Another excellent and entertaining read by Anthony Berkeley. The twists and turns kept me interested throughout. Typically for this author, especially with his works based around amateur detective Roger Sheringham, assumptions are made and discarded by several of the characters, with the actual culprit uncertain right to the last, and I mean ‘last’!

Anthony Berkeley’s Jumping Jenny was first published in 1933. Ena Stratton is a horrible mean drunkard of a woman. She lies and she’s spiteful. It’s no wonder, really, that she is found hanged when she attends a party that has a gibbet on the roof with three straw-filled dummy corpses. The question is: who did it? No one who knew Ena really thinks she killed herself, even though that is the apparent situation as seen by the police. Berkeley’s series investigator, Roger Sheringham, thinks that her husband, David, did it and tries to protect him, unfortunately digging a deeper and deeper hole as he does so. There are thus two strands to the novel: the humorous one that makes us cringe as we see what Roger tries to do next; and Berkeley’s very clever one as we’re gently allowed to catch one red herring after another. The beautiful thing is that we know what happened: Berkeley shows us in Chapter IV… Or do we? We shout at Sheringham “That’s it! They did it!”, yet the very last sentence of the book caught me unawares. That’s the great thing about Berkeley: he wanted to experiment. The reader seizes the comfortable solution because that’s what we humans do: we opt to believe things that reinforce what we think we know. We might be wildly, wildly wrong but we will believe anything and anybody that reinforces our opinions, rather than carefully listening to an alternative point of view. And yes, there probably are lessons for us there, regarding our political beliefs over the last ten years. The book is not an unalloyed pleasure because Berkeley makes Sheringham annoy us (because then we’re wound up and so we don’t carefully consider the evidence). Yes, I got annoyed; no, I didn’t think about it carefully; yes, I was staggered by the ending. Did Berkeley play by the rules and show us everything? Hmmm… Did he hide anything? No, I’m pretty sure he didn’t. This is such a well-written book!

Jumping Jenny is my second favourite novel by Anthony Berkeley and this re-read was just as spellbinding as my first time. Martin Edwards notes that as it was written in 1933 it is of its time and in places it shows. However, I do believe Berkeley intended it to be taken with a grain of salt in its lightheartedness. His character portrayals are witty and exaggerated to add effect. What shines is his cleverness and cunny in this inverted mystery. It is obvious the Detective Club founder enjoyed puzzles very much...so glad he did! Roger Sheringham is a celebrated author and amateur sleuth, a criminologist of sorts. His methodical brain just happens to be at hand at a house party where a death occurs. Melodramatic props for this party include gallows. Suspects want the death to look like suicide but those closely investigating know better. The victim was an irritant and wouldn't be missed so had to go. Roger reminds witnesses what they remember and don't with hilarious results. There are more twists than you can throw a stick at to the very end but there is only one plausible solution. Though dated, I am besotted with this story for what it was intended to be...pure enjoyment. Golden Age Mystery fans ought to seek this one out, as well as Berkeley's Poisoned Chocolates Case, his best written and presented. My sincere thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this superlative British Library Crime Classics mystery. I love that works such as these are recognized for the beauty they are and that they are becoming more and more accessible. Well done!

At a costume party with the dubious theme of ‘famous murderers and their victims’, the know-it-all amateur criminologist Roger Sheringham is settled in for an evening of beer, small talk and analysing his companions. One guest in particular has caught his attention for her theatrics, and his theory that she might have several enemies among the partygoers proves true when she is found hanging from the ‘decorative’ gallows on the roof terrace. A wonderful mystery full of enough twists and turns to keep you puzzling to the very end. If you have finished reading Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Miss Marple then I recommend reading your way through the British Library Crime Classics.

I have enjoyed reading many of these British library crime classics, and this one was equally enjoyable. It is atmospheric and very clever, with many of the expected tropes that we love from this genre. It will keep you guessing until the very end. Brilliant. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy to review