A.A. Milne is, of course, best known for his Winnie the Pooh stories, but he also wrote a wide variety of works aimed at adults, ranging from novels and plays to essays and poetry. I read and loved his detective novel, The Red House Mystery, a few years ago and was disappointed that he hadn’t written more of them, so when I came across Four Days’ Wonder, described as a ‘spoof on the detective novel’, I thought it might be the next best thing.
Eighteen-year-old Jenny Windell has been raised by her Aunt Caroline at Auburn Lodge, having been orphaned as a child. Now Caroline has died as well and Jenny has moved in with another guardian, the family lawyer, so that Auburn Lodge can be rented out. However, she still has a key and absentmindedly lets herself into the house one day, forgetting that she no longer lives there. To her surprise, she is confronted by the body of her other aunt, Jane Latour, an actress whom she hasn’t seen for several years, lying dead on the drawing room floor.
It seems obvious that Aunt Jane has slipped on the polished floor and hit her head on a brass door stop, but when Jenny hears the new tenants returning to the house, she panics and escapes through a window. It immediately occurs to her that she has left her monogrammed handkerchief beside the body and that her footprints are now visible under the window. Worse still, she had wiped the blood off the door stop (with the handkerchief) and placed it on top of the piano, thereby concealing the evidence. Jenny, who has read a lot of murder mysteries and has an active imagination, is convinced that she has made herself the number one suspect. Her solution is to go on the run, disappearing into the countryside and sleeping on haystacks. What could go wrong?
Four Days’ Wonder is not a book you can take too seriously and Milne clearly didn’t intend it to be. It’s a comic novel, with a similar kind of humour to P.G. Wodehouse or Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence series, where the characters keep getting themselves into ridiculous, farcical situations. The book was published in 1933 and you can see that Milne is parodying various tropes of the Golden Age crime novels that were so popular at that time – dead bodies found in drawing rooms, mistaken identities, messages written in code, and so on. What you won’t find is any real detective work or, in fact, any real mystery. There are policeman (who, naturally, get everything wrong) but as we know from the beginning that Jenny didn’t kill Aunt Jane and that it was almost certainly an accident, there’s not much suspense in terms of wondering what the solution will be.
Jenny is a very likeable heroine, as is her friend Nancy Fairbrother, whom she enlists to help her with her escape. There’s also a love interest for Jenny in the form of Derek Fenton, a young man she meets while on the run, who just happens to be the brother of the crime writer Archibald Fenton, Nancy’s employer. This leads to yet more misunderstandings and comedy moments – such as when, unaware of who Archibald is, Jenny shoots him with her trusty Watson Combination Watch Dog and Water Pistol! Four Days’ Wonder is a lot of fun and I kept thinking that it would make an entertaining adaptation for TV or film – so I wasn’t entirely surprised to find that there is already one, from 1936, although it doesn’t seem to stick very closely to the book and I can’t find it available anywhere either to buy or stream.
My edition of this book is published by Farrago, an imprint of independent publisher Duckworth Books. It’s one of five Milne books for adults available to buy through Farrago’s website, the others being Mr Pim, Two People, Chloe Marr and The Rabbits. I must try more of them at some point!
She Reads Novels 
It’s good fun, isn’t it? Very tongue in chek and most enjoyable!
*cheek
Yes, it’s just what I was in the mood for. Very entertaining!
I don’t tire of saying that you have the best books and reviews of this blogging kingdom!
Oh, thank you! I’m glad you like them.
I am almost embarrassed to say that I had no idea AA Milne had written novels for adults. Thanks for the review, I’ll look for them
I didn’t know he had written adult books either until I came across The Red House Mystery a few years ago.
I love the sound of this and will go over to the publisher to have a look at the others as well; sometimes this is exactly the kind of read I need!
It’s perfect if you’re in the mood for something fun and lighthearted!
This does sound like a lot of fun! I wonder if my library would purchase a copy of it. Hmm..
It’s very entertaining!
Well, this sounds fun. Though whether it’s worh nine quid of my money is a different question.
I was confident that I would enjoy it because I had loved The Red House Mystery, but I’m not sure if I would have bought it otherwise.
I’m not doing overly well with The Rabbits, mostly because I don’t understand the Cricket slang, or the Billiards slang, but when they’re not playing these, it can be quite fun, since he’s making fun of the vapid youth of his day.
Oh, I have a copy of Mr. Pim, by the way – it’s a play. I see I can get this one from Awesome Books, so I just put it on my wishlist there.
I think I would struggle with cricket and billiards slang too, so I’m not sure if I’ll read The Rabbits. I would like to try Mr. Pim, although I don’t often read plays!
I read tons of plays in High School, and have a bunch on my shelf, but that’s because I took theater classes.
Sounds like so much fun! I hadn’t realised he had written others too. More for the wishlist!
I think the others are different genres rather than mysteries/spoof mysteries, but they all sound interesting!
I love anything by A.A. Milne and I agree, this novel is silly and super fun. I love how he mocks so many tropes of the time, in such an affectionate way, and he’s brilliant at characterful heroines.
Just a note on Mr Pim – it was originally a play called Mr Pim Passes By (also by Milne), but he later novelised it as Mr Pim and I believe it’s the novel that’s been reprinted. Both are very, very fun.
Mr Pim does sound interesting. I would be happy to read either the novel or the play, so I’m pleased to hear they’re both fun!
Hello Helen, this sounds like a delightfully fun read. I am glad you enjoyed it. 😊 I really must put some A.A. Milne on my to-read list.
Blessings, Jessica 💌
Yes, it was very entertaining. I think both this book and The Red House Mystery would be great places to start reading A.A. Milne. Of course, he’s much better known for his children’s books, but I haven’t read any of those.