It's 1929 and almost the Golden Age of the English murder mystery when bank clerk and would-be bon vivant Selby Bigge is out prowling Hampstead Heath in search of brief, illicit human connection when he bumps into an old flame from his university days. Well, not so much an old flame as a brief flicker of connection/affection/prospective amour at the end of a drunken night among fellow undergraduate academics. When Patrick, that well-dressed scion of a recently knighted sire, invites him for a meal at The Ritz, Selby's hopes rise for a rekindling.

Except this evening turns out to be a family dinner with the knight and his new wife, a lady much nearer Patrick's age than his father's. It soon becomes apparent that all is not well in that family circle. And, to further deepen the familiar trope, Selby is invited to the knight's upcoming birthday dinner at his relatively isolated manor on the far side of Hampstead Heath.

Any reader of a Golden Age mystery knows what happens next.

This is very much a classic murder mystery, except that it's set amid the very real perils of being homosexual in the England of (barely) yesteryear, where the wrong glance or word at the wrong time or place could bring unwanted attention from the ever-vigilant police and public anti-sodomy brigade. Being caught in a compromising position with another man, even in the privacy of his own home, could cost cost Selby his freedom, his reputation, his job, and possibly his ability to live in England without being hounded everywhere. And yet he yearns for another kiss from his longtime crush. And so he agrees to help when Patrick falls under suspicion.

The subsequent investigation takes Selby through various London underground clubs and furthers his acquaintance with a cross-dressing baronet‘s daughter, Theo, who also wants to solve the murder. Tension is inevitable as Selby juggles and conceals his intermittent contacts with other gay men. There are some sage and essentially timeless observations about life and relationships, and especially marriage, from several angles of LGBTQ+ life experience. There's an homage to one of Agatha Christie's lesser sleuths, Ariadne Oliver, in the prolific if not, highly respected, crime writer who thinks Agatha Christie is stealing her plots. Any violence is constrained in true traditional crime novel style, and the solution owes more to careful thought and deduction than to anything so sensationalist as a climactic action scene.

All in all, a lot to enjoy, and ideal timing for its release at the start of Pride Month across North America.

A debut novel and first in a projected series from playwright and activist Robert Holtom. Holtom’s convincing homage to Golden Age detective fiction is also an act of recuperation which places front and centre members of the underground queer communities of the era. It’s set in London in 1929 where Selby Bigge’s struggling with his double life, his identity as gay marks him out as a criminal subject to the notorious ‘Lily Law’ and the horrendous prejudice of mainstream society. He hails from a suburban backwater but a spell at Oxford briefly exposed Selby to the circles of the wealthy and privileged. Now he’s renting a shabby room from an over-curious landlady and working as a bank clerk. But after an abortive night of cruising on Hampstead Heath, a chance encounter brings Selby into contact with someone he once loved when a student, drawing him into a web of intrigue and violence.

Like so many debuts this is a little shaky, and overwritten, at times. But it’s also a well-paced, entertaining and insightful whodunnit – and I didn’t even vaguely anticipate the ending. Holtom draws on his extensive research to construct a fascinating portrait of 1920s queer London; a narrative which juxtaposes isolation and betrayal with unexpected opportunities for friendship and solidarity. Selby’s a sympathetic figure as is Theo/Theodora who he meets in the course of his amateur sleuthing. Holtom includes plentiful references for fans of vintage crime, and I liked Holtom’s concept of a forcibly-closeted gay man as someone who’s primed to recognise the secrets and subterfuge of people around him, more than able to draw on that ability to solve a murder. I look forward to the next instalment.

It's 1929, Selby Bigge is a lower middle-class banking clerk living in a grubby bedsit by day and haunting Hampstead Heath by night looking for men of a similar persuasion. One night he comes across an old acquaintance from Oxford, one with whom he shared a brief kiss which Selby has never forgotten. The acquaintance, Patrick Duker is bemoaning the fact that his father, the banking millionaire Sir Lionel Duker has married a much younger woman, an alleged gold-digger and Patrick hates her.

For reasons known only to himself, Patrick invites Selby to have dinner with his father and step-mother at the Ritz with the intention of getting 'proof' that his step-mother is evil/a gold digger. Their dinner is enlivened when a journalist makes a scene and accuses Lady Duker of stealing away his lover (her first husband who she subsequently divorced). The journalist also made several accusations about Sir Lionel before being ejected from the Ritz. Not withstanding all the excitement, Selby is then invited to Sir Lionel's' birthday dinner at his home on Hampstead Heath where he is faced with a bizarre group of guests, including an alcoholic General, Patrick's fiancé (!), and a female novelist with a chip on her shoulder. Just as the evening is breaking up, the journalist comes banging on the door, a row ensues and in the chaos one of the dinner party is found dead, strangled in the Billiards Room.

Selby notices a few oddities, which the Police seem uninterested in pursuing, so he undertakes his own investigation - but soon discovers nearly every person at the dinner had a motive for killing the victim.

