Two different though great classic mysteries that are must reads for any mystery fan, both will keep you guessing until the end.

Excellent Reading....
Excellent reading. Two classic reads from the Golden Age follow the usual informative and enjoyable introduction from Martin Edwards. With colourful characters, perfect prose and intricate, clever plotting both are wholly entertaining and thoroughly worthy reissues.

In the first story a set designer is found dead near a lake dressed in white pyjamas and of course almost everybody has a sound reason to hate her. And " everybody " means a troupe of actors,a director and a wealthy supporter. The setting,a country house,and the colourful characters are part of the charm. However when it comes to suspense it did not quite deliver the goods. It was really not difficult to guess who the culprit was.
As for the second story,it was basically a locked room mystery. A rather fearsome woman ,who had more than her share of enemies,is found murdered in her locked studio in the garden. Here again it was not really difficult to find the murderer. But once it was established who the miscreant was the amateur sleuth, in this case a Major Boddy,needs to find proof and this drags on and on...The solution to the murder or more precisely the "how" is impossible to guess as the reader does not get any clues.
All in all,two charming stories (country house, quirky characters, English summer garden...) but not quite successful ones when it comes to mystery and suspense.
John Bude has better stories to tell...

Death in White Pyjamas / Death Knows No Calendar is a double title which includes 2 mysteries by John Bude. Originally released in 1944/1942 respectively this reformat and re-release, out 7th June 2020 is part of the British Library Crime Classics series by Poisoned Pen Press. This edition is 488 pages (for the ebook version) and available in paperback and ebook formats. (Other editions available in other formats). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

These are both well written golden age British country house murder mysteries. Bude's style is lighthearted, sometimes bordering on wryly sarcastic (he gleefully describes one character's romantic exploits as "priapic"). It reminded me somewhat of Edmund Crispin's slightly campy overtone on several occasions. Nevertheless, both books were enjoyable reads, well plotted and very (very) British.

For me, one of the draws of the books in the crime classics series are the erudite and always interesting introductions by editor Martin Edwards. Mr. Edwards has a prodigious knowledge of the genre and writes engagingly and well.

Well written, this double entry and the series as a whole are well worth seeking out. This would make a superlative selection for readers of the genre as well as an introduction to classic crime fiction from the golden age by a lesser known author from the period. It's so nice to see these being released for a new generation of fans.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

two excellent mysteries with very different takes on the genre. White Pajamas puts all the emphasis on the characters, with the murder not occurring until more than halfway through. Even so the death is puzzling & it's fun working it out.

In Calendar, the victim is pretty obvious as are the many people with motives. The delight here is figuring out how the murders was committed and preventing more.

Although Bude's tendency to have his characters speak in dialect (I found the lisping character particularly irritating) is not something you'll find in newer mysteries. Dude is one of the best at description and characterization. He has a real gift for making a figure spring to life with only a few phrases.

It is hard for me to dislike any of the British Library Crime Classics. They are fun books even when they are not amazingly complex mysteries. Death in White Pyjamas contains a group of actors and actresses, a country house, a playwright, and, of course, a murder. The scene was set but somehow it never quite pulled me in. Enjoyable, but not one I will return to. Death Knows No Calendar involves a shooting in a locked artist's studio. I knew who had done the crime very early on. I think most readers would find it obvious. However, I did enjoy watching the Major figure it out. That being said, no reader could have figured out the way the crime was committed and I do prefer mysteries where the reader has a fighting chance of beating the investigator to the solution.

Two stories in one book bundle. If readers enjoy reading John Bude would not find this bundle disappointing.

"Death in White Pyjamas/Death Knows no Calendar" was my first John Bude experience. Unfortunately, not a pleasant one. John Bude went at length to build the stories with drama which I first enjoyed initially, in fact for both stories. The solving the crime process, however, were too slow and not entertaining at all. I lost interests following the sleuths poking around for clues. But the writing was beautiful. John Bude was excellent with words and description which was a pleasant surprise.

