"Stop Press Murder" by Peter Bartram

The second in the 'Crampton of the Chronicle' series which started with Headline Murder and is continued with Front Page Murder. 

Set in 1963, Colin Crampton, crime correspondent for the Brighton Chronicle,investigates the connections between the murder of the nightwatchman on the Palace Pier and the theft of a pornographic film from a What the Butler Saw machine, also on the pier. He discovers a film actress from the silent era (when nearby Shoreham-by-Sea had a heyday as an alternative to Hollywood) and her twin sister who married into the local aristocracy. As always, a host of wonderful characters enliven the proceedings including the staff of the Cuttings Library, a priceless butler, a chinless wonder and his equestrian daughter, and a port-filled Professor with trained poodles. All this is further lightened with a good helping of wisecracks and a not-too-challenging puzzle. Good fun.

 Selected quotes:

• "One of the few ’tecs I trusted in the town. The rest of them spent more time looking for the main chance than for clues. Put it this way: if they were drinking in the same pub you wouldn’t leave your loose change on the bar." (C 1)
• "It was a pub which punters looking for a friendly pint and a tasty snack had learnt to avoid." (C 7)
• "I needed some cooking fat so asked Mr Hodges, quite politely, ‘Do you keep dripping?’” (C 13)
• "Where is that stiff upper lip?” Fanny managed a thin smile. “Above the quivering lower one,” she said." (C 16)
• "Pinker was the kind of man who would have more skeletons than the Bear Road cemetery." (C 19)
• “The fellow was a bit weak up top. Couple of candles in the chandelier had burnt out years ago, from what I’ve heard.” (C 25)
• “That’s the trouble with good deeds ... Cads and bounders get the benefit.” (C 25)

October 2021

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God