The Secret of Abney Hall

Susan Brownrigg

THE eleven-day disappearance of celebrated crime novelist Agatha Christie in December of 1926 has spawned many speculative theories, books and even Hollywood films… but one hundred years later, the true story behind her mysterious vanishing has still never been fully uncovered.

It was a classic mystery… an abandoned car, Agatha’s fur coat and driving licence left on the seat, abundant theories of where she might be. Was it an accident, was it suicide, was foul play involved, did her erring husband have something to do with it, or was it all just a publicity stunt for her next book?

What is known is that Agatha was eventually found at the fashionable Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate where she had booked in under the name of Teresa Neele, which just happened to be the surname of her unfaithful husband Colonel Archie Christie’s mistress.Needless to say, the discovery of the missing writer caused a buzz for onlookers and the press who descended on the hotel like bees to a honey pot but Agatha offered no explanation for her disappearance and instead retreated to Abney Hall, a gothic mansion at Cheadle, near Manchester, home of her sister, Madge, and her wealthy businessman husband, James Watts.

And it was this intriguing northern family link that became the inspiration for The Secret of Abney Hall, Wigan-born novelist and lifelong Agatha Christie fan Susan Brownrigg’s debut murder mystery… an entertaining and gleeful homage to the famous writer’s raft of memorable crime novels, and also to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her death.

Set in the aftermath of Agatha’s sensational real-life disappearance, we join the world's most famous mystery writer with her close family shortly after her discovery in Harrogate and meet our narrator, Jane Goodbetter, the private nurse who has been hired to take care of the renowned writer but has her own secret reasons for keeping her head down.

With the huge press interest and risks of privacy intrusion, Agatha is quickly whisked away to her sister’s sprawling estate at Abney Hall – a place of ‘mullioned windows and gothic grandeur’ – to recover with the help of Madge and her husband, Jim.

Agatha is undoubtedly under mental strain… she is still recovering from her mother’s death a few months earlier, is beset by worries about a current episode of writer’s block, and she is reeling from revelations of infidelity by her dashing but difficult and angry husband Archie, a former First World War pilot. Specialist doctors are to be summoned and there is already speculation that Agatha is suffering from amnesia brought on by stress. But for her nurse Jane – who is living in at Abney Hall and prefers short assignments such as this because she can be ‘almost anonymous’ – there is the constant threat of a probing press uncovering her own well-guarded secrets.

The retreat soon proves to be anything but peaceful for Jane and when a local amateur theatre troupe, run by the larger-than-life and exceedingly outspoken Delia Cherry, arrives to rehearse a macabre new play in Abney Hall’s annexe, the atmosphere quickly becomes menacing. Secrets are leaking to the press, and Jane’s own dark past at a wartime asylum threatens to surface. When a body turns up in the freezing lake and a blizzard traps everyone inside the house, the line between stagecraft and real-life murder blurs. In a house full of actors, doctors, and a cheating husband, Jane must unmask the killer before the final curtain falls, or she will be the next one silenced.

Brownrigg (pictured above) does a brilliant job on this compelling and imaginative locked-room romp which harnesses the familiar tropes of a Christie classic but embellishes the mystery with an unreliable narrator, a cast of colourful characters, playful plot twists, and a compelling list of potential suspects to keep readers on their toes.

Armed with her love and knowledge of Christie’s crime mysteries, and hours of research into the writer’s links to Abney Hall, including Madge’s enthusiastic membership of a Manchester amateur dramatic society, Brownrigg brings to glorious life the rich detail of the world of a country mansion in the 1920s.

And it’s in this house full of secrets that the Queen of Crime herself becomes a target for a hidden killer as the winter snowstorm traps all those inside, suspicion mounts and the jolly Christmas atmosphere turns decidedly sinister. A captivating and thoroughly enjoyable read for all cosy crime and Agatha Christie fans!
(Fox & Ink Books, paperback, £10.99)