you?”
Robert was positively shocked. Why should she help him! What did she think women were in politics for if not to be helpful? He came from an old political family. Had one of the women of his family ever asked why she should help?

Poor Robert…you almost feel sorry for him.

“Oh Damn these modern women,” he thought desperately. If only they would be either modern or just women, but the combination of the two was really unfair on a fellow who had to deal with them!

Almost.

And all of this was brilliant. But it also made it somewhat hard to read. I am going to assume that you haven’t been living under a rock and that you know what’s currently going on in (British) politics so paragraphs like this:

I’ve often wondered, West, what it is that happens to most men – not all, of course – when they get into a Government […] I remember when a previous Government was within three days of dissolution and a smashing defeat talking to a Cabinet Minister who was calmly making plans for the following years.

will make you laugh first and then depress you because this book was written in 1932 and things really haven’t changed much, have they? And that’s probably the reason it took me so long to read it. Because even a hilariously witty look at politics is still…well a look at politics and who wants to do that in their free time right now?

But really, this isn’t me saying that you shouldn’t read this book. Just…be prepared for what you’re getting yourself into? Because I picked it up in the middle of the major Brexit chaos and after watching MPs shout at each other for hours, the thought of picking up a book where MPs solve murders (and also shout occasionally) really wasn’t that appealing.

This was an interesting Golden Age mystery with an unusual locked room setting—in the House of Patliament!
The lead character is a young MP, and he provides a fascinating look into the life of a parliamentarian.
The locked room solution is ingenious and the book is an enjoyable read

A really fantastic mystery. Excellent writing, well thought out plot and very enjoyable characters. Enjoyed every moment

A surprising number of mysteries are written by people who have no idea what a mystery is. They think you can stick a murder at one end and a solution at the other and you turn any tired story into a mystery novel. This is a good example of a totally ridiculous mystery with an equally absurd "solution" tacked one, that is unrelated to the plot or characters. The author doesn't begin to play fair with "clues" or means, motive and opportunity for that matter. I'm not sure what the editors of British Library Crime Classics were thinking.

Strip out the mystery and you have a talky and silly insiders account of British Parliament and sexual politics when women were first allowed to serve. Had it been written by an outsider it would have negligible merit. But given that the author was an early and important figure in British feminism--one of the first women in Parliament and a bold iconoclast with a colorful career full of passion, open affairs, fiery speeches and radical politics--it is fascinating to to read her roman à clef, although the world has forgotten most of the people and institutions she lampoons.

The writing is stilted and artificial, the pacing non-existent and the plot unworthy of mention--the characters have flashes of color but are not consistent or deep and do not develop. So I can't recommend this book for any other reason than the insight into the author and her times.

A promising start degenerates into Parliamentary procedural madness and the inner, lovestruck ramblings of a thoroughly stupid young man. Honestly, our protagonist should be IN JAIL with his ridiculous snooping and general mooniness over this Annette woman; it is complete nonsense. This novel made me angry at it. A hard pass.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Division Bell Mystery – it’s entertaining on several levels both from the mystery ‘locked room’ aspect and historically, socially and culturally with its insight into how Parliament worked in the 1930s and the status of women in Parliament in the inter-war years. In fact political commentary runs throughout the novel. It was a period of great social injustice, people were still struggling in the aftermath of the Great War – a period of mass unemployment with demands for both political and social change.

Ellen Wilkinson was one of the first women Labour MPs. I’ve come across her before as a fiery politician, known as ‘Red Ellen’ both for her red hair and her left-wing politics. She supported the men from Jarrow in Tyneside in 1936 as they marched from their home town to London to present a petition against the mass unemployment and extreme poverty in the north-east of England. She marched with them for part of the way and handed in their petition to the House of Commons.

She was a keen murder mystery fan and The Division Bell Mystery is her one entry into the Golden Age Detective fiction. The classic mystery was popular in the interwar years as people entertained themselves with puzzles such as the ‘locked room’ mysteries as in this book.

The main character is the Home Secretary’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, young Robert West. As a Parliamentary Private Secretary herself, Ellen Wilkinson portrays his role and political intrigue with convincing detail. There’s a financial crisis and the Home Secretary is negotiating with the American financier Georges Oissel for a loan. The Division Bell rings – a signal to MPs to cast their votes – and West is shocked to hear a gunshot as he is making his way down the corridor leading to Room J, where the Home Secretary and Oissel had been dining. On entering the room he finds the Home Secretary has left to vote and Oissel is slumped on the floor, his shirt front stained with blood and a revolver lying beside him. No one else was in the room, no one had been seen entering or leaving the room and there is no evidence of who had killed him. It falls to West to work with the police investigating his death.

