''Death in White Pyjamas'' is a 1944

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

by the British writer

John Bude Ernest Carpenter Elmore (4 November 1901 – 8 November 1957) was an English theatre producer and director, and writer of crime and fantasy novels. He wrote his crime novels under the pseudonym John Bude. Life Elmore was born in Maidstone, Kent ...

. Hubin p.56 It is a stand-alone novel and does not feature his regular character

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

Meredith. Although written during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, no reference is made to the ongoing conflict. Originally published by Cassell, in 2020 it was reissued by the

British Library Publishing The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

in a single edition with another Bude novel '' Death Knows No Calendar'', as part of a series of republished crime novels from the

Golden Age of Detective Fiction The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of classic murder mystery novels of similar patterns and styles, predominantly in the 1920s and 1930s. The Golden Age proper is, in practice, usually taken to refer to a type of fiction which was pre ...

Synopsis

The leading actors of the Beaumont Theatre gather at the

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

country estate An estate is a large parcel of land under single ownership, which would historically generate income for its owner. British context In the UK, historically an estate comprises the houses, outbuildings, supporting farmland, and woods that s ...

of their financial backer, Sam Richardson, a

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. In most countries biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be ...

millionaire for some relaxation before they begin

Rehearsal A rehearsal is an activity in the performing arts that occurs as preparation for a performance in music, theatre, dance and related arts, such as opera, musical theatre and film production. It is undertaken as a form of practising, to ensure t ...

s for the new theatrical season. The guests include the womanising but successful

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. Hist ...

Basil Barnes, the attractive but malicious

set designer Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

Deidre Lehaye, drunken

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...

Willy Farnham,

ingénue The ''ingénue'' (, , ) is a stock character in literature, film and a role type in the theater, generally a girl or a young woman, who is endearingly innocent. ''Ingénue'' may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in such roles ...

Angela Walsh and the nephew of one of the actresses, Rudolph Millar, an aspiring

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

who hopes to have his work produced by the company. Things take a downward turn when some money is discovered to be missing. Theft is followed by

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

and attempted seduction. Events come to a head when the corpse of Lehaye is found one night in the

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

wearing white

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

pyjamas Pajamas (American English, US) or pyjamas (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth) (), sometimes colloquially shortened to PJs, jammies, jam-jams, or in South Asia night suits, are several related types of clothing worn as night ...

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

Harting of the local police takes over the investigation and discovers that several of her associates had both the motive and the opportunity to murder the scheming Lehaye.

References

Bibliography

* Hubin, Allen J. ''Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography''. Garland Publishing, 1984. * Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. 1944 British novels British mystery novels Novels by John Bude Novels set in London Novels set in Sussex British detective novels Cassell (publisher) books {{1940s-novel-stub