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Imogen Quy #1
The Wyndham Case
The library of St Agatha's, Cambridge, houses an unrivalled and according to scholars, uninteresting collection of seventeenth century volumes. It also contains a dead student. Tragic and accidental, even if gossip hints that Philip Skellow had been engaged in stealing books rather than acquiring knowledge when he'd slipped. Only Imogen Quy, the university's nurse, has doubts - until another student is found in an ornamental fountain.
233 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
115 people are currently reading
468 people want to read
About the author
Jill Paton Walsh
76 books222 followersJill Paton Walsh was born Gillian Bliss in London on April 29th, 1937. She was educated at St. Michael's Convent, North Finchley, and at St. Anne's College, Oxford. From 1959 to 1962 she taught English at Enfield Girls' Grammar School.
Jill Paton Walsh has won the Book World Festival Award, 1970, for Fireweed; the Whitbread Prize, 1974 (for a Children's novel) for The Emperor's Winding Sheet; The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award 1976 for Unleaving; The Universe Prize, 1984 for A Parcel of Patterns; and the Smarties Grand Prix, 1984, for Gaffer Samson's Luck.
Series:
* Imogen Quy
* Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane
Jill Paton Walsh has won the Book World Festival Award, 1970, for Fireweed; the Whitbread Prize, 1974 (for a Children's novel) for The Emperor's Winding Sheet; The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award 1976 for Unleaving; The Universe Prize, 1984 for A Parcel of Patterns; and the Smarties Grand Prix, 1984, for Gaffer Samson's Luck.
Series:
* Imogen Quy
* Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
March 4, 2025
“When you find a body dead in a library, the one thing you can be sure of is that the fellow did get in, one way or another.”
A dead man in the library? What did Colonel Mustard do with the candlestick, and what do the Bantrys say about it? When the body of a student is found in the Wyndham Library at the fictitious college St. Agatha’s in Cambridge, none of these questions are asked because the police are sure that Philip Skellow must have tried to nick one of the old and valuable volumes shelved in the Wyndham Case and either come to grief by accident or have been surprised by someone as yet unknown. However, the 32-year-old university nurse Imogen Quy – the name rhymes with “why” – is quite sure that Philip would never have stolen anything and that matters are far more complicated than they seem, and therefore, she gives the police a hand in digging deeper. Unluckily, it seems that her private investigations arouse some sleeping dogs because it does not take long until a second dead student turns up.
Jill Paton Walsh was renowned for writing children’s books as well as for continuing the Lord Peter Wimsey series, but she also wrote four mysteries, in which Imogen Quy is cast as an amateur detective, The Wyndham Case being the first in the series (and the only one I have read so far). In some ways, the novel is a typical cosy mystery whodunnit, as the reader will not be faced with descriptions of immediate violence, but the murders always occur “off-screen” and there is a relatively large cast of characters. The protagonist, however, is a far cry from the likes of Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes or Lord Peter Wimsey in that Imogen Quy is an ordinary, everyday character without any whims and quirks: We learn that she became a nurse after an unhappy love affair in her earlier years, which made her give up her academic ambitions, that she is moderately independent as to finances and that she is a sociable, empathic and helpful person. There’s none of Miss Marple’s inveterate distrust in human nature or Poirot’s grandiloquent complacency about her, and we do not need to read more than one book, as in Wimsey’s case, to notice that she is a multi-faceted human being.
What I really enjoyed about the book, apart from Imogen’s genuine human warmth and the rather surprising solution to the murder case, were the conversations in which Imogen’s police friend Mike tries to convince her that in real life, murders are not solved as they are in mystery novels, and what he tells you has the potential to make you feel quite afraid of ever finding yourself in the sights of the police:
And so was I, to tell the truth, because there are lots of motives and impulses that can make a person confess to something they did not really do after being grilled by the police for a while. There was, however, another observation by Mike that made me shudder even more:
I don’t feel too comfortable thinking that there might be a number of people out there to whom the act of ending another fellow human’s life is maybe not really a mundane decision but some that, as to cost-benefit-calculation, ranks among questions such as, “Shall I buy myself a new car now or next year?” or “Shall I take up that new job offer in Bielefeld, a town I have never heard of before?” It takes a rather wicked mindset to think that way, doesn’t it, and at the same time it implies that, given the “right” circumstances even I might be driven to commit an act of murder …
Even though some of the student suspects could have been fleshed out more carefully, it is passages like those mentioned above and the likeable character of Imogen Quy, apart from the solution to “the body in the library”, which made The Wyndham Case a worthwhile experience for me.
