House Hunting: Prime Unreal Estate
By Catriona McPherson
October 24, 2018From the Queen of Crime Fiction to the Kiwi Killer, Catriona McPherson takes us on a tour of her top five houses found in crime fiction!
I do love a book with a house in it. When I write one, I draw a floor plan with cupboards, light switches and door hinges marked. When I read one, well, I draw a floor plan with cupboards, light switches . . . and I’m not alone. A quick search online yields the Waltons’ house, the Friends’ apartments and The Overlook Hotel, all with ready-to-build blueprints.
To celebrate the publication of Go To My Grave, my homage to the country house murder mystery, I’ve put together my top-five fictional houses in books. By the way, I’d recommend all the books on the list as good reads. The plots and characters are as fine as the glorious settings.
It took some whittling. Honourable mention goes to Gatsby’s mansion on Long Island, Isabel Dalhousie’s Edinburgh villa and Willy and Alvirah Meehan’s Central Park South apartment. If anyone offered me that mansion, villa or apartment, I wouldn’t flounce off insulted.
But, after lengthy consideration, here are my absolute carve-it-in-stone, laminate-it-for traveling top five.
First up is 25 and 26 Pleasaunce Court Mansions, in Ngaio Marsh’s A Surfeit of Lampreys. Marsh is one of my favorite Golden Age authors and this is my favorite of her novels: for the feckless but beguiling Lamprey family; the deliciously gruesome murder of hateful Uncle Gabriel; the sharp eye of Robin Grey, who tells the tale; the sulfurous whiff of sorcery; and—most of all—for the flat. Pleasaunce Court Mansions sits on the corner of a short street, between Cadogan Square and Lennox Gardens, in Knightsbridge, and, on the top floor, 25 and 26 have been thrown together on a shoestring to accommodate the eight members of the Lamprey family. The guest room, where Robin sleeps, is but a curtained-off bit of the passageway and Nanny holds court in an ex-kitchen, using the electric stove as a bureau. It’s this cheerful making-do that appeals so much about the Lampreys’ digs – that and the contrast with the OTT Gothic home of the late Gabriel and his widow, the bone-chillingly creepy Aunt Vi. It’s at their house where the darkest and most genuinely disturbing scene in all Marsh’s novels takes place. After it, we’re mightily relieved to go scuttling back, with Robin, to Pleasaunce Court Mansions and the warmth of the Lamprey clan.
Read More: Ngaio Marsh, The Kiwi Killer!
There’s another posh but poor family in my second choice: the Mortmains of Godsend, in Dodie Smith’s I Capture The Castle. I adore this book. It’s one of the five novels that made me a writer (but that’s another blog) and the crumbling-to-the-brink-of-ruin Godsend Castle is a big part of the attraction. It’s a proper castle, mind you, not just a large house with small windows. It’s on an island surrounded by a moat and reached via a drawbridge, for a start. There’s even a rampart walk connecting various turrets and spiral staircases. For the most part, though, the family lives in a kind of Tudor lean-to built against a surviving castle wall, with no attempt to match it in style. The house is spectacularly inconvenient and getting scruffier with every bit of furniture the Mortmains are forced to sell. But the moon is reflected in the moat during midnight swims and there’s a gargoyle on the kitchen wall. I’d drop a bathroom for a gargoyle. Wouldn’t you?
Still, a snug villa by the sea and enough money to gussie it up would do in a pinch. Hillside, in Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder, is pure property porn from long before property porn was everyone’s—okay, my—guilty pleasure. Giles and Gwenda come to England from Australia, land in Plymouth on the south coast (very much Dame Agatha’s stamping ground) and start house-hunting. Hillside seems perfect, with big, light-drenched rooms, a bounteous garden, even a mahogany surround to the enormous bath. And not too expensive either. Of course, there’s the small matter of Gwenda suddenly seeing, as she descends the stairs, a vision of a strangled woman on the marble tiles of the entrance hall and a man, with grey monkey-paws for hands, standing over the corpse, gloating . . . but every house purchase has some compromise.