The two stories did not captivate me enough; just an average read to me. 3 stars

In this latest reprinting contributing to the of “British Library Crime Classics” we are given two stories: Death in White Pyjamas from 1944 which might be described as a “House Party Murder” and Death Knows No Colour from 1942 which is the classic “Sealed Room Mystery”. Neither really refers to the World War then running and both seem rather to be led by the theme – as a challenge to be met by the author.
In Death in White Pyjamas a theatre group are staying in the country house of their funder as they prepare for a new production, to complicate the plot the producer also has a cottage nearby. The group will therefore know each other (and in some cases their past and secrets) and carry rivalries and dislikes. When the body of Deirdre LeHaye, the designer, is discovered it has already been established that she is not particularly kind and a suite of characters dislike her. Then police will arrive and try to identify the murderer by process of elimination – the reader will however know that the other guests are laying down a tissue of lies for various reasons. The most prominent of these being that men are trying to “protect the reputation” of a young woman – a woman who might nowadays be regarded as rather vacuous and no particularly wonderful. Time passes and it is only after the discovery of another body is discovered is the full plot unravelled – in reality a strange pre-meditated exercise.
Death Knows No Colour is located in a village to the South of London. We are shown the members of a small more privileged social group, supported by the requisite servants (who know their place but have access to other information streams). Giving nothing away, the victim is a successful and wealthy woman artist. Apart from her husband many of the men around her have been friends or admirers in the past but with none taking it farther. Her death is initially logged as a suicide will be privately investigated by one of them a retired Colonel Boddy, a man interested in crime and the legal process. This story allows the back history of the main characters to be revealed in all their weaknesses, something that they may be trying to cover up with lies and evasions to the police. Meanwhile the victim is largely and critically presented through their eyes. Ultimately Colonel Boddy will work out how a murder could have been undertaken in the locked room – actually the artist’s studio – and then it becomes possible to work who did it and why. Life returns to “normal”.
The point I suspect for reading classic crime is the historic placements with all the cultural and social differences – these stories both of course speak to that, not least to the attitudes towards women. It should be recognised that people are not substantially different in their core values, likes and dislikes. Crime fiction carries with it a certain callousness because at least one person is expendable and not necessarily the one the reader would choose either. But in these types of novels there is the investigation and the discovery of the guilty party. So success of a book lies in believability of both characters and crime. Bude handles his extensive character lists with assurance, building a complex background so that the guilty party is not identified too early. So the only criticism is that it is that complexity itself that weakens the likelihood of belief. The seemingly over complicated method of murders while being “clever” might seem rather silly in retrospect. But if like this reader you regard crime fiction reading as “escapist” or “light”, then the stories both bowl along at pace and hit the target.

Both Death in White Pyjamas & Death Knows No Calendar were disappointments to me. I expect more from John Bude than an incredibly long setup and a disappointing conclusion.

Both tales have a vicious female provocateur that is murdered late in the story. Deidre in Pyjamas was literally hated by everyone within range of her voice. Lydia in Calendar was just as evil.

However, the solution of both tales was impossible for the reader to discover. Key clues were withheld to a minute before the detective revealed whodunit. Pyjamas had so many abrupt twists of who was lying at the end that I soon stopped even trying to solve the mystery myself. Calendar was a locked room mystery with an answer only known to rural British villagers at the time.

Therefore, I would only recommend Death in White Pyjamas & Death Knows No Calendar to readers who do not want to try to solve the mysteries themselves. 3 stars. Armchair detectives should read any other book by this usually good author rather than this book.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

There're two complete traditional British detective stories in the book. The first one, Death in White Pyjamas, is a puzzle mystery set in the English countryside, that combines a "whodunit" with a "howdunit". It starts slowly with the murder not happening until well into the story. However, readers ought not to be surprised by the identity of the victim. The action picks up with the discovery of the body and the arrival of the police in the person of Police Inspector Harting. The Inspector and his Sergeant Dane are well suited to solving the mystery through sheer hard work. The killer has concocted a clever cover story and an ingenious mechanical device with which to carry out the plot. It's all far-fetched but makes for a good mystery read. The members of the suspect pool are from the theater world. Each of them is quirky or annoying in their own way, making for interesting background to the mystery story. It takes some effort to adapt to the verbose dialogue which seems common to these traditional mystery stories.