A dead man in the library? What did Colonel Mustard do with the candlestick, and what do the Bantrys say about it? When the body of a student is found in the Wyndham Library at the fictitious college St. Agatha’s in Cambridge, none of these questions are asked because the police are sure that Philip Skellow must have tried to nick one of the old and valuable volumes shelved in the Wyndham Case and either come to grief by accident or have been surprised by someone as yet unknown. However, the 32-year-old university nurse Imogen Quy – the name rhymes with “why” – is quite sure that Philip would never have stolen anything and that matters are far more complicated than they seem, and therefore, she gives the police a hand in digging deeper. Unluckily, it seems that her private investigations arouse some sleeping dogs because it does not take long until a second dead student turns up.
Jill Paton Walsh was renowned for writing children’s books as well as for continuing the Lord Peter Wimsey series, but she also wrote four mysteries, in which Imogen Quy is cast as an amateur detective, The Wyndham Case being the first in the series (and the only one I have read so far). In some ways, the novel is a typical cosy mystery whodunnit, as the reader will not be faced with descriptions of immediate violence, but the murders always occur “off-screen” and there is a relatively large cast of characters. The protagonist, however, is a far cry from the likes of Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes or Lord Peter Wimsey in that Imogen Quy is an ordinary, everyday character without any whims and quirks: We learn that she became a nurse after an unhappy love affair in her earlier years, which made her give up her academic ambitions, that she is moderately independent as to finances and that she is a sociable, empathic and helpful person. There’s none of Miss Marple’s inveterate distrust in human nature or Poirot’s grandiloquent complacency about her, and we do not need to read more than one book, as in Wimsey’s case, to notice that she is a multi-faceted human being.
What I really enjoyed about the book, apart from Imogen’s genuine human warmth and the rather surprising solution to the murder case, were the conversations in which Imogen’s police friend Mike tries to convince her that in real life, murders are not solved as they are in mystery novels, and what he tells you has the potential to make you feel quite afraid of ever finding yourself in the sights of the police:
”’You really have been watching too much television,’ said Mike. ‘Police work isn’t like something on the box, Imogen, with everyone mystified till they build a case with one scrap of evidence after another. The world is full of evidence: evidence for everything, down to the prowl-paths of the local cats. You make a guess what happened, and then look and see if any of all this evidence supports it.’
‘You could be wildly out. What about proof?’
‘Seldom necessary. People usually confess when confronted with a true story, even if it is based on guesswork. The trick is to guess right. Evidence does help one guess right … are you shocked?’
‘Horrified,’ said Imogen.”
And so was I, to tell the truth, because there are lots of motives and impulses that can make a person confess to something they did not really do after being grilled by the police for a while. There was, however, another observation by Mike that made me shudder even more:
”’[…] Murder is very nearly always a private matter; it is as domestic as a pet cat, generally speaking. Once they have rid themselves of a wife, or son, or husband, or lover, or blackmailer, the average murderer is no more dangerous to the general public than the average cyclist, and much less dangerous than the average motorist. […]’”
I don’t feel too comfortable thinking that there might be a number of people out there to whom the act of ending another fellow human’s life is maybe not really a mundane decision but some that, as to cost-benefit-calculation, ranks among questions such as, “Shall I buy myself a new car now or next year?” or “Shall I take up that new job offer in Bielefeld, a town I have never heard of before?” It takes a rather wicked mindset to think that way, doesn’t it, and at the same time it implies that, given the “right” circumstances even I might be driven to commit an act of murder …
Even though some of the student suspects could have been fleshed out more carefully, it is passages like those mentioned above and the likeable character of Imogen Quy, apart from the solution to “the body in the library”, which made The Wyndham Case a worthwhile experience for me.
June 2, 2019
I had high hopes for Ms. Walsh's own series because she did so well with Dorothy L. Sayer's LPW series. Alas, it is not to be....very laborious reading. And I don't think I really connected with Imogen Quy...did I even like her? I don't know. I'm disappointed that I actually purchased this book, granted, it was a used book in very good condition. Now I must give it away. Anyway, the dialogue was stilted and read like a movie script. (recall Maise Dobbs) Admittedly, some allowance, even some drudgery, must be made from a 1st in a series because the characters are introduced, must be fleshed out, etc. But, it was so convoluted and again just plain boring, about as exciting as watching paint dry . I feel like my time was wasted reading this book and I want to send Ms. Walsh an invoice for payment.
