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cimorene1558's review against another edition
4.0
If anyone ever deserved to be murdered, it's the first murderee in this book!
sandin954's review against another edition
4.0
The small village of Comerford is trying to come to terms with the end of the war and integrating the returning men back into the lives they left when it is rocked by a murder. Much darker than the Cadfael series but well plotted with interesting characters (including a couple of youngsters who are precocious but believable). I listened to the audio version read by one of my all time favorites narrators Simon Prebble
vstewart76's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
daisythebrownie's review against another edition
3.0
The biography on the back of this book puts Ellis Peters next to Agatha Christie. Um, no. I think this had a promising story but was lacking in too many things to be that good.
First of all, this is a slow book. That in and of itself is not a bad thing. I'm trying to read more books that are slower-paced because it helps me slow down and enjoy the ride. But the murder happens more than 80 pages in. That's a bit too slow. The earlier chapters are supposed to be setting the scene for the event, but at fifty pages in I was just waiting for the murder to take place.
Second of all, the book description lists one particular character as being suspected of the murder. That really didn't seem to come out until much later when a different event took place. Then everyone looked at him, but not after this murder. The police look askance at him at first because of what he did in the war, but with no real conviction.
Thirdly, the murderer. *sigh* I am not someone who catalogs the evidence as I read, who thinks critically about who it could be. But I knew who it was before the big reveal. It was too obvious at that point. It's always the least suspected person, but in this case, it was a person hardly mentioned.
All in all, it was underwhelming at the reveal. I finished the book as quickly as I could after that, and I am glad it's finished.
First of all, this is a slow book. That in and of itself is not a bad thing. I'm trying to read more books that are slower-paced because it helps me slow down and enjoy the ride. But the murder happens more than 80 pages in. That's a bit too slow. The earlier chapters are supposed to be setting the scene for the event, but at fifty pages in I was just waiting for the murder to take place.
Second of all, the book description lists one particular character as being suspected of the murder. That really didn't seem to come out until much later when a different event took place. Then everyone looked at him, but not after this murder. The police look askance at him at first because of what he did in the war, but with no real conviction.
Thirdly, the murderer. *sigh* I am not someone who catalogs the evidence as I read, who thinks critically about who it could be. But I knew who it was before the big reveal. It was too obvious at that point. It's always the least suspected person, but in this case, it was a person hardly mentioned.
All in all, it was underwhelming at the reveal. I finished the book as quickly as I could after that, and I am glad it's finished.
pnwlisa's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
casvelyn's review
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
elisabethe's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rinda's review
4.0
Listened to it on the drive across the country. Kept me awake on the night shift! I have done all of her Brother Cadfel series and enjoyed them, but this one was great. Dan sent me to this series as he has done them all. Easier to listen to as there isn’t all the momentary and ancient history to plow through.
barbarahowe's review
3.0
Before there was Brother Cadfael, there was Inspector Felse.
Ellis Peters is well known for her series of historical mysteries featuring the Welsh monk, Brother Cadfael. She began writing those in the late 1970s, but she honed her skills on an earlier series written between 1951 and 1978, featuring an English detective, George Felse. Anyone who likes Brother Cadfael and is not fixated on the Middle Ages might enjoy the thirteen books in this series, too. Set contemporaneously in the U.K., they were not wriiten as historical novels, but given the span of time since then, one can enjoy them as period pieces, appreciating the window they provide into post-war life in Shropshire along the Welsh border.
In Fallen Into the Pit, the first book in the series, the war is over, but the peace is still fragile, and the Comerford village’s inhabitants are still struggling to come to grips with the changes it wrought, both for those families whose sons/husbands/brothers/fathers never came back, and those whose returning sons are all but unrecognisable. Among those is one Chad Wedderburn, a teacher at the school Felse’s thirteen-year-old son, Dominic, attends. Wedderburn is a hero with an impressive war record, but he confounds the villagers’ expectations by spurning their praise, refusing to join the British Legion, and taking an uncompromising stand rejecting all violence.
Some former prisoners of war are also in Comerford. With their homes in ruins and no jobs to return to, they have stayed and been put to work in the coal mines or as hired hands on nearby farms. Among them is Helmet Schauffler, a young German with an attitude problem. He bullies anyone he can, in one case driving a coal miner to take the first swing, then knifing him. To the local authorities he presents a polite face and avoids harsh penalties by pleading self-defence, blaming problems on his inadequate English and prejudice against Germans. But he has antagonised too many people, and when Dominic stumbles across a body lying half in a stream, George Felse is disturbed but not overly surprised that Schauffler has been murdered.
