''The Mouse Who Wouldn't Play Ball'' is a 1943
mystery thriller novel by the British writer
Anthony Gilbert, the pen name of Lucy Beatrice Malleson. It was the twelfth in a long-running series featuring her unscrupulous London
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
Arthur Crook. It was released in the United States the following year under the
alternative title of ''Thirty Days to Live''.
Synopsis
At a
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
a miserly but wealthy old man falls down the stairs and dies. When his will is examined his greedily expectant relatives are shocked to discover they won't receive any money at all, as the entire estate passes to Dorothea Capper, a woman they've never heard of. However to secure her inheritance she must spend thirty days in the house, despite a clear threat to her life. To help her she calls in Arthur Crook.
Film adaptation
In 1944 it was made into a film ''
Candles at Nine'' directed by
John Harlow and starring
Jessie Matthews
Jessie Margaret Matthews (11 March 1907 – 19 August 1981) was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1920s and 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.
After a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid-1930s, Ma ...
,
John Stuart and
Beatrix Lehmann.
[Goble p.602]
References
Bibliography
* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
* Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015.
1943 British novels
British mystery novels
British thriller novels
Novels by Anthony Gilbert
British novels adapted into films
Novels set in London
British detective novels
Collins Crime Club books
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