August 7, 2023
A recent visit to Cambridge prompted the reading of this book. It reads as a cosy mystery taking place in Cambridge.
In Agatha's college a body of a student is found on the floor inside a library with a locked door. Imogen, the college nurse, is one of the first to check the scene and she's then recruited by the police to get some cooperation from the students who seem to be purposefully withholding information.
This story takes place in the early 9o's, which is weird to realise that it's already more than 30 years ago!
In Agatha's college a body of a student is found on the floor inside a library with a locked door. Imogen, the college nurse, is one of the first to check the scene and she's then recruited by the police to get some cooperation from the students who seem to be purposefully withholding information.
This story takes place in the early 9o's, which is weird to realise that it's already more than 30 years ago!
July 31, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and will look for more by Walsh. I knew this author first as a writer of books for children and young adults, and I was delighted to find that she has been writing for adults for quite some time.
This mystery takes place in Cambridge, England, where the librarian of the Wyndham Library at St. Agatha's College, Cambridge, discovers a the body of a student lying on the library floor when he opens up one morning. College nurse Imogen Quy is called to the scene by the distraught master of the College, and she becomes an assistant to the police as they begin to gather evidence. There appears to be a conspiracy of silence among a group of students who knew the victim, especially as concerns a party which preceded the suspicious death of Philip Skelly. When another student -- the host of the party -- disappears, and a second student is found dead in the courtyard fountain, Imogen becomes more deeply involved, and is instrumental in solving the case. Another faculty member (a librarian other than the one who discovered the body), one of Imogen's 3 lodgers (an eccentric rare book collector), and a young townie hair stylist have roles to play in the drama, as do a hundreds-years-old bequest to St. Agatha's and a potential new large bequest which seems to be threatened by the unexpected murders of 2 students.
Although I suspected the involvement of one of the characters who actually did have something to do with the crime, I was wrong about the actual role of that character, so there were still some surprises there. And there were several complications which I did not figure out and was grateful to have brought into the open and fully explained (but not preachily so; the author has a nice way of melding information into narrative pretty naturally). And I particularly liked the ending, which made me smile. All in all, a good read and, I think, a well-crafted mystery. Book clubs might enjoy discussing this one, and those who enjoy an academic setting for their sleuths to operate in will surely enjoy reading this. I hope the BBC will consider Imogen Quy for a future TV series, if they aren't doing so already.
This mystery takes place in Cambridge, England, where the librarian of the Wyndham Library at St. Agatha's College, Cambridge, discovers a the body of a student lying on the library floor when he opens up one morning. College nurse Imogen Quy is called to the scene by the distraught master of the College, and she becomes an assistant to the police as they begin to gather evidence. There appears to be a conspiracy of silence among a group of students who knew the victim, especially as concerns a party which preceded the suspicious death of Philip Skelly. When another student -- the host of the party -- disappears, and a second student is found dead in the courtyard fountain, Imogen becomes more deeply involved, and is instrumental in solving the case. Another faculty member (a librarian other than the one who discovered the body), one of Imogen's 3 lodgers (an eccentric rare book collector), and a young townie hair stylist have roles to play in the drama, as do a hundreds-years-old bequest to St. Agatha's and a potential new large bequest which seems to be threatened by the unexpected murders of 2 students.
Although I suspected the involvement of one of the characters who actually did have something to do with the crime, I was wrong about the actual role of that character, so there were still some surprises there. And there were several complications which I did not figure out and was grateful to have brought into the open and fully explained (but not preachily so; the author has a nice way of melding information into narrative pretty naturally). And I particularly liked the ending, which made me smile. All in all, a good read and, I think, a well-crafted mystery. Book clubs might enjoy discussing this one, and those who enjoy an academic setting for their sleuths to operate in will surely enjoy reading this. I hope the BBC will consider Imogen Quy for a future TV series, if they aren't doing so already.
July 3, 2024
This book often seemed set in the 50s and then I’d be surprised when someone said fuck or there were other hints of semi-modernity. Maybe that has to do with being set in Cambridge. Are places like that allowed to move with history like regular places? (Kidding, mostly). Kind of slow but I liked Imogen.