In the second story, "Death Knows No Calendar", amateur detective Major Tom Boddy, takes on the investigation of a "sealed box" suspicious death at an English country home. With the help of his manservant, Syd Gammon, he figures out how a female artist woman was shot in her locked studio. It's the more interesting of the two stories, with two puzzles included for the amateur sleuths to solve. The major and his sidekick are standout characters worth a special mention.

The helpful introduction by Martin Edwards merits a read.

Recommended.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a complementary advance reading copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. The comments about it are my own.

Two novels for the price of one – always good news!

Death in White Pyjamas was first published in 1944 but doesn’t mention the war at all. It involves a group of actors and their producer, Basil Barnes and philanthropic theatre owner, Sam Richardson. The action primarily takes in Sam’s country house, where members of the group are always welcome to stay and relax. They also meet more formally for the initial rehearsals of plays before moving to the theatre for full rehearsals on stage with the set. Each actor is well-drawn, with an elderly male character actor, Willy; Clara, an experienced female; and Angela, a young female ingenue. Deidre, the set designer, is also a member of the ensemble. There is no young male lead, which is puzzling, but there is a young male playwright, Rudolph. There is a death, but not until a third of the way through the book.

Similarly, Death Knows No Calendar was published in 1942 but has no mention of the war. Lydia Arundel is a famous (and rich) painter. Her husband, John, used to be an actor but ceased working when he married Lydia. He has fitted out his old workroom as an Edwardian bar and the couple have invited fellow villagers to an opening night. That is a clever way of introducing us to the villagers as Bude sketches them sitting at their breakfast tables, looking at the invitation they have each received.

DKNC has some playful touches with Major Boddy, a devotee of crime fiction setting off for a walk. He “crossed the stile into Beddow’s Bottom, walked along the bank of Braddock’s stream, turned off at Wilkinson’s Spinney and entered […] Parker’s Wood.” I find it difficult to believe that any village in the UK has four consecutive features named after people!

Major Boddy is almost a caricature of the traditional British major, back in the UK after many years in India. However, don’t let that put you off. Boddy does eventually work it all out and his cockney batman, Syd Gammon, is a joy.

A warning for devotees of crime fiction. Allen J Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV states that the two books involve John Bude’s series detective, Inspector William Meredith. However, neither book does so. The Death in White Pyjamas is investigated by Inspector Harting and the Calendar-less death by the amateur Major Boddy with Inspector Jolly coming in for the kill (sorry – not the best of phrases!)

1 - Death in White Pyjamas
A Country House Mystery originally published in 1942
Old Knolle house in Sussex, is the home of Sam Richardson, a wealthy theatre promoter and owner of the Beaumont Theatre. Theatre producer Basil Barnes, lives nearby in Fallow Cottage, on the outskirts of the Lambdon village. Over time the actors stay at Old Knolle house to rehearse the latest play that they will perform. The story shows the various interactions between the characters, and relating the various motives, which in its slow build up, will climax in a death.
Inspector Harting investigates.
An entertaining and well-written mystery.
2 - Death Knows No Calendar
A Locked Room Scenario. John and Lydia Arundel have organised a party to their official opening of their licensed premises, The Little Bottel, in Beckwood. One of the invited is Major Tom Boddy an amateur sleuth. Later Lydia is found dead and the police believe it to be a suicide. Boddy with his sidekick Syd Gannon investigate. Over time they eliminate their suspects, determine who the guilty party is, and discover the clues that show motive and method.
A enjoyed this interesting story, but what I didn't care for was for me the overuse of the vernacular, and the lisp speech.

Death in White Pajamas was a lot of fun. A traditional Golden Age mystery combining country house and theater settings, the book featured entertaining dialogue and characters. Docked one star for what I thought was an obvious solution.

"Death in White Pyjamas" is a mystery that was originally published in 1944 and is set in England. This mystery took up the first half of this book. The murder didn't occur until later in the book, so the reader got to see everything leading up to the murder. This included strong clues about whodunit. For the reader, it was more about working out how the murder was done. The detective didn't initially have these clues, so he asked questions, checked alibis, and looked for clues, but he and his sidekick mainly speculated about who might have done the murder and how. They talked out several possible scenarios, and it took a while to unravel the truth because they weren't especially smart. However, it was an interesting mystery with entertaining characters. There was no sex. There was a fair amount of bad language.

