Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780413347800; 9780413516909
Farrago Publishing
192 Pages
Various Prices
June 14, 2018 (Reissue)
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With Old World charm and a military air, Mortimer Rothermere makes a most convincing conman.
Just now he is employed by the Cultox corporation, to ensure that no breath of scandal taints the reputation of their successful pet food company near Flaxborough, as the acrimonious marriage of its unsavoury MD, David Harton and his wife Julia, threatens to boil over.
But even Mortimer's habitual sang-froid deserts him in the face of ruthless villany and actual murder - what a relief that an old friend lives nearby, the incomparable Miss Lucy Teatime, and she is willing to dig out the dark secrets of canned WOOF (with turkey), 'the caviar of the canine world'.
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A young man named Tring is having a fun night at a local fair when for a seemingly unknown reason, he falls to his death from a ride. But his family is having none of it and insist that his death was murder. After the general inquest, DI Purbright isn't sure what to make of it, but he's willing to listen to what Tring's grandmother has to say on the subject...
Julia and David Harton heartily dislike each other and he wants a divorce. Badly. But not enough to part with any of his money, which is why she won't grant him one. Yet she soon receives in the post a very strange letter from a company called "Happy Endings" that professes to offer her just that.
When she meets with the sender - a Mr. Mortimer Rothermere - he merely states that he has been retained by someone who knows of her plight and is willing to offer her a way to achieve her ends - to the tune of ￡20,000. After hearing the details she agrees. She is merely to "disappear" for a time, leaving trace evidence of her husband having done away with her. Then, when he is desperate for her to return, she will - but only if he meets her price...
Somehow these two events are related, but how? And will Purbright be able to connect them, thus solving the disappearance of Mrs. Harton and the death of Mr. Tring? Perhaps...with a little luck, the mild assistance of Miss Lucy Teatime, and the reluctant help of Mr. Rothermere...
While at first this seems to be a tale of the murder of a young man and a plan to convince a husband his wife has been kidnapped, it soon becomes something else entirely. The young man's grandmother goes to Purbright telling him that a picture of her grandson is missing, along with the silver frame it was in - taken by a supposed reporter - and also missing is a small round medal that he had possession of. Who would want either of these items?
Then when Julia Harton agrees to a plan to be "kidnapped" in order to force her husband - who wants a divorce but does not want to give her any kind of financial settlement - to do so, it is soon found out that something very different than what Mrs. Harton had agreed to has been put in place.
But while these two things seem to have nothing in common, it turns out that they most certainly do. And when Miss Lucilla Teatime pays a visit to a friend and discovers that one of her beloved dogs has passed away it only adds to the mystery...
What seems like a couple of forthright cases soon turn into a mystery indeed for Detective Inspector Purbright. Certain things start to come to light, both for him and for the 'grieving' husband who begins to realize that things are starting to go awry; partly because Mr. Rothermere - who has begun to realize that he might have made a terrible mistake - turns to Miss Teatime for help in unraveling himself from the situation.
When Mrs. Harton also begins to realize her role in the matter may not have been as straightforward as she thought, she also wonders how to extricate herself and that is when things start falling into place for Purbright. With plenty of twists and turns, it is delightful indeed to watch everything weave itself into place giving us a nice historical mystery; while those today are indeed much more complicated, this is still a very nice endeavor. Recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/One-Mans-Meat-Flaxborough-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07BPHCNTD/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2421853169
More on Colin Watson's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/
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