June 1, 2019
Could be a 2.5 rating, but such a meager difference makes no real impact on the overall value of this ho-hum read.
I seem to have a genius for finding books filled with the promise of something delicious to savor, offering such favored (to me) elements as: ancient libraries in revered universities, eccentric collegiate "fellows," awe-inspiring architecture, gorgeous landscapes and perky quasi-academic support people, all to no avail. Very rarely do such enticing parts make up a satisfying whole. Such is the problem here. The premise (and even the clever working out of the solution) are buried under an unwelcome avalanche of modern (1993) social and economic issues as well as a student conspiracy designed to throw as much confusion over everything, but which only serves to prove how shallow the plot actually is. Some of the other problems with the book were the obvious motivations of the main culprits, the weak connections between deadly events and the lame resolution of all the separate attacks, disappearances and mistakes. I will say that I liked the very end scene and felt it helped to make sense of an otherwise pointless story.
I seem to have a genius for finding books filled with the promise of something delicious to savor, offering such favored (to me) elements as: ancient libraries in revered universities, eccentric collegiate "fellows," awe-inspiring architecture, gorgeous landscapes and perky quasi-academic support people, all to no avail. Very rarely do such enticing parts make up a satisfying whole. Such is the problem here. The premise (and even the clever working out of the solution) are buried under an unwelcome avalanche of modern (1993) social and economic issues as well as a student conspiracy designed to throw as much confusion over everything, but which only serves to prove how shallow the plot actually is. Some of the other problems with the book were the obvious motivations of the main culprits, the weak connections between deadly events and the lame resolution of all the separate attacks, disappearances and mistakes. I will say that I liked the very end scene and felt it helped to make sense of an otherwise pointless story.
June 7, 2020
Yes, it's another cosy murder mystery following a set formula, but I think if you pick up this book it's because you know that's how whodunnits work and it's what you're looking for. It was in my case. I like the character of Imogen, who is nicely balanced between independence and insecurity, and the supporting cast are also mostly well drawn. The exception to this (hence the missing star) is the student suspects, who are a mostly bit one-dimensional. The key to solving the mystery is a nice trick that I'd never come across before. All round, very satisfying.
February 7, 2021
An academic mystery. And I just love academic mysteries. I like the intrigues among academics and between students. This time we are in Cambridge with a special kind of library, a certain book and a body locked inside the library. And to cap it all the end is. A tear jerker. A mystery for book lovers and intellectuals.
October 17, 2008
The first Imogen Quy mystery. And it's about a body in a library! No, not the famous Miss Marple story, but a story much better written and more intriguing, with nuanced characters and rich details about Cambridge University.
November 1, 2012
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
When a Cambridge student is found dead, is it just a tragic accident or is something sinister afoot? Stars Carolyn Pickles.
When a Cambridge student is found dead, is it just a tragic accident or is something sinister afoot? Stars Carolyn Pickles.
January 4, 2023
I do like Jill Paton Walsh/
I have read only one of her YA books - A Parcel of Patterns about Eyam, the village which isolated itself during an outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1665, later revisited in Geraldine Brooks’ “Year of Wonders”. And she did admirably with her four Whimsey/Vane novels. Now I am introduced to Imogen Quy, college nurse at St. Agatha’s, a college at Cambridge. So very good. Will proceed to the remaining three and then be sad there are no more.
I have read only one of her YA books - A Parcel of Patterns about Eyam, the village which isolated itself during an outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1665, later revisited in Geraldine Brooks’ “Year of Wonders”. And she did admirably with her four Whimsey/Vane novels. Now I am introduced to Imogen Quy, college nurse at St. Agatha’s, a college at Cambridge. So very good. Will proceed to the remaining three and then be sad there are no more.
May 22, 2020
This was a lot of fun. Some parts of the mystery were easy to tease out, but others were less clear. I really liked the main character, Imogene, and will gladly read future mysteries starring her.
March 10, 2018
Una lectura de lo más aburrida desde las primeras páginas y no me llego a enganchar que ya me olvide de lo que se trataba.
August 7, 2025
A re-read from years ago. A great female protagonist who is smart, witty and a perfect co-worker.
January 14, 2021
6/10.
The heroine, Imogen herself, feels a little colourless, surrounded as she is by a cast of precocious students and eccentric academics. But that aside, this book is a well plotted, engaging mystery.