"Death Knows No Calendar" is a mystery that was originally published in 1942 and is set in England. The murder was made to look like a suicide, so it was an amateur sleuth who decided to look into how the murderer could have been committed and who had motive. Again, whodunit seemed pretty obvious to me. The sleuth worked through the motives and alibis fairly quickly to come to the same conclusion. Then it was simply tracking down enough clues to convince the police and figuring out how the clever, locked room murder was done. Unless you happen to have lived at that time, you're unlikely to figure out the answer of how it was done. The sleuth kept that information to himself to reveal at the end. The characters were interesting and entertaining. There was no sex. There was a fair amount of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this book (both stories) to fans of historical mysteries from this time period.

A two-for-one British Library Classic Mystery reissue: “Death in White Pyjamas” and “Death Knows No Calendar”, both by John Bude, a frequent author in this series. Both of these are specific slices of mid-twentieth century English countryside life, focusing on the artists of that time period, both also featured women who seem to almost go out of their way to upset enough people that they are bound to get murdered.

“Death in White Pyjamas” focuses on the theater, all of the main characters are involved with a small theater company owned by a millionaire who made his fortune in biscuits. We have the usual cast of characters – an old actor who has a secret problem, a young beautiful actress on her way up, an older actress and her playwright nephew, the cold-hearted producer who only cares about money, the set designer with secrets of her own, the servant who rules the house with an iron fist, and the generous millionaire himself. The murder takes place quite late in the story, with plenty of set-up and description of all of the characters. By the time the victim is murdered, she has managed to set just about everyone against her, and she actually revels in the misery she causes. A great (if maybe too long) set-up to a satisfying conclusion.

“Death Knows No Calendar” also features a woman who plays with other people’s affections and emotions until once again the reader isn’t surprised that someone decides to end her life. This is somewhat complicated by the classic locked-room scenario – she is found dead in her painter’s studio with the gun next to her and all of the windows and doors locked from the inside. The verdict is suicide, but her good friend and neighbor Major Boddy doesn’t believe it. And he has a wide assortment of suspects: the vicar who once gave in to temptation with the victim, the simple farmer who has carried a torch for her for many years, the young fiancée of the simple farmer who sees the victim as her competition, the servant with his own secrets, the failed actor husband whom no one respects. Assisted by his batsman from the army Syd Gammon and his extensive knowledge of detective fiction, Major Boddy takes it on himself to solve the murder, and also figure out how the killer managed to get in the locked room. The ending was a bit of a stretch with a couple of surprises, but fun nevertheless.

Both of these are interesting examples of the late golden age of British mysteries, with great characters and strong emphasis on story.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

Neither of these stories was an unqualified success for me; in fact I didn't like the first one at all. Death in White Pajamas was much too light hearted for me. Like reading a P. G. Wodehouse classic with dead bodies; pretty much unsatisfactory because Bude didn't seem to be taking the story seriously. Death Knows No Calendar just droned on and on and on with a locked room mystery which was rendered completely unsolvable by the reader (me) because all the information wasn't given to me. I have to admit to being surprised by both these stories and my reaction to them. John Bude has recently become an author I automatically read because I've had such good experiences with his works. Well, I'll be a whole lot more selective next time and that's a shame. I would prefer to rate this book as 2.5 but I rounded up to 3 stars after a lot of going back and forth. I have enjoyed stories by this author so much that I'm hoping this will be just a blip on the radar.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an e-galley of these two short stories.

Death in White Pyjamas

I was so taken by this book. It may well be the most entertaining of Bude’s novels that I’ve read so far. While the murder doesn’t take place until well into the story, he keeps the reader’s attention from the outset by creating a unique group of characters, then over time, putting them in situations the set one against the other. Bude’s love of the theatre and amateur dramatics reflected in his strong characterizations and sharp choreography of scenes.

Bude’s descriptions of the characters just are marvelous. We have a credulous biscuit millionaire and theatrical promoter, who “Like so many promoters of theatrical entertainment, knew absolutely nothing about the theatre." A producer who is a “congenital philanderer”, and who it he “put his hand in his pocket you expected him to produce a revolver. Actually he produced plays.” The old character actor who “aped a kind of Louis Quinze daintiness, which deceived people into believing him a nice mild-mannered old gentleman.” And the set designer, a woman with a “Gioconda smile”, who “as one woman was dedicated to bridge and another to squash or the singing of madrigals, intrigue was her hobby.”