When Giles goes off on business leaving Gwenda alone, things get even weirder. Sick of wishing there was a door between drawing room and dining room, Gwenda asks her builder to put one in. He doesn’t need to. There’s one already there, under the wallpaper. And speaking of wallpaper . . . Gwenda takes a notion for poppies and cornflowers in her bedroom. While the decorator prepares, he jimmies open a jammed-shut cupboard and guess what’s on the wall in there. Yep. Now that Christie’s plots have been so often and so shamelessly copied, it’s easy to forget what a trailblazer she was. But for anyone who doesn’t know the secret of Hillside, Sleeping Murder is a treat in store.
Page to Screen: Rebecca — Du Maurier vs Hitchcock!
And while we’re on young brides in creepy houses, I put it to you that no hit parade would be complete without Manderley, from Daphne du Maurier’s masterpiece, Rebecca. If I Capture The Castle was Smith’s love letter to Suffolk, then Rebecca is an epic love poem in five volumes to Cornwall. Du Maurier’s affection for Manderley is on every page. It’s not a comfortable house: the formality is overwhelming to the second Mrs. de Winter; the servants are at best clueless and at worst Mrs. Danvers—a peerless creation, but who’d want to live with her? And to add insult upon insult, the first (dead) Mrs. de Winter has still got the best bedroom. Come on! Despite all that, in the book, in Selznick’s film, and in real life (in the form of Caerhays Castle on the Roseland peninsula) Manderley casts a spell that would make anyone happy to go there again.
There’s another jumble of reality, book, film and—this time—telly too in my last choice, my all-time number-one tip-top favorite fictional home. Can you guess? Come with me through the streets of London, turn north from Marylebone Road, ascend seventeen steps to the first (US = second) floor and enter 221b Baker Street. Even if Sherlock and Dr. Watson are out, you know Mrs. Hudson will make you a cup of tea. Now, my picture of 221b is much more detailed than anything Arthur Conan Doyle ever described. He told us the sitting room faced the front with Holmes’s bedroom behind and Watson’s upstairs again. The illustrations in The Strand Magazine added gas lamps, fringed velvet, and Turkish carpets. But it’s Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman I want to move in with as roommate number three. No time travel necessary. That flat is the perfect mixture of comfort (in the chairs), style (in the wallpaper) and diversion (in the marvelous muddle of random stuff). Life would never be boring, you wouldn’t fret if you knocked over a cup of coffee, and there’s always a taxi coming down the street if you need one. Add a smidgen of outdoor space—a roof terrace, a balcony, a sooty little back garden where I could string up a washing line—and I’d be happy there on Baker Street for the rest of my days.
Read an excerpt of Go To My Grave!
And that’s my top five. Tell me if you agree. Better still, tell me what I missed—I’d be thrilled to hear about new books with great houses. I haven’t drawn a floorplan for a while…
Comment below for a chance to win a copy of Go To My Grave by Catriona McPherson!
To enter, make sure you’re a registered member of the site and simply leave a comment below.
Go To My Grave Comment Sweepstakes: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of 50 United States, D.C., and Canada (excluding Quebec), who are 18 years or older as of the date of entry. To enter, complete the “Post a Comment” entry at https://www.criminalelement.com/house-hunting-prime-unreal-estate beginning at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) October 24, 2018. Sweepstakes ends at 1:59 p.m. ET October 31, 2018. Void outside the United States and Canada and where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules here. Sponsor: Macmillan, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.
Comments
Comments are closed.
As if I didn’t have enough to read, just bought SURFEIT OF LAMPREYS. It’s been years since I read Ngaio Marsh. thank you for reminding me.
Favorite houses? Manderly of course. And Dodie Smith’s Castle. And Shirley Jackson’s Hill House. Do bookstores count? As in QUIET NEIGHBORS? How about Mother’s house in PSYCHO? Do I get more than five, because I’m very invested in the Breakers right now. I can think of dozens of others. Now darling, what do I win?