The heroine, Imogen herself, feels a little colourless, surrounded as she is by a cast of precocious students and eccentric academics. But that aside, this book is a well plotted, engaging mystery.
July 23, 2024
I enjoy her writing style which is somewhat similar to Sayers, very literate and can understand why she was asked to continue the Wimsey/Vane stories.
The fountain incident seems irrelevant to the story, nothing was made of it
However it was a pleasant read and I will enjoy the rest of the series
The fountain incident seems irrelevant to the story, nothing was made of it
However it was a pleasant read and I will enjoy the rest of the series
September 1, 2020
Not quite as good as her Lord Peter Wimsey novels,but not bad.
October 31, 2020
I read this because I very much enjoy Jill Paton Walsh's continuation of Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane books. Without those characters and all that goes with them, however, the author has a hard time. I suspect this was written before the Wimsey/Vane continuations and I can see why Sayers' estate chose Paton Walsh to write the others in Sayers' series. This book is very like the Sayers' books in tone and it is set in Cambridge (not Oxford, but oh well) and involves a mystery at St. Agatha College there. Paton Walsh writes the characters well and I like the main character of Imogen Quy, but the plot was not very engaging. Not until about halfway through this short volume did I feel like I knew what the story was about and why Imogen was the focus of the narrative. Even then, although she solves the mystery, she is just the person who figures out what happened and nothing happens to her. I often criticize mystery writers who incredibly place their heroines in mortal danger in ways that make no sense, just to provide a climax to their plots, and I am happy that Paton Walsh did not do that. But, although there are two offstage murders near the beginning of the book, Imogen is able to figure out what happened and even confront the villains without any sense of peril, where that might have been credible in a situation where others had been killed to keep them quiet. Anyway, perhaps the other two books in this series are better than this first one, but without more encouragement, I doubt I will find out.
May 11, 2024
Written in 1993, 5 years before Jill Paton Walsh completed "Thrones, Dominations" by Dorothy L. Sayers, this was her first mystery. It gets off to a rough start, but picks up in chapter 16, so I plan to continue the series.
Especially in the early chapters, the sleuth seems unstuck in time. She's in her early 30s, about the age of the author's daughter, but reacts as if she were the author (born 1937) at that age but transported from the late 50s.
One-dimensional characters are normal in traditional mysteries. They keep the reader's focus on the plot. If that was the author's intention, she exceeded expectations. And while the resolution violates the Comics Code Authority of 1954 ("in every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds") it's useless to expect a traditional mystery to be a tidy morality play. Most famous classic mystery writers broke that rule.
But there are a few plot holes. For instance, the first victim is known to have been suddenly in prosperity. Why don't the police check his bank records? The second victim is as dead as the first, but the author just leaves her for dead. Hasn't she any friends or family, like the first victim? Given the medical evidence that the professor was beaned with a blunt instrument, why don't the police follow up?
I'd give the first two-thirds of the book 2 stars and the last third 4 stars, for a weighted average of 3 stars for improvement. I know I enjoy her continuation of Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series.
Especially in the early chapters, the sleuth seems unstuck in time. She's in her early 30s, about the age of the author's daughter, but reacts as if she were the author (born 1937) at that age but transported from the late 50s.
One-dimensional characters are normal in traditional mysteries. They keep the reader's focus on the plot. If that was the author's intention, she exceeded expectations. And while the resolution violates the Comics Code Authority of 1954 ("in every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds") it's useless to expect a traditional mystery to be a tidy morality play. Most famous classic mystery writers broke that rule.
But there are a few plot holes. For instance, the first victim is known to have been suddenly in prosperity. Why don't the police check his bank records? The second victim is as dead as the first, but the author just leaves her for dead. Hasn't she any friends or family, like the first victim? Given the medical evidence that the professor was beaned with a blunt instrument, why don't the police follow up?
I'd give the first two-thirds of the book 2 stars and the last third 4 stars, for a weighted average of 3 stars for improvement. I know I enjoy her continuation of Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2025
The Wyndham Case is a cosy Cambridge mystery that feels like it wandered in from the Golden Age wearing a 1990s disguise. The book begins with a scholarship student Philip Skellow found dead in the locked Wyndham library, a stuffy collection of 17th century Ptolemaic (no less!) science books which nobody cares about except for the money attached, and we see college nurse and amateur sleuth Imogen Quy (rhymes with "why") steps in to help.