I have read several K.J. Charles novels and very much enjoyed them so when I saw the premise of this book, and the gorgeous cover, I requested it immediately. However, Selby didn't really come across as a likeable character, and he also appeared very gullible - which seems odd given that homosexuality was illegal then and therefore his gaydar/antennae for Police entrapment should have been finely honed. Also, the balance between enlightening the reader as to the way in which homosexuality was viewed/ the underground gay scene and the detection felt wrong - too much explanation and not enough real detection (other than going around accusing everyone in turn).

I feel it has promise and I would probably request the next book in the series, hoping that having established the historical context the mystery would come to the fore. Having said that, there were clues to the murderer and I did suspect something of the sort early on (and kind of forgot again).

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

A Queer Case was an interesting whodunit set in the 1920s with gay main character who is trying to keep their sexuality hidden. It was a fun read that captured the time period perfectly and kept me hooked throughout. I loved Holtom’s writing and characters. They manage to capture the time period and the unfortunate view that certain sexuality was taboo.

This had a bit of a the feel of Agatha Christie about it but arguably even better since it covers the more taboo side of things in the 20s. If you are looking for an historical whodunit with a wonderful cast of characters and interesting storyline this is for you.
As always thank you to Titan Books for the advanced copy to review, my reviews are always honest and freely given.

A Queer Case by Robert Holtom is the first in The Selby Bigge Mysteries series and I can’t wait to read the next story. Set in London high society at the end of the Twenties, featuring a main character who must musk his being gay and show the hipocrisy of the time and the society, it’s a gripping and highly entertaining whodunit with echo of golden age.

Robert Holtom's "A Queer Case" is a wonderful new gay murder series. The novel takes place in 1920's London. This setting is important because the novel is about a gay man who has to manage his sexuality during a time of repression and possible imprisonment. Selby witnesses a murder, and he sets out to identify the culprit. Holtom's writing is quite witty and engaging and I was interested in Selby as a character, This is a wonderful first start to a new murder mystery series. It's especially fun for readers of LGBT lit and/or of British history.

A campy cozy mystery. I loved the idea! It was a bit choppy and I could have read more camp just because I feel that’s what made it unique. Otherwise I was loving the Agatha Christie vibes. Thanks Titan Books and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is wonderfully constructed murder mystery that wears its queerness on its sleeve.

The characters in this book are not only well-drawn, they have sexual urges too, which brings to this era of queer history brilliantly to life.

Attitudes and prejudices of the time also play into the mystery in a masterful way, which makes the twists and turns of plot even more enjoyable.

I hope there’s more to this series, because by the end of the book there seems to be a duo (or is that a trio) that are ready to take on anything.

Brush up on your Polari, this is a bloody bona book!

I really enjoyed this first book in the Selby Bigge mystery series, mainly because Selby himself was so charming and amusing. He’s a gay man in London in the 1920’s and therefore continually threatened by exposure, social ruin and imprisonment but he still manages to have a good time. He’s clever and has been to Oxford university but he’s a bit vain about his receding hairline and the fact that he comes from middle class Horsham not from the aristocracy. He wears his heart on his sleeve and thinks the best of people, all the while accusing them of murder. He’s great, I love him. Oh and Theo/Theodora and the eccentric mystery-writing aunt are great too.

More please!

Selby Bigge is a queer. He's a relatively lucky one, all things considered, never caught out by the police, happy-ish with his handful of reliable lovers, and nights spent hunting the heath for willing men, gainfully employed at the bank, housed and clothed and healthy. Yes, things could be much worse for Selby, and he knows it. When he runs into Patrick on the Heath, Selby is beset by memories. Easy smiles. A stolen kiss. Drunk on the possibility of Patrick, Selby agrees to help him uncover proof of his young step-mother's nefarious intentions. When death comes calling, both men end up caught in the middle, but things aren't quite as they seem. With the police tying loose ends into neat bows, Selby is the only one trying to unpick the twisted mess of thread at centre of the case, can Selby find the truth, without revealing his own secretes? Will he work his way into Patrick's heart? And, when love like his is criminal, can Selby risk falling?

A Queer Case was an unusual kind of novel. I am forever in pursuit of the viscerally human. It is a quality you rarely find in books, because a moment of (let's be honest) gross, simply put, un-tip-toed-around bodily reality can undermine scenes of emotional import, it is distracting, sudden, like a jump scare. In A Queer Case, Holtom does not shy away from these opportunities for real, simply stated. linguistically stark human moments - the words he chooses, on more than one occasion, to describe body parts, make that clear. At the same time, he is a lover of the quip. High speed, almost Wildean, banter and classical allusions abound. There is a repetition of phrases which almost begins to feel like a bit, bringing the reader into an in joke, but which does not always feel purposeful, and sometimes blurs the line of speaker and spoken to.

