#eltonsbrody

Eltonsbrody Edgar Mittelholzer | Secker & Warburg | 1960 | 191 pages

Initially establishing itself as a Caribbean-flavored variation on the “Old Dark House” mystery popularized during the twenties and thirties, Eltonsbrody upends the established genre conventions with a shocking, unexpectedly gory finale.

Or, perhaps, not so unexpectedly, as indicated by the warning in the first chapter:

“It’s a…

Eltonsbrody (1960) Edgar Mittelholzer With a new introduction by John Thieme Book Description When Woodsley, a young English painter, arrives in Barbados and finds no lodging available, he thinks himself fortunate to be invited to stay at Eltonsbrody, a mansion belonging to the eccentric widow Mrs Scaife. But behind the locked doors of the house’s disused rooms lurk terrible secrets, and soon strange and blood-curdling events begin to unfold. The tension builds towards a shocking and unforgettable conclusion, when the full horror of Eltonsbrody will be revealed. ​ One of the most prolific and important of 20th-century Caribbean writers, Edgar Mittelholzer (1909-1965) was at his best in Gothic novels like My Bones and My Flute (1955) and Eltonsbrody (1960). This first-ever reissue of Mittelholzer’s weird and chilling tale reproduces the original dust jacket art and includes a new introduction by John Thieme.