We have all the classic Golden Age mystery stuff: feuding librarians, a vanished roommate, cruel undergraduate pranks, and academic funding drama wrapped around questions of intellectual integrity versus cold hard cash, albeit without a good, coherent plot to hold them together. While the locked room solution isn't particularly mysterious and most readers will figure out why Philip was in that library long before Walsh wants them to, Imogen makes for a refreshingly sensible amateur sleuth who can slip between the university's rigid social strata.
The characters feel oddly innocent for the 1990s setting as they'd be happier transported back to Dorothy Sayers' era, but then I would say there is something comforting about this gentle, bookish mystery where even murder can't quite disturb the Cambridge atmosphere of afternoon tea and academic squabbles.
My Ratig - 3/5
We have all the classic Golden Age mystery stuff: feuding librarians, a vanished roommate, cruel undergraduate pranks, and academic funding drama wrapped around questions of intellectual integrity versus cold hard cash, albeit without a good, coherent plot to hold them together. While the locked room solution isn't particularly mysterious and most readers will figure out why Philip was in that library long before Walsh wants them to, Imogen makes for a refreshingly sensible amateur sleuth who can slip between the university's rigid social strata.
The characters feel oddly innocent for the 1990s setting as they'd be happier transported back to Dorothy Sayers' era, but then I would say there is something comforting about this gentle, bookish mystery where even murder can't quite disturb the Cambridge atmosphere of afternoon tea and academic squabbles.
My Ratig - 3/5
July 18, 2017
I decided to try these books after re-reading Walsh's continuation of the Lord Peter Wimsey books. This was the first one, starring Imogene Quy, a nurse at a Cambridge college. A student's body is found in special library called the Wyndham Case - a donated collection with a lot of requirements - and money - attached. Also makes a handy double meaning. Quy tries to help her policeman friend by talking to the students, who are very anti-police and are being very close-mouthed - apparently in order to protect a popular boy who roomed with the dead student, and who has disappeared. She makes a little headway, and also accidentally meets a non-student who works as a hairdresser, from whom she picks up some more information that the police don't have. Her lodger, an absent-minded professor, also enters the picture when his valuable book is stolen; he later also disappears. After another student is murdered, things start to come together. I was slightly annoyed by the fact that an obvious clue (if I can spot it, it MUST be obvious!) is totally ignored until 3/4 of the way through the book. But I suppose the book would have been a lot shorter if she hadn't done that. Otherwise I quite enjoyed the book, and plan to read the rest in this series.
September 22, 2024
Delightfully poignant ending that left a tear in my eye. It also gave a feeling of great satisfaction as all those loose ends flapping about in the wind were tied down and made secure.
There is a very Cambridge feel to the book with all those networking tendrils running throughout It is always possible to find someone who knows someone that can tell you about someone else.
Along with the murder mystery there are also side elements I enjoyed such as piecing together where the events take place from Imogen's walks from Newnham or even the location of the fictional college itself which seems to be where there are some student residences on the city side of Castle mound to possibly also including the site of Shire Hall and Castle Court on the other side.
Most enjoyable and I have gone straight on to the second book in the series.
There is a very Cambridge feel to the book with all those networking tendrils running throughout It is always possible to find someone who knows someone that can tell you about someone else.
Along with the murder mystery there are also side elements I enjoyed such as piecing together where the events take place from Imogen's walks from Newnham or even the location of the fictional college itself which seems to be where there are some student residences on the city side of Castle mound to possibly also including the site of Shire Hall and Castle Court on the other side.
Most enjoyable and I have gone straight on to the second book in the series.
January 26, 2020
"The locked library of St. Agatha's College, Cambridge, houses an unrivalled collection of seventeenth century volumes. And one dead student.
"Tragic and accidental of course, even if malicious gossip hints that Phillip Skelly was stealing books rather than reading them when he slipped, banged his head and bled to death overnight.
"Only the college nurse, Imogen Quy, has her doubts after all, her name rhymes with 'why'. But no one takes much notice until the second dead student appears in the college fountain."
~~back cover
I just couldn't get interested in this book. The writing seemed sophomoric, and the plot tedious -- at least up to page 92, when I threw my hands up in the air and abandoned ship.
"Tragic and accidental of course, even if malicious gossip hints that Phillip Skelly was stealing books rather than reading them when he slipped, banged his head and bled to death overnight.