Thank you, Ann! Yes, bookshops count.
I am a big fan of Agatha Christie and I had to check, it turns out “Sleeping Murder” isone that is not in my collection. I will be adding it very soon, thank you
Richard, if you mean you haven’t read it then I am filled with envy. It’s a cracker. Well – as so often with Christie – you have to try to forget the many books that have re-used her plots since she came up with them and try to imagine what it was like when it was first published.
The houses characters live/work/play in are, to me, another character in every story. It’s too hard to narrow down favorites but a few stick in my head as places I’d love to visit. Winterfell Castle as seen in my mind (I’ve never seen an episode of the HBO series) with it’s old, crumbling towers and basement crypt.
Tara of Gone With the Wind… because… well, it’s TARA! Southern plantation mansions just have to have ghosts!
And, there are the old chalets of Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. I live near them and love the ghost stories from local writers who have used them.
There are so many more! Impossible to pick the best.
Those are all new to me (except Tara). Thank you!
I love country house mysteries. I would love to win a copy of Go To My Grave.
Thank you, Crystal.
Would Like to win book.
It’s been years since I read an Agatha Christie mystery and I’m unfamiliar with Sleeping Murder–so that will be my next library check out!
You’re in for a treat!
Manderley from Rebecca jumped to top of mind for me, and then Thornfield from Jane Eyre.
Oooh, Thornfield! Good one. Very atmospheric kitchen.
Thank you, Catriona, for reminding us of some wonderful books, not to mention the glorious abodes. Time to re-read some of those greats. A friend of mind returned from her holiday which included attending a wedding in Winchester and then driving England from coast to coast and touring a bit up north. The highlight of her trip? “I saw Manderley!” Thank you for the very interesting blog. Am keeping my fingers crossed that I win a copy of Go To My Grave. Of course, win or not, I’ll be reading it in the near future. 🙂
It is absolutely beautiful, and the tiny little seaside villages of East and West Portholland that are on the estate are perhaps even more so – and more within our reach!
I think I’d add Hill House from Shirley Jackson’s novel. Not that I want to live there, but it is iconic. Thanks for the giveaway!
I’ve never read it. I will remedy that. Perhaps today, since Halloween seems like the day for it.
suspenseful
I also love Ngaio Marsh. And speaking of Golden Era mysteries, I loved the ones in early paperbacks with floor plans of the house on the back cover. I have a few by Mary Roberts Rinehart, David Frome and Christie.
Oh me too! LOVE a floorplan. And a family tree.
I don’t do floorplans. I can’t even do my house and I live in it. But reading, that’s a whole nother thing.
Eh, it’s a big world. I don’t do apps. (In fact, that’s a round of Never Have I Ever that I used to win easily. “Never downloaded an app”. Then I downloaded a tabata timer for planks. Curses.)
Sounds good!
Please enter me in this sweepstakes.
Thanks —
Thank you!
Gosh, it’s been a decade since I read any Agatha Christie and I don’t really know why because I use to binge on her books as far back as the late 70’s. These all sound like wonderful books.
Well, she’s dated and can be tin-eared about ‘foreigners’ – although she’s woke compared to Sayers. I think Sleeping Murder and The Moving Finger are her quiet masterpieces.
Rebecca, of course, I wouldn’t have thought The Sleeping Murder.
I would move into that house today – decor, location, grisly history . . .
Sleeping Murder..love it
Yay! A fellow fan. Isn’t it marvellous?
I like your top 5 choices.
Thank you, Linda.
I’d love to read them all.
Hmmm, I’ve got to admit I don’t often dip into Conan Doyle these days. The screen adaptations are just so accessible and so clever.
That is a great list of books. Thanks!
Best type of mystery, looking forward to reading it!
Amazing book! I have brought one for my wife too!
Yes true. I am totally agree with Robert Redford
Worth reading book. Thanks for share.
Nice book. Great review
Love it.