Holtom has real strength, and he also has some weaknesses, but as a whole this is a deeply readable, amusing, emotive novel which concerns itself with the reality of queerness at a time when such love was criminalised. I look forward to joining Selby Bigge again, I anticipate wonderful, slightly madcap mysteries, and if I'm lucky, an eventual love interest. 3.5 stars.

a gripping and really fun setting with protagonists who always feel logical and perfectly in place, in the story and the setting. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

"A gripping 1920s-set whodunnit, this debut features a queer sleuth who must solve a murder in a mansion on London's Hampstead Heath without revealing his sexuality, lest he be arrested as a criminal.

The Selby Bigge mysteries series debut, it will leave readers eager for the next installment. Perfect for fans of Nicola Upson's Josephine Tey novels.

London, 1929.

Selby Bigge is a bank clerk by day and a denizen of the capital's queer underworld by night, but he yearns for a life that will take him away from his ledgers, loveless trysts and dreary bedsit in in which his every move is scrutinised by a nosy landlady. So when he meets Patrick, son of knight of the realm and banking millionaire Sir Lionel Duker, he is delighted to find himself catapulted into a world of dinners at The Ritz and birthday parties at his new friend's family mansion on Hampstead Heath.

But money, it seems, can't buy happiness. Sir Lionel is being slandered in the press, his new young wife Lucinda is being harassed by an embittered journalist and Patrick is worried he'll lose his inheritance to his gold-digging stepmother. And when someone is found strangled on the billiards room floor after a party it doesn't take long for Selby to realise everyone has a motive for murder.

Can Selby uncover the truth while keeping his own secrets buried?"

I mean, unless the killer knows his secret I think it's safe...

Written in the style of a (queer) Agatha Christie novel, A Queer case follows Selby Bigge, a bank clerk, who is a gay man constantly looking over his shoulder for the law. When he accidentally reconnects with a past flame, Selby is desperate to rekindle that connection with the high class gentleman. But Patrick is more intent on his own sordid life; specifically the pure hatred he carries for his young stepmother, Lucinda.

When Selby inadvertently witnesses the aftermath of a murder at Patrick’s party, he is thrown headfirst into a nest of vipers, with everyone seemingly having a motive for the murder. Desperate to get Patrick’s attention, Selby takes on the role of detective to try and help him figure out the culprit, but can Selby figure it out before he gets implicated himself?

This book is a murder mystery - don’t go into it expecting any sort of romance as you will be disappointed! In fact I found a number of characters (intentionally) deeply unlikeable, and couldn’t understand Selby’s willingness to spend time with them! That being said, there are a host of fascinating side characters, all with means and motives and I enjoyed the twists and turns.

There was a lot of homophobia in this novel, accurate to the time period (1920’s). Sometimes I wanted to scream at the horrible things the characters said to each other and that Selby had to sit and grit his teeth through. Even so, there were some glimpses at London’s underground gay scene as well as a wonderful gender-fluid character, who I loved! This book is a really difficult read in places, as many of the characters are unfairly demonised.

Read A Queer Case for:
✨ Murder mystery, a la Agatha Christie
✨ Gay MC
✨ Gender-fluid key SC
✨ Class differences in action
✨ Dealing with everyday homophobia
✨ Twists and turns, red herrings galore!
✨ (Intentionally) unlikeable suspects

Thanks to Titan Books for an eARC of this book via NetGalley! It’s available on 3rd June ✨

Enjoyable 1920s mystery with an entertaining central character in Selby Bigge - a gay Oxford graduate who gets involved in a high society murder. Good balance of actual mystery and social commentary - Bigge is acting as detective whilst also having to constantly act as a straight man at a time where homosexuality is illegal and the law is enforced and common meeting places for gay men are infiltrated by the police to trap people. A strong set of supporting characters some genuine mystery, and ultimately a possible sidekick for future stories made this a strong opening for the series.
I do hope Bigge gets a bit more satisfaction down the line as most of his ‘encounters’ didn’t really work out on a queer case…!

Sadly this was a DNF. I do enjoy historic and mystery tales of this type, but found the style of writing and characterisation to apparently be aimed at different audience (primarily male). I wanted to like it, very much, but don't think this series is for me. Apologies.

A vintage murder mystery with a heavy dose of homophobia. Yes, that's the reality of this book and the reality of life a century ago. It was a reminder of how intensely us queer folks used to have to live our lives in extreme secrecy, always looking over our shoulder, fearing discovery, incarceration and death (let alone, rarely being able to hope for love and a relationship). Sadly, many of us still live like this now. So, not a light-hearted book in any sense, but one that doesn't shy away from giving a realistic context. I will definitely read the next book, and I hope Theo also makes an appearance in that one.

Now, I'm not a mystery connoisseur, but I do enjoy them! This was the first book, I believe, by Robert Holtom. Does it rely a little on dialogue? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not in my opinion. The pacing is good, the characters well-rounded and entirely fallable, and the queer history and setting was neither preachy, fantastical nor disregarded.

An enjoyable read that goes down very quickly, and I would definitely read the next in the series.