And you can always count on Bude to inject lots of humor into his stories, and he certainly succeeded here. Whether it’s taking mild jabs at the theater world—“It is, of course, a notorious fact that intelligent theatre-goers have no money and moneyed theatre-goers have no intelligence.” Or in his characterization of the local police Sergeant—“The sergeant never walked anywhere. He waddled. He was the Falstaffian type of Englishman, popular to a degree, who wheezes and chuckles and roars his way through life, as amiable and deceptive as a hippo.”

As alluded to earlier, it's quite two-thirds into the story before the murder takes place. But Bude uses that time to good effect, building stories and tension so that when Inspector Harting and Sergeant Dane arrive on the scene there is a tangle of relationships to unpick, motives to uncover, and multiple red herrings to see through. For the habitual reader of crime fiction, it won’t really be that hard to pick out the murderer. But, do not let that deter you because the method of murder is ingenious, so figuring out the how is a totally different story.

An overall enjoyable read, and one that I very much recommend. Now it’s on to part two—

Death Knows No Calendar

After artist Lydia Arundel is found dead in her locked studio, with a gun close at hand, an inquest brings in a determination of suicide. But Major Tom Boddy, who knew Lydia well, finds it hard to believe that a woman so vibrant would ever contemplate suicide. Plus, there were so many with a motive for killing her. The Rev. Peter Swale-Reid, who racked with the guilt over a shameful episode he had with Lydia some years before. Local farmer Stanley Hawking, whose ten-year one-sided infatuation with Lydia nearly ruined him. Until he met Honororia Preece, with whom he had blissful relationship, until Honororia saw he and Lydia together in her studio.

Major Boddy knows that even if he uncovers the murderer, he’ll have a hard time persuading the police that she was murdered—unless he can solve the mystery of how someone managed to shoot Lydia from outside the studio and have the gun found near her body. Undeterred, the Major, with his vast knowledge of detective fiction and his batman Syd Gammon as his Watson, sets out on his investigation.

The characters are quirky, but the comedy derived from several of them—the guilt ridden vicar, the hulking farmer, and the lisping young girl— is more of the sad clown variety. The exceptions are Major Boddy and Syd, who together make an intelligent team of amateur sleuths. They with their long history and military bearing, make a very entertaining duo.

The mystery of whodunit is fairly easy to figure out, while the "locked room" solution is much more complex, with a murder method that is highly ingenious. And, as always with Bude, it is all laced with not a little comedy.

I really loved both these stories. I am a fan of this author and most if not all Golden Age mystery stories. These stories may not appeal to everyone.....not all readers enjoy stories about England in the 50’s. Both stories were fun, had well developed characters and kept me interested all the way through. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

This is a nice set of stories. I suspect this book and others by this author will not have broad appeal, since they are likely written in Britain in the 50s, and have a particular feel/tone that works with a relatively small set of readers. But these two stories are fun (if a bit contrived). If you like classic Brit mysteries, this is probably a safe bet.

Thank you very much for the review copy!!

Two mysteries from the Classic Era of crime writing. Death in White Pyjamas was an interesting tale of a group of actors at a country home and their jealousies and competitions. Sam RIchardson has gathered the group of actors at his home to prepare for their coming season. A new writer's play is read and almost everyone is eager to produce it except Basil Barnes, the producer. Eventually Basill convinces everyone not to produce the new play, There is increased tension among the three female leads as well. When someone is found dead, the first suspect, of course, is the disgruntled, rejected playwright. But the victim had more enemies than just the playwright. An excellent mystery.

The second book in this compilation is Death Knows No Calendar. This was a classic locked room mystery - was it murder or suicide? After the inquest finds that flamboyant artist Lydia Arundel committed suicide, Major Boddy doesn't believe it. He has known Lydia for a long time and cannot believe someone so vibrant would take her own life. He embarks on a solution to the locked room mystery..

My only complaint with Death Knows No Calendar was the multiple dialect dialogue in the book. I was tearing my hair out trying to decipher various accents: the cocky London, speech impaired, country and Scottish. Not necessary and very distracting.