The White Cottage Mystery

By Margery Allingham

Book Overview

When a man is found shot dead outside a quaint English cottage, the seemingly peaceful countryside erupts into scandal. The victim was charming, cruel-and deeply hated. Everyone had a motive. But only one pulled the trigger.

Enter Detective W.T. Challoner, a man as brilliant as he is intuitive. As he peels back layers of family secrets, forbidden desires, and long-held grudges, he realizes the truth may be more sinister-and more personal-than anyone imagined.

Set against the brooding backdrop of 1920s England, The White Cottage Mystery blends the suspense of a locked-room puzzle with the psychological depth of classic noir. Margery Allingham's debut whodunit crackles with wit, misdirection, and a final twist that will leave even seasoned mystery lovers reeling.

Dare to unlock the secrets of the white cottage-if you can.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1515466647
• ISBN13: 9781515466642
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Positronic Publishing
• Length: 122 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A nice little British cosy murder

This story was originally run as a newspaper serial during the late 1920s and was not published as a book until the 70s, when a family member edited out the re-hashing of all the previous weeks' redundant action and re-submitted the manuscript as a regular mystery novel. At only 130+ pages, it's really more of a novella but, it's still great hammock-reading. A young bachelor driving his sporty convertible through an English town gives an attractive young gal a lift to her nearby home. He drops her off at The White Cottage and, more quickly than he can put up his top to avoid getting drenched by the rain, a shot rings out from the cottage. Along with a nearby constable, the young man, rushes to investigate and finds a man lying dead of a shotgun blast to the chest. It just so happens that the young man is the son of a renowned Scotland Yard inspector who is, of course, immediately called in on the case. There are plenty of suspects in both The White Cottage as well as in the curmudgeony victim's incongruous mansion next door. The many clues point in one direction and then another. Since the story first ran as a serial, there is plenty of action in this one, sort of a literary cliffhanger. Margery Allingham is much more widely known for her "Campion" series so you might wish to read one of those entries first, "The Crime at Black Dudley," for instance, (the first of the series); however, just about any fan of British cosy murders will enjoy this one.