Wedderburn is one of several suspects, and when another man—Wedderburn’s rival for the town beauty’s affections—is found dead, the villagers’ suspicions focus on him. Dominic refuses to believe his teacher is the murderer, and sets out to prove his own theory, which may only make him victim number three…
I don’t love the Inspector Felse books as much as I love the Brother Cadfael mysteries, but there is still a lot to like in them. By current standards for mystery novels, they tend to start off slow, but the in-depth characterisations and descriptions of life in a village where everyone knows each other—and the toll suspicion takes on their sense of community—are significant contributions to the pleasures of reading this author’s work. Chad Wedderburn is an interesting character, as is Dominic Felse.He survives.
In an unusual twist, although George Felse is ostensibly the detective, and he and Dominic come to the same conclusion, it’s Dominic’s reasoning we get to follow in the final act. In some of the other books, the inspector’s wife is the main point of view character.
Be warned, however, that there is racist and anti-Semitic language in this particular book. It fits the character, but could be upsetting to some unprepared readers. There is also one minor character with a really unfortunate name. (A tween girl nicknamed Pussy. Ugh.) Despite those and a few other minor quibbles, I enjoyed this very British mystery.
Audience: adults and late teens. Off-screen violence but no sex. Some offensive language.
This review was first published on This Need to Read.
Ellis Peters is well known for her series of historical mysteries featuring the Welsh monk, Brother Cadfael. She began writing those in the late 1970s, but she honed her skills on an earlier series written between 1951 and 1978, featuring an English detective, George Felse. Anyone who likes Brother Cadfael and is not fixated on the Middle Ages might enjoy the thirteen books in this series, too. Set contemporaneously in the U.K., they were not wriiten as historical novels, but given the span of time since then, one can enjoy them as period pieces, appreciating the window they provide into post-war life in Shropshire along the Welsh border.
In Fallen Into the Pit, the first book in the series, the war is over, but the peace is still fragile, and the Comerford village’s inhabitants are still struggling to come to grips with the changes it wrought, both for those families whose sons/husbands/brothers/fathers never came back, and those whose returning sons are all but unrecognisable. Among those is one Chad Wedderburn, a teacher at the school Felse’s thirteen-year-old son, Dominic, attends. Wedderburn is a hero with an impressive war record, but he confounds the villagers’ expectations by spurning their praise, refusing to join the British Legion, and taking an uncompromising stand rejecting all violence.
Some former prisoners of war are also in Comerford. With their homes in ruins and no jobs to return to, they have stayed and been put to work in the coal mines or as hired hands on nearby farms. Among them is Helmet Schauffler, a young German with an attitude problem. He bullies anyone he can, in one case driving a coal miner to take the first swing, then knifing him. To the local authorities he presents a polite face and avoids harsh penalties by pleading self-defence, blaming problems on his inadequate English and prejudice against Germans. But he has antagonised too many people, and when Dominic stumbles across a body lying half in a stream, George Felse is disturbed but not overly surprised that Schauffler has been murdered.
Wedderburn is one of several suspects, and when another man—Wedderburn’s rival for the town beauty’s affections—is found dead, the villagers’ suspicions focus on him. Dominic refuses to believe his teacher is the murderer, and sets out to prove his own theory, which may only make him victim number three…
I don’t love the Inspector Felse books as much as I love the Brother Cadfael mysteries, but there is still a lot to like in them. By current standards for mystery novels, they tend to start off slow, but the in-depth characterisations and descriptions of life in a village where everyone knows each other—and the toll suspicion takes on their sense of community—are significant contributions to the pleasures of reading this author’s work. Chad Wedderburn is an interesting character, as is Dominic Felse.
In an unusual twist, although George Felse is ostensibly the detective, and he and Dominic come to the same conclusion, it’s Dominic’s reasoning we get to follow in the final act. In some of the other books, the inspector’s wife is the main point of view character.
Be warned, however, that there is racist and anti-Semitic language in this particular book. It fits the character, but could be upsetting to some unprepared readers. There is also one minor character with a really unfortunate name. (A tween girl nicknamed Pussy. Ugh.) Despite those and a few other minor quibbles, I enjoyed this very British mystery.
Audience: adults and late teens. Off-screen violence but no sex. Some offensive language.
This review was first published on This Need to Read.