Mystery in White

This is actually 3 1/2 stars rounded up. When will Goodreads get 1/2 stars?

I love vintage crime novels and mysteries. I think they have a distinct feel, a sense of time and place that is sorely lacking from many new books, which often just strive to be outrageous and/or gory. It's fun to discover authors I haven't read before. J Jefferson Farjeon published books from 1924 to 1955, the year of his death. In his day, he was a popular writer, admired by [a:Dorothy L. Sayers|8734|Dorothy L. Sayers|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206564934p2/8734.jpg], who said, "Jefferson Farjeon is quite unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures."

There are some similarities - at least initially - between "Mystery in White" and [b:Murder on the Orient Express|853510|Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)|Agatha Christie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1393979121s/853510.jpg|2285570] by Agatha Christie: a group of passengers on a train are stranded by a snowstorm while there is a murderer among them. There are some differences, though. None of them know about the murder until well afterwards, and they don't stay on the train. Instead, they try to make it to the next station, but become stranded in an empty house, which has been mysteriously left open with every possible amenity, as if visitors were expected.

"They looked into a comfortable, spacious hall. It was early afternoon, and the light had not yet begun to fade noticeably, but the hall glowed with a queer white dimness, reflecting the imprisoning snow outside the windows. It glowed also with something more welcome, a large wood fire. The logs stacked by the grate had a pleasantly seasonable aspect, and the quiet peace of the hall was a comforting contrast to the wild white whirligig from which they had just escaped. The only thing absent to complete the welcome was their host."

Two more former train passengers, Smith and Hopkins, show up and Maltby quickly deduces the reason they left the train - there was a dead body in the compartment next to theirs. Is it possible that one of them is a murderer? Both men deny it, but it just add even more tension to the situation, which is made worse by the fact that Hopkins and Smith can't stand each and spend their time quarreling with each other.

Isolated from outside by the snow, the former train passengers must make do with what they can find in the house until someone can rescue them, or the snow lets up and they can get out on their own. The situation is not helped by one of the passengers falls quick ill and is confined to bed with a high fever. Jessie, a chorus girl, sprains her ankle and endures a lonely exile upstairs in another bedroom. An elderly psychic researches, Mr Maltby, takes charge of the situation with the aid of David and Lydia Carrington, who are brother and sister. David fantasizes about the real owner of the house coming home and complaining about his unwanted guests.

One thing that impresses all of the stranded wayfarers is the sinister feel of the house, which is not helped by a perfectly dreadful portrait of an old man that seems to watch everyone. There is a sense of waiting for something, but what? What is going to happen? Why was the house ready for visitors, but there was no one around? Is there really a killer in their midst? What happened on the train they left behind?

The story is interesting and enjoyable. The characters are likable - except the ones you're supposed to dislike, of course. There isn't a lot of characterization and no one's motives are terribly deep. Farjeon does a good job on the atmosphere for the most people, but things falter near the end. It's almost like the book was meant to have a different ending. What we get is an ending that feels rather tacked on. None of the murdered people make their arrival in the book. They're spoken about and one is seen in a painting, but that's it. They don't seem real. Three people show up at the end and help solve everything. The whole story just runs out of momentum at that point. The back story to the mystery is disappointing as well.

I can't help but think that [a:Agatha Christie|123715|Agatha Christie|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1321738793p2/123715.jpg], [a:Ellery Queen|41015|Ellery Queen|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1290279673p2/41015.jpg], or [a:John Dickson Carr|5622|John Dickson Carr|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1238207184p2/5622.jpg] could done a much creepier job ([b:And Then There Were None|16299|And Then There Were None|Agatha Christie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391120695s/16299.jpg|3038872], [b:The Siamese Twin Mystery|88579|The Siamese Twin Mystery|Ellery Queen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266469562s/88579.jpg|85481], or [b:The White Priory Murders|7332047|The White Priory Murders (Sir Henry Merrivale, #2)|Carter Dickson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1260923985s/7332047.jpg|1037157]).

This is a decent mystery to pass an afternoon. However, I did not find it very memorable in the long run. I'm reading another Farjeon book, [b:Thirteen Guests: A British Library Crime Classic|25571846|Thirteen Guests A British Library Crime Classic|J. Jefferson Farjeon|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1435248321s/25571846.jpg|45372032], right now. I'll just see how it turns out.