It is a nicely complicated mystery but for me it is the setting and the characters that makes this book so interesting. West is the main character but I particularly liked Grace Richards, a young female MP, based on Ellen Wilkinson herself – in her preface Rachel Reeves points out the similarities between Ellen and Grace. Once I started to read The Division Bell Mystery I didn’t want to put it down – definitely a 5* read for me!

My thanks to the publishers, Poisoned Pen Press, for my review copy via NetGalley.

Ellen Wilkinson was a Member of Parliament and her insider knowledge informs The Division Bell Mystery, a mystery published in 1932 when the UK was reeling in the Great Depression. As it opens, the Home Minister is meeting with an old friend who has become a wealthy financier, softening him up, he hopes, to make a generous loan to the government. When he steps out to cast a vote, his friend is murdered though how is anybody’s guest. It’s not technically a locked-room mystery, but as it features a man sitting in a room alone where many witnesses hear the shot and see no one leave the room, it is basically a locked-room without the lock.

Complicating matters, the victim Oissel’s home is burgled and the Home Secretary’s favorite guard who had been on loan to Oissel is also murdered. Of course, Scotland Yard is on the case ruling out the much more convenient explanation of suicide. The Home Secretary sets his Parliamentary Private Secretary, another Member of Parliament, Robert West on the job of working with the Yard to solve the murder with the least embarrassment possible.

Robert West is an affable and competent young Member and he is diligent enough. Thankfully, he enlists enough friends and acquaintances who do most of the heavy lifting to the mystery is eventually solved. Along the way, he falls in love unwisely with a femme fatale of sorts who seems to delight in adding more fish to her string while obtusely ignoring a much better candidate who clearly must love him. Oh, if only there were a sequel!

I enjoyed Ellen Wilkonson’s acerbic bite which she inflicted on her fellow members of Parliament. I am not well-versed enough in that era’s parliamentary characters, but I have a feeling some of them will be recognizably caricatured. She must have despised pretension and time-wasting and it comes through in her book. If you are both interested in policy and frustrated by those who legislate it, you will snicker more than once.

The mystery is fair, fair enough that you might begin to think Robert West is a bit thick. He is certainly indiscreet, though perhaps if he were not he might never have informed smarter and wiser folks who helped solve the mystery. Some characters do not do much to further the plot or as red herrings to confound the mystery. One, in fact, seems a likely Watson if this had become a series, but as a single book, he seems superfluous. Of course, if such a series had been planned, I think West needed some skill-sharpening because he was better at collecting information than seeing the big picture to know what it means.

I enjoyed the parts about parliament and how it works or fails to work far more than the mystery, but that was mostly because Robert West was just not the sharpest pencil in the drawer of characters.

I received an e-galley of The Division Bell Mystery from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Division Bell Mystery at Poisoned Pen Press
Ellen Wilkinson at Wikipedia

This was another fascinating entry in the British Library Crime Classics, which are becoming a go-to for period mysteries.

As a mystery, this was adequate; some important detecting takes place out of our view, and our hero is in so many convenient locations at convenient moments as to make one question his actual role in the affair.

But as a mystery steeped in a real knowledge of time and place, it’s a gem. There are plausible political and financial motives on offer, and politicians living through a moment of great change for Britain in the world. You’ve got the little details that build the story’s world, like Christie’s experience with poisons or Aird’s knowledge of mining concerns. (By way of particular contrast here, Christie’s politicians were more often than not ridiculous!)

The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson is a lovely classical cozy.

Set in the House of Commons it tells a story of a dead financier, and a young private secretary who teams up with financier's daughter to find his killer.

Although I am not a fan of politics or political settings I quite enjoyed this story.
Intelligent mystery, with well written dialogue and clever plot.
It has that distinctive Agatha Christie feel to it that I like very much.
Very good set of characters, well presented and portrayed.

The Home Secretary has invited an American financier George Oissel to a private dinner at the House of Commons to discuss the terms of a government loan. On leaving Oissel on his own a shot is heard and Oissel is found dead. Inspector Blackitt is brought in to investigate with various help including Robert West M.P. and Parliamnetary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary.
Set and written in 1930's England, with a writing style that is reflective of the period and including political details which is not surprising as Wilkinson was a M.P. at the time. Overall an enjoyable and interesting mystery.

Set in the houses of Parliament in 1932, when it was also written, the Division Bell Mystery is the first mystery written by a female member of Parliament.

Someone is murdered. However, the focus is on British politics. Not being British, I had a hard time following the story. Those familiar with Parliament might enjoy the intrigue. However, I didn’t think the mystery was good enough to wade through all the politics. It is more of a curiosity than a good read. 2 stars.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This delightful mystery, the only one by this MP, is both an entertaining insider's look at the everyday life of the Palace of Westminster (otherwise known as the Houses of Parliament) and a fun mystery.

Wilkinson wrote the book during the brief period when she was out of the House of Commons. She shows wonderful familiarity with the everyday life of the institution with good characters and plenty of commentary.

