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The book that introduced Chief Inspector George Gently who went on to solve crime in another 46 novels, not to mention a TV drama starring Martin Shaw that ran for eight series.
Gently, a methodical homicide expert with Central on holiday, clashes with the local police whose attitude is more to gather evidence implicating the prime suspect. Of course the tiny discrepancies in the case are sufficient to locate the real culprit. The problem is not so much whodunnit but how it can be proved.
It was an enjoyable classic of its kind, although the protagonist's tic (he eats so many peppermint creams that one fears for his dental health and imminent diagnosis of diabetes) was a little annoying; I was reminded of Inspector Claud Eustace Teal's obsession with chewing gum in The Saint books by Leslie Charteris. The clash with the local plods is also a trope of this style of fiction.
Very much of its time. Gently is a sexless bachelor who lives with a landlady, several other male characters are rather less sexless bachelors living alone with women who do for them. There is a servant, a classic working class vamp, and a daughter of the rich dead man who speaks with a strong foreign accent despite apparently having lived entirely in England and her brother having no accent at all. Everyone has big lunches: "what does one's figure matter when one is one the wrong side of fifty?" (Ch 11)
Nevertheless, it is thoroughly entertaining.
Selected quotes:
"Susan was a pretty, pert blonde girl with a tilted bra and an accentuated behind. She wore a smile as a natural part of her equipment. She had a snub nose and dimples and a pleased expression, and had a general supercharged look, as though she was liable to burst out of her black dress and stockings into a fierce nudity." (Ch 4)
February 2026; 250 pages
First published in 1955
My paperback edition issued by Robinson in 2010
This review was written by
the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling
and The Kids of God