At the Villa Rose

A.E.W. MASON

At the Villa Rose
by A.E.W. Mason (1865-1948)

Harry Wethermiill, brilliant scientist, graduate of Oxford and
Munich, has made a fortune from his inventions and is taking
a vacation at Aix-les-Bains. There he falls in love with the
beautiful Celia Harland, who serves as companion to the
aging, warm-hearted Madam Dauvray. All this is observed by
Julius Ricardo, a retired financier from London who spends
every August at Aix, expecting there to find a pleasant and
peaceful life. Imagine his consternation when he learns that

Mme. Dauvray has been brutally murdered, and imagine Harry
AEW Mason Wethermill's consternation when he learns that every finger of
suspicion is pointed at the now vanished Celia Harland.

Wethermill implores Ricardo to ask his friend Inspector Hanaud, the great
detective of the Paris Sûreté (who is also vacationing in Aix) to involve himself
in the case so that the truth may come out. Hanaud agrees to do so and goes
to work. Will he be up to the job? And will Harry Wethermill ultimately be glad
that he called in the great man? Surely Hanaud will exercise his powerful little
grey cells — one of several characteristics he shares with a famous Belgian
detective of later decades, and indeed some scholars of mystery suggest that
Agatha Christie, in her invention of Hercule Poirot, owes a debt to Mason.

AT THE VILLA ROSE

A.E.W. Mason

Total running time: 7:22:17 Cover design by Kathryn Delaney
Read by Nicholas Clifford Photograph by Daderot

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