It's all woven into a good mystery. While I wasn't surprised by the murderer (I had him pegged early on), the working out of how and why the deed was done was intriguing.

A gun's discharge disturbs those dining in a parliamentary dining room. They find an American capitalist who is a guest dead. At first glance, it appears a suicide, but a robbery attempt in his rooms, further investigation, and his granddaughter's insistence he would not end his own life make them suspect homicide. With no one else in the room and no way for someone to leave without being seen by the member of parliament discovering the corpse, how did the murderer get away? The room is sealed. Jenks, who had been assigned to the businessman, turns up dead in the robbery attempt. A notebook written in cipher by the American was among his effects. How did he gain possession of it? It's an interesting whodunit from the golden age of mysteries. The author, a parliamentary member, provided glimpses into the life of a member of the House of Commons. I received an advance electronic copy from the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review. (3.5 stars)

When a wealthy American financier is found dead in a parliamentary dining room in London with a gun by his side the first thought is that it is a suicide. However, the police are suspicious when they notice there is no gunshot residue on the body. That observation kick starts an investigation which is carried on as much by Scotland Yard as by a young Member of Parliament who is also an aide to the Home Secretary. As it progresses several other characters take part in it in minor ways and then fade into the background, or disappear completely. In the final chapter, all is revealed and the story comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

This is an intriguing whodunit and howdunit mystery, made special by behind the scenes manoeuvring of the politicians to deal with their own issues. The House of Commons locale is great local colour, the arcane customs of parliament and the machinations of the politicians and civil service (not always on the same page) make for an interesting read. The author demonstrates a good knowledge of the parliamentary and political side of things to add authenticity to the story. The Preface written by

The story is set in the 1930's but it could easily be set in the present time. Although there's some pompous dialogue, it is not entirely out-of-date. The young MP Robert West, who is the closest thing to a protagonist, at one point wants a female to do something for him. When she questions his request, he makes a rather insensitive and arrogant chauvinistic soliloquy to himself about the role of women in life (they are there to do as they are told) which seems out of character for him, but may represent the author's experience as a female MP. The Preface in the book written by Rachel Reeves, MP, is an excellent portrait of the author, her political career and her detective novel writing.


Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for an advance eBook. The views expressed are my own.

I do enjoy a good murder mystery and when I came across the opportunity to read and review a novel from the golden age of murder mysteries. My knowledge of authors from this period is fairly limited to the well known and still popular (Christie, Marsh and Sayers mostly) and I had not heard of Ellen Wilkinson. This is possibly because, unlike the others mentioned, she only wrote the one detective novel. She was, in fact, the first female, Labour MP in Britain and a bit of a character by all accounts. I do feel that I've been a bit remiss in not knowing more about her before now, seeing as she was a trailblazer for women, a writer, a left-wing politician and just so happens to share my birthday. Still, by the happy accident of coming across this book, I do now know a little more about her.
On to the mystery itself. It focuses on the government and parliament. The division bell of the title being the bell that is rung to signal the vote in the houses of parliament and also in this book, the murder of Georges Oissel, who had been negotiating a loan to the government. Young tory MP Robert West, who is parliamentary private secretary to the Home Secretary tries to solve the murder. Particularly as the Home Secretary is implicated by way of his being the last person to see Oissel alive. As the story progresses he finds himself drawn to the attractive granddaughter of Oissel. Although it appears that she herself might be caught up in the murder somehow.
In many ways, this book is as much a book about the way parliament works, as it is a murder mystery. There was much the reminded me of the wonderful yes minister and it's clear that it's a world that Wilkinson knows well. In many ways, it's surprising how little has changed since it was written.
I enjoyed the whole book, both the parliamentary aspect and the mystery. I have to admit that I didn't solve it, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment. I particularly liked the character of Grace Richards, who I believe was based on Wilkinson herself. I would have been interested to see how the relationship between the MP's on opposite sides of the house might have developed had there been future books.
This isn't a perfect book, there are a number of things that don't really work so well. Characters that play a large role and then vanish suddenly, others who pop up unexpectedly as though they had been there from the start. I'm not entirely convinced by the method of murder either, but perhaps this is simply because I can't really picture it from the description. Still, overall this is very enjoyable and if it is taken as a 'first' book in a series, even if there aren't any further books, then it stands up quite well. I really enjoyed it and can't help but be sad that it's an only one.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my copy of this book! "The Division Bell" is one of the best books I've read recently. Mixing the classic murder mystery structure with British politics works in a marvelous way in this unique story written by MP Ellen Wilkinson. I'm personally very invested in politics and find it extremely interesting how the author was able to show the reader how the parliament worked in the 1930s without being boring or straying away from the main plot. As a Golden Age mystery, "The Division Bell" has every characteristic of the best books of this genre and the outcome and murderer reveal is satisfactory. I couldn't put the book down once I started reading it.