The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull

The Murder of My Aunt (British Library Crime Classics): 54: Amazon.co.uk:  Richard Hull: 9780712352802: BooksI had a little blogging absence because I had a nasty cold – which I presumed might be Covid, given how everyone seems to have it at the moment, but a zillion tests turned out negative. Just a normal cold! Back to normal winter life!

Anyway, if you’re anything like me then feeling under the weather means you turn to very easy reading. I didn’t have the energy for books where fine writing or depth of character were the focus. So I turned to murder mysteries.

That’s probably unfair, because murder mysteries can certainly have great writing and characters, but it felt like a safe bet for an enjoyable, pacy plot. And the first one up was The Murder of My Aunt (1934) by Richard Hull, which I think I got as a review copy from the British Library in 2018. I was picking more or less at random from my piles of yet-to-be-read British Library Crime Classics, though I do also dimly recall someone recommending this one. If that were you, many thanks.

The novel is told by Edward Powell, a grown man who lives with his Aunt Mildred on the outskirts of a tiny town in Wales. It sounds idyllic, to be honest, but Edward is not a man who appreciates the countryside – still less does he appreciate having his freedoms curtailed by his aunt’s watchful eye, and his finances falling far short of his dreams for himself. Towards the beginning of the novel, they are in a battle over whether or not he will drive into town – which involves his aunt cutting off his petrol supply, and Edward concocting a lie about how he successfully got there nonetheless.

There is something of the Ealing Comedy about this – the stakes are high, but it is all affably ridiculous enough that they don’t seem high. Early on, Edward has decided he should kill his aunt – and the reader goes along for the ride. Murder feels like it’s rather playful here.

And does the aunt deserve it? Well, here’s an example of what annoys Edward so much:

My aunt, after studying the ordnance map with great care, tells me that you have to go up just on six hundred feet, and apparently it is a good deal. I can well believe her, but these figures mean little to me. It is, however, typical of my aunt that she not only possesses many maps showing this revolting country-side in the greatest detail for miles round, but that she can apparently find some pleasure in staring at them for hours on end, ‘reading’ them as she is pleased to say, and producing from memory figures as to the height of every hillock near by.

Frankly, as someone who loathes maps and being forced to look at them, I was fully on Edward’s side at this point.

From here on, he develops various ruses for offing his aunt, and shares them in the novel – which is really a diary of his attempts. Keeping a diary of your murder attempts probably isn’t the wisest move, but we’ll forgive it. As you can tell by the plural ‘attempts’, he isn’t very good at achieving his goal. I shan’t spoil whether or not he was successful, but I will say that The Murder of My Aunt was a delight throughout. Edward reminded me a bit of Ignatius J. Reilly in A Confederacy of Dunces, in that he considers himself vastly superior to the people around him – and reveals himself, through his own self-portrait, to be rather more ridiculous than he would like.

It’s not the sort of murder mystery where you are desperate to find out whodunnit – indeed, there is no mystery at all. But it’s a great reading experience, and Hull’s dry touch is perfect.

6 thoughts on “The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull

  • January 21, 2022 at 6:12 pm
    Permalink

    I liked this one a lot. I thought it was unusual.

    Reply
  • January 21, 2022 at 7:56 pm
    Permalink

    I rather enjoyed this one too. Although I had a great deal of sympathy with the aunt and could understand her irritation with Edward.

    Reply
  • January 21, 2022 at 8:02 pm
    Permalink

    I think this is probably my favourite of all the BLCC books I’ve read so far. I’m glad you enjoyed it and I agree that this kind of book is perfect when you’re not feeling well!

    Reply
  • January 21, 2022 at 9:01 pm
    Permalink

    I also found this to be a delight. I liked the somewhat cartoonish narrator and the shrewd aunt, the country setting, and the fact that it was a different kind of mystery.

    Reply
  • January 22, 2022 at 12:26 pm
    Permalink

    I agree about mysteries when you’re not feeling well, I usually turn to Agatha Christie. Hope you’re feeling better now.

    Reply
  • January 22, 2022 at 6:06 pm
    Permalink

    Glad the cold was not COVID, Simon! And this does sound perfect for when you’re under the weather. I have a copy too, but it’s slipped down the TBR a little – will have to dig it out!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: