Whatever's Been Going on at Mumblesby? (A Flaxborough Mystery #12)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback: Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780385183826; 9781571259090
Prelude Books
172 Pages
Various Prices; $.99 Amazon
July 26, 2018 (Reprint)

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In Flaxborough's posh neighboring village, Mumblesby, the local solicitor, Richard Daspard Loughbury, has suddenly died.

Natural causes it appears, but DI Purbright and the ever-helpful Miss Lucy Teatime are taken aback by the quality of Loughbury's art collection -- including a Paul Klee, a Corot, and even a fragment of the "True Cross".

All seem to have been acquired locally and the question of blackmail hangs in the air.  Loughbury's decidedly un-posh widow, Zoe, is less than grief-stricken, as are a cast of colourful characters from randy farmers to gin-soaked country types.  Then the recent suicide of a local farmer's wife also begins to look questionable.

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When a solicitor named Loughbury passes away in Mumblesby, Detective Inspector Purbright attends the funeral in lieu of his superior Mr. Chubb.  While there he hears a woman screaming for help and  follows her to the late solicitor's home, finding not only the young widow locked in a bathroom but for some odd reason clothes strewn upon a small heater - smoldering - and a propane tank in a bedroom.  He also sees something odd: a small piece of wood trapped permanently inside a steel cage that has been sealed into the wall, labeled the "True Cross".  Curious indeed.

He waits until the widow, Zoe, and her mother return from the funeral before questioning her about the attempted arson.  While she seems to ignore the implication that someone is attempting to murder her, Purbright decides to seek the truth of the matter and sends his detective sergeant Sidney Love to the village to see if he can discover any clues.  What Love finds out is there are many unsavory characters living there, and not a appears to like Zoe, considering her no more than a concubine who was lucky enough to have been given Loughbury's entire estate.  But when that estate includes objects d'art that apparently do not belong to Loughbury at all, things become even more curious than before.

When a strange "prank" befalls the widow, Purbright is determined more than ever to come to the truth of the matter, including letting the widow know that he isn't the fool she at first took him for...

This is the twelfth book in the series and I am sad to say, the last, as Mr. Watson passed away soon after writing it.  I have read all of the series and have been completely satisfied with every one of them.  I have to add in all honesty however, that no matter how much I tried, I could not like the character of Zoe.  She seemed harsh and uncaring to me; someone who believes money can buy her an entreé into society, and otherwise will force her way in if necessary.  Money can't buy class, no matter who you are or how much of it you have.  She's not a person I would care to know personally.

Don't get me wrong; there are many other characters in books who were born low, married into money and were just wonderful.  It was more that I thought Zoe was an opportunist, and not in a nice way.  She seemed cold and calculating to me, and I don't care for that sort of person.

The rest of the book was, as always, highly entertaining and delightful to read.  DI Purbright is as clever as ever, ferreting out the truth as he always does, no matter how well hidden people think they may have left it.  He gets to the heart of everything by going over the evidence piece by piece, and watching him connect the dots, as it were, is the best part of each and every one of these books.

When Purbright realizes that a young woman from Mumblesby had not committed suicide as was agreed upon by both her husband and the court, it is exactly as I stated - Purbright takes the information given and parses it to discover who wanted her dead and why; he finds that the death is connected to Loughbury and several of the villagers; and he also learns that each of them have given Loughbury a very expensive item indeed; but for what reason?  Is is tied to the death of the woman, who passed over a year ago?  It is interesting how Purbright takes a small clue Loughbury had in his possession (along with the fact of those above-mentioned articles) and deduces the truth.

All in all, the ending, as always, leaves us with our own conjectures as to the final outcome; but it is enough to realize that justice has been done.  While I am saddened that there will be no more in this series, I am heartened by the fact that I was able to read them.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Whatevers-Going-Mumblesby-Flaxborough-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07BPCPVX3/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2534532604

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/                     

Plaster Sinners (A Flaxborough Mystery #11)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

[Hardcover; Paperback;] Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780385173384; 9780413516701
Farrago Publishing
160 Pages
[Various Prices]; $3.99 Amazon
July 12, 2018 (Reissue)

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Sergeant Love is a sucker for a picturesque country cottage.  

But he finds himself quite literally knocked out by the little bas-relief plaster cottage that's on display at Flaxborough's antiques auction.  This pretty but rather crudely painted trinket mysteriously sells for hundreds of pounds having sparked a heated bidding war, while the Sergeant gets floored by a would-be cottage thief.

So DI Purbright, teamed up with a world-weary brother officer down from London, must dig deep into the dubious past of the local gentry, the laconic Moldhams, in their crumbling stately pile, to find out how the little plaster picture leads to a tale of heirlooms and murder.

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Sergeant Sidney Love has some time before he's scheduled to go to work, so he stops at an auction.  While there he sees a box of supposed junk items, and among them is a plaster cast of a little cottage.  Sergeant Love thinks his young lady would enjoy this, and he's decided to bid on the lot.  But while standing there he doesn't notice the man right behind him, the one who has a heavy doorknob in his hand.  He also doesn't notice when the man hits him in the back of the head with the knob, sending him straight to the floor.

While unconscious, the man attempts to remove the plaster picture from Sid's hands, which are underneath his body, but is unable to do so.  Upon waking, he realizes that no one has seen anyone about.  An ambulance is sent for, and they don't take him seriously when he tells him he's a police officer nor that some unknown person hit him.

While at the hospital, he is visited by Detective Inspector Purbright, who takes the matter very seriously.  After getting the details from Sergeant Love, he decides to visit the auction himself and tells someone there that they are not to release the contents of this lot, regardless of the purchaser.  He is surprised when the bidding tops nearly 400 pounds.

Once he discovers who the fingerprints on the knob belong to, things get even more interesting.  And when a detective inspector from London arrives because he knows of the attacker, the story becomes even more bizarre as they start digging into the origins of the box of rubbish.  When a body turns up in the river that is connected to the case, Purbright finds that he now has a murder on his hands as well...

This book is another delightful entry in the Flaxborough Chronicles written by Colin Watson.  It is quite as involved as all the others, and we are given bits and pieces throughout the story that all eventually connect to each other.  Purbright is always enjoyable to read about and I love the methods he uses while solving a case.

We follow Purbright and crew as they dig into the reasons why anyone would be interested in a cheap plaster cast of a cottage.  What we come away with is the fact that all is not what it seems, and someone was - and still is - willing to do whatever it takes to keep the cottage in the hands it was intentionally meant for.

The mystery itself was a tight one, with all the threads weaving together nicely at the end.  It is always fascinating to see the means people will go to in order to keep their secrets hidden, and makes me grateful that I will never know any like this group of miscreants.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Plaster-Sinners-Flaxborough-Mystery-Watson-ebook/dp/B07C92MWWX/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2430202320

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/

Blue Murder (A Flaxborough Mystery #10)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780413461308; 9780749306694
Farrago Publishing
160 Pages
Various Prices; $3.99 Digital Amazon
June 28, 2018

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A peculiar pornographic movie has been wowing viewer in the Gulf.

One of the more scurrilous English Sunday papers gets a tip-off that this exotic blue production stars respected residents of the coastal town of Flaxborough, and a team led by the well-known investigative journalist Clive Grail arrives in a Rolls Royce.

Word of the looming scandal soon gets out and the town's quixotic mayor, Alderman Charlie Hockley, spurred on by the loan of some antique duelling pistols, issues a challenge to Grail!  DI Purbright's stern warning falls on deaf ears, but before the duel can take place a far more sinister fatality occurs...

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When members of a newspaper come to town in order to find out which residents of Flaxborough have participated in a blue film, there is immediate outrage by the mayor.  This is fueled by the fact of an oculist who has recently purchased a pair of dueling pistols and wants to get some use out of them.  When the mayor goes to the local newspaper editor, Kimble, the oculist, Hoole, is there and they convince Mayor Hockley to challenge Clive Grail to a duel to defend the town's honor.

But while Grail has no desire to participate, he's also in a bit of a quandary.  It seems that he and the rest of his crew have watched the film, along with Kimble and one of his reporters - who informs them that there is a bit of a problem with it.  In fact, if it were to get out, Grail could be made a laughingstock.

So Grail and his cronies devise a way to exit the situation:  fake a kidnapping and demand the film never be shown - and, as his "friends" have devised among themselves without his knowledge - the added bit of a 'ransom' of fifteen thousand pounds.  But something goes terribly wrong, and that's when DI Purbright steps in...

This is another wonderful mystery from the mind of Colin Watson.  DI Purbright learns about the duel from his chief constable, Mr. Chubb, and does his best to inform the parties that it might be better if it didn't go off, being illegal and all.  But then he learns about the film and when he discovers something more fatal along the way, it is up to himself and his team of officers to try and find the truth of the matter.

It is enjoyable indeed to watch our Purbright at work as he puts the clues together, and I love this series and wish there were more (alas, it was not to be as Mr. Watson passed away in 1982).  Purbright is an intelligent man who has a way of watching people and learning things from them without even apparently trying.  The endings are not traditional, as it were, but still things are always wrapped up tidily.  However, while they can be read as stand alone novels, I suggest you begin with the first and read them in order.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Flaxborough-Mystery-Colin-Watson-ebook/dp/B07BPHCRM7/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2425041318

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/

One Man's Meat (A Flaxborough Mystery #9)

Author:  Colin Watson
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/

The Naked Nuns (A Flaxborough Mystery #8)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780413452504; 9780571255030
Farrago Publishing
176 Pages
Various Prices; $3.99 Amazon
May 31, 2018 (Reprint)

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Flaxborough has its share of fat-cat businessmen, like the brash Councillor Henry Crispin and snobbish Arnold Hatch, proprietor of the Floradora Country Club.  Their bitter rivalry is well known, so when Crispin's luxury river cruiser, the Lively Lady, is ruthlessly sunk, shortly after Hatch's night-time shenanigans had been lit up for the world to see, no one expects the feud to die away peacefully.

But there is a death, a far from peaceful one, and DI Purbright and Sergeant Love have information that it might be linked with the arrival in town of a certain Sicilian-American gentleman.

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When a concerned citizen comes to Detective Inspector Purbright with a cryptic letter that could imply almost anything, Purbright is stumped as to what is meant by the "naked nuns" about to arrive.  Then the police in New York receive a letter that implies a crime is about to occur in the town of Flaxborough, England, they forward the letter onto them.  DI Purbright tells Chief Constable Chubb that nothing can be done until they find the person who is going to commit the crime, and hopefully the victim also.  Then Arnold Hatch receives a letter apparently written by the same person intimating that he will soon be the victim of this crime.  When he takes it to Purbright, they now have the victim, but are unsure of who is going to commit the crime...

Miss Lucy Teatime, meanwhile, receives a visit from a brash American who claims that her distant relative said to look her up and ask for her help.  He tells her only that a crime is going to be committed and he's trying to prevent it.  While he doesn't say so, Miss Teatime is positive he is one of those "American gangsters," or at least was one at one time...

While Purbright and his policemen try and figure out what the cryptic letters mean, Henry Crