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A review by bev_reads_mysteries
The Dead Shall Be Raised and the Murder of a Quack by George Bellairs
4.0
The Dead Shall Be Raised (finished 1/13/19)
In The Dead Shall Be Raised (1942) by George Bellairs, Inspector Thomas Littlejohn and his wife are set to spend a quiet Christmas holiday in the small town of Hatterworth. The story begins cozily enough--with a warm welcome from the local police superintendent and a visit from the village carolers. But the Christmas night performance of Handel's Messiah (with Superintendent Haworth in a starring role) is interrupted by the announcement that members of the Home Guard have dug up a skeleton while practicing maneuvers and fortifications on the moor.
Materials found with the skeleton soon allow it to be identified as Enoch Sykes, a man thought to have murdered a former friend and run off after a falling out over a young woman over 20 years ago. Apparently someone else had it in for both Jeremy Trickett and Sykes and thought burying Sykes's body would allow their crime to go undetected...they've been right (and lucky) up till now. Haworth asks the Scotland Yard man if he'd like to take a busman's holiday and lend a hand in digging up the past. It's going to be a difficult job--half of the participants are dead, hrough old age, illness, or having perished in the current war. It isn't long before Littlejohn and Haworth discover that there were those who knew more than they told at the time and they had their reasons for holding their tongues. One of those in the know think it better to try their hand at blackmail than to take their knowledge to the police...and, of course, they meet the end destined for many blackmailers in detective fiction.
The Yard man and the local policemen work hard to track down clues on a very cold case. And they come down to being a hairsbreadth away from laying their villain by his/her heels. It will take the wiles of the 80-year-old retired Inspector Entwhistle to give them the evidence that allows the final confrontation.
This is delightful Golden Age mystery that I am so very glad the British Library Crime Classics decided to reissue. Bellairs writes about the English countryside during wartime with a sure hand yet gives the reader a pleasant, homey description of the village. Inspector Entwhistle is (to borrow a GAD phrase) a caution and I only wish that he had been allowed to participate more fully in the investigation. The characters are introduced with warmth and descriptions that make them seem like remembrances of real people rather than just characters in a novel.
Sometimes these Golden Age writers who produced mysteries during the war years appear to have been trying to forget that there even was a war going on. Perhaps they wanted to provide their readers an escape from the horrors. In fact, some of the novels could have been written just about any time, given how little current events make their way into the story. Bellairs brings references to the war into his narrative so easily that it places the book firmly in that era without making the story itself seem dated. Mrs. Littlejohn and Mrs. Haworth sit at home and knit scarves and other warm necessities for the soldiers. Ration books and identity cards are a necessary addition to life on the war-era home front. He also allows us to look back at a time when tramps were a common sight and farm laborers, game keepers and poachers were part of the country landscape.
The one draw-back as a mystery is the fact that there are fewer suspects than might be desirable to keep the reader mystified. There is, however, a portion of the solution that allows for a bit of a surprise which almost makes up for the lack of suspects and red herrings. Overall, a good entry in the Littlejohn chronicles and I definitely look forward to moving on to Murder of a Quack--the second novel in the British Library Crime Classics reprint edition. ★★★ and 3/4.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
The Murder of a Quack [finished 1/14/19]
The Murder of a Quack (1943) by George Bellairs once again finds Scotland Yard's Inspector Littlejohn investigating murder in a small English village. This time Nathaniel Wall, a beloved local "quack" bonesetter is found hanging from one of the contraptions he uses in his cures. At first it looks like the only people who had any dislike at all for the man were certified doctors. Wall comes from a family of bonesetters (those who can manipulate bones and joints, but who have no formal training) and the people of Stalden have come to rely on his skill. In fact, they prefer him over the new doctor who has bought the practice of a doctor who long had respect for the bonesetter. Circumstances (the doctor's alcoholic ways and a certain incident of a missed broken collarbone) had caused the villagers to seek out Wall's help even more. But would a doctor really resort to murder to get rid of the competition?
Littlejohn soon discovers that there are others with a possible motive--from the young woman who had considered him an uncle...until "uncle" decided to poke his nose into her romantic affairs to the young man she wishes to marry (and who has a decided row with the doctor) to the mysterious man who once sought the doctor's help with a deformity. When newspaper clippings are found which feature a bank robbery and a well-known forgery, Littlejohn begins to wonder what the connections are. Once he figures that out, he'll be well on his way to solving the mystery. But not before another body is found at the bottom of a well....
This is another pleasant mystery in the Littlejohn line-up. The Inspector is a good man who investigates at a steady pace and with little "flair" or excitement, but provides a nice comfortable story to follow. As with the previous novel, the major complaint is that there are too few suspects. There isn't much doubt after about half-way in who the main culprit is, but Bellairs provides a little bonus that makes it well worthwhile. These stories are perfect for when you don't want a complicated mystery--just a little puzzle and nice visit to Britain of the 1940s. There is also a thread of wry humor that runs throughout and makes things interesting. ★★★ and 1/2.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
In The Dead Shall Be Raised (1942) by George Bellairs, Inspector Thomas Littlejohn and his wife are set to spend a quiet Christmas holiday in the small town of Hatterworth. The story begins cozily enough--with a warm welcome from the local police superintendent and a visit from the village carolers. But the Christmas night performance of Handel's Messiah (with Superintendent Haworth in a starring role) is interrupted by the announcement that members of the Home Guard have dug up a skeleton while practicing maneuvers and fortifications on the moor.
Materials found with the skeleton soon allow it to be identified as Enoch Sykes, a man thought to have murdered a former friend and run off after a falling out over a young woman over 20 years ago. Apparently someone else had it in for both Jeremy Trickett and Sykes and thought burying Sykes's body would allow their crime to go undetected...they've been right (and lucky) up till now. Haworth asks the Scotland Yard man if he'd like to take a busman's holiday and lend a hand in digging up the past. It's going to be a difficult job--half of the participants are dead, hrough old age, illness, or having perished in the current war. It isn't long before Littlejohn and Haworth discover that there were those who knew more than they told at the time and they had their reasons for holding their tongues. One of those in the know think it better to try their hand at blackmail than to take their knowledge to the police...and, of course, they meet the end destined for many blackmailers in detective fiction.
The Yard man and the local policemen work hard to track down clues on a very cold case. And they come down to being a hairsbreadth away from laying their villain by his/her heels. It will take the wiles of the 80-year-old retired Inspector Entwhistle to give them the evidence that allows the final confrontation.
This is delightful Golden Age mystery that I am so very glad the British Library Crime Classics decided to reissue. Bellairs writes about the English countryside during wartime with a sure hand yet gives the reader a pleasant, homey description of the village. Inspector Entwhistle is (to borrow a GAD phrase) a caution and I only wish that he had been allowed to participate more fully in the investigation. The characters are introduced with warmth and descriptions that make them seem like remembrances of real people rather than just characters in a novel.
Sometimes these Golden Age writers who produced mysteries during the war years appear to have been trying to forget that there even was a war going on. Perhaps they wanted to provide their readers an escape from the horrors. In fact, some of the novels could have been written just about any time, given how little current events make their way into the story. Bellairs brings references to the war into his narrative so easily that it places the book firmly in that era without making the story itself seem dated. Mrs. Littlejohn and Mrs. Haworth sit at home and knit scarves and other warm necessities for the soldiers. Ration books and identity cards are a necessary addition to life on the war-era home front. He also allows us to look back at a time when tramps were a common sight and farm laborers, game keepers and poachers were part of the country landscape.
The one draw-back as a mystery is the fact that there are fewer suspects than might be desirable to keep the reader mystified. There is, however, a portion of the solution that allows for a bit of a surprise which almost makes up for the lack of suspects and red herrings. Overall, a good entry in the Littlejohn chronicles and I definitely look forward to moving on to Murder of a Quack--the second novel in the British Library Crime Classics reprint edition. ★★★ and 3/4.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
The Murder of a Quack [finished 1/14/19]
The Murder of a Quack (1943) by George Bellairs once again finds Scotland Yard's Inspector Littlejohn investigating murder in a small English village. This time Nathaniel Wall, a beloved local "quack" bonesetter is found hanging from one of the contraptions he uses in his cures. At first it looks like the only people who had any dislike at all for the man were certified doctors. Wall comes from a family of bonesetters (those who can manipulate bones and joints, but who have no formal training) and the people of Stalden have come to rely on his skill. In fact, they prefer him over the new doctor who has bought the practice of a doctor who long had respect for the bonesetter. Circumstances (the doctor's alcoholic ways and a certain incident of a missed broken collarbone) had caused the villagers to seek out Wall's help even more. But would a doctor really resort to murder to get rid of the competition?
Littlejohn soon discovers that there are others with a possible motive--from the young woman who had considered him an uncle...until "uncle" decided to poke his nose into her romantic affairs to the young man she wishes to marry (and who has a decided row with the doctor) to the mysterious man who once sought the doctor's help with a deformity. When newspaper clippings are found which feature a bank robbery and a well-known forgery, Littlejohn begins to wonder what the connections are. Once he figures that out, he'll be well on his way to solving the mystery. But not before another body is found at the bottom of a well....
This is another pleasant mystery in the Littlejohn line-up. The Inspector is a good man who investigates at a steady pace and with little "flair" or excitement, but provides a nice comfortable story to follow. As with the previous novel, the major complaint is that there are too few suspects. There isn't much doubt after about half-way in who the main culprit is, but Bellairs provides a little bonus that makes it well worthwhile. These stories are perfect for when you don't want a complicated mystery--just a little puzzle and nice visit to Britain of the 1940s. There is also a thread of wry humor that runs throughout and makes things interesting. ★★★ and 1/2.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.