Review: The Murder at World's End

Ever start a book and right from the jump you just know you're in for a delightful time? That was me with The Murder at World's End by Ross Montegomery, and I have AztecLady to thank for the experience. Well over a year ago now, she stumbled across the book on Netgalley and pointed it out to me thinking it sounded like something I might enjoy. She was right. 

The publisher marketed this as Knives Out meets Downton Abbey and that's a fairly apt description. It's 1910 in Cornwall and Stephen Pike is making his way to Tithe Hall (AKA World's End) with a letter from a do-gooder society promising him employment. Stephen is fresh out of prison and desperate for a second chance, but when he arrives he finds the butler wasn't expecting him and the house in an uproar. The house is in a state because Halley's Comet is approaching and the master of the house is convinced there will be catastrophic repercussions. Remember Y2K? That's kind of what we're talking about here. Every half-baked and ludicrous "scientific theory" is being touted by the Viscount who has ordered the house be sealed from top to bottom. Family, servants, everybody, will be locked in their rooms for the night, with every crevice sealed from the inside (candle wax in the key holes, cotton batting used under doors, windows and chimneys boarded up etc.). 

The butler is a Christian man, and frankly is desperate for the help, so Stephen squeaks into a job by the skin of his teeth. He's the new second footman (not the under butler as the blurb suggests!) and between preparing the house for the end of the world as they know it, he's tasked with keeping Miss Decima out of everybody's hair. Aunt Decima is an elderly maiden aunt who terrifies everyone in the household and is a trial for her family. What Aunt Decima really is is an intelligent, spinster woman who doesn't suffer fools - and frankly she's surrounded by nothing but fools. I mean, no wonder she's cranky.

Halley's Comet appears and naturally nothing happens. The rivers don't start running backwards, the gas from the comet doesn't permeate the Earth's atmosphere and asphyxiate people etc. This is also when Stephen learns how he came to be summoned to Tithe Hall, but I won't give it away. Anyway, it's the next morning when he's tasked to unseal the Viscount's study where he spent the night and gasp! There's the Viscount, sitting in his desk chair, with a crossbow bolt through one of his eyes. The man is dead - murdered in the locked study sometime during the night. And Stephen, having only been a member of staff for 24 hours, and with a prison record, he might as well have scapegoat tattooed on his forehead.

Stephen's alibi is Miss Decima, and while she loathed her idiot nephew, she also was incapable of committing the murder due to physical limitations. The local law isn't much help and the detective from Scotland Yard turns out to be an idiot, so there's nothing for it - she'll have to solve the murder herself, but she'll need help - which means Stephen.

I really enjoyed this unconventional crime solving duo, but I can see how they may not work for every reader. The nice way to describe Stephen is "he lacks confidence." The sort of bloke who embarrasses and blushes easily. How this guy survived prison is another mystery. Aunt Decima vacillates between Humorously Disagreeable and Just Plain Disagreeable. She also comes off as a know-it-all but will begrudgingly offer praise and admiration when warranted - it's just in her experience she's not use to it being warranted. I don't see any in-between here - readers are either going to love them or loathe them with no middle ground.

Is there anything better than a locked room mystery? Honestly, not much and Montegomery really sinks his teeth into it by also having the house be on an island that is inaccessible during high tide when the causeway floods. When looking up more information about this book, there was more than on instance of "Golden Age" being used as a descriptor and certainly the author plays up all the hallmarks of what makes a "Golden Age Mystery." That said, when something is described as such, there are certain expectations by some readers - namely, language. Y'all Miss Decima swears like a sailor on shore leave. Look, I admired the colorful use of expletives, but if you're a reader who wants a "Golden Age Mystery" but gets their nose out of joint over the use of the f-word, don't say I didn't warn you. I have a theory Montegomery included Miss Decima's frustrated expletives because it's his first adult book - having previously only published children's fiction. He likely had a stock pile of f-bombs just dying to get out before he exploded 😂.

There's plenty of red herrings and blind alleys to keep the reader guessing although I'll admit I'm a bit ashamed of myself for not puzzling the whole thing out sooner. I mean, I really should have - but I'm chalking this up to the author doing a good job in providing enough potential theories as distractions that I was a slow on the uptake. Including Halley's Comet as background was inspired (and very interesting!) and oh happy day, there's going to be a book two featuring our unconventional sleuthing duo. One of my better reads so far this year and a dynamite listen on audiobook.

Final Grade = B+