"Only the college nurse, Imogen Quy, has her doubts after all, her name rhymes with 'why'. But no one takes much notice until the second dead student appears in the college fountain."
~~back cover
I just couldn't get interested in this book. The writing seemed sophomoric, and the plot tedious -- at least up to page 92, when I threw my hands up in the air and abandoned ship.
January 23, 2023
I know Jill Paton Walsh mainly as a writer of excellent children’s books from the 80s and 90s, as the writer who completed Dorothy’s Sayers final Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey book and then wrote two more. I had forgotten she also had a series featuring Cambridge College Nurse Imogen Quy. Her books are always intelligent, the plotting is good and this one is populated with likeable characters (and some not so much as is only to be expected in a murder mystery) and has a satisfactory, if slightly too neat conclusion. The locked room mystery was not as mysterious as some might be, but that didn’t detract from the book. I will be looking for the next in the series. I had to use inter-library loan for this.
December 11, 2019
The Wyndham Case is a very far-fetched but extremely enjoyable murder mystery set in a fictional Cambridge college featuring a body in a locked library no less. It’s the first in a series of novels featuring Imogen Quy, college nurse and amateur sleuth and although it has a contemporary setting is very much in the mould of a classic golden age detective thriller. I’ve always admired Jill Paton Walsh as a children’s author (her Gaffer Samson’s Luck is a small masterpiece of place and character) and she brings her not inconsiderable skills to this exercise in genre fiction. I really enjoyed this and will definitely be reading more in the series.
April 5, 2024
Review of dramatized audio version (3 stars)
This is a locked room mystery featuring an amateur detective, university nurse Imogen Quy, who featured in four detective stories by Paton Walsh. It's in the style of the traditional English detective story, and fits in the mould of writers like Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot) and Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey). The dramatized audio version was done nicely.
This particular story is a murder mystery set in an academic college steeped in traditions, and all the loose ends are nicely wrapped up by the ending, with some clever ideas. A real shame about the misuse of God's name, and some references to innuendo and immorality.
This is a locked room mystery featuring an amateur detective, university nurse Imogen Quy, who featured in four detective stories by Paton Walsh. It's in the style of the traditional English detective story, and fits in the mould of writers like Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot) and Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey). The dramatized audio version was done nicely.
This particular story is a murder mystery set in an academic college steeped in traditions, and all the loose ends are nicely wrapped up by the ending, with some clever ideas. A real shame about the misuse of God's name, and some references to innuendo and immorality.
June 18, 2024
Disappointing. I enjoyed the author's take on the Peter Wimsey series, so I thought I would try one of her own stories. It wasn't as good. The main character isn't very interesting (the most interesting thing about her is her name), and her involvement in the investigation is a bit unrealistic (I'm sorry, but the police don't just ask their acquaintances to help out when they have a relationship with some of the suspects). And the murder mystery itself was kind of a letdown, and only partially retrieved with the epilogue-like theft mystery at the end. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough that I would want to read any more in the series.
June 12, 2021
Very light amateur sleuth story
There are some marvelous architectural descriptions of a British University campus. The heroine is likable and even brings up an interesting perspective on the challenge of dating when everyone views a nurse by her profession and ignores the personality behind the facade. However, the mystery is just too unbelievable in that there is too much coincidence and the police are unbelievably dumb. As a very light read , it is acceptable but it is, by no means, a page turner.
There are some marvelous architectural descriptions of a British University campus. The heroine is likable and even brings up an interesting perspective on the challenge of dating when everyone views a nurse by her profession and ignores the personality behind the facade. However, the mystery is just too unbelievable in that there is too much coincidence and the police are unbelievably dumb. As a very light read , it is acceptable but it is, by no means, a page turner.
January 18, 2022
I read this book because I thought the author did a good job of the Sayers books. I really don’t understand the bad reviews. I thought this book was well-written and intelligent- with some interesting details- which is more than I can say of the most of the contemporary mysteries that I try to read and abandon in disgust. I am hoping that the series will vontinue to develop the characters and the settings.
January 27, 2023
Decent mystery with a likeable sleuth in the form of a college nurse. I liked that Cambridge finally gets its own detective - far too many in Oxford. The plot was a bit convoluted, though, and while the sleuthing itself was okay, it felt like there was far too much going on on the night of the inciting incident. I liked this one enough to give the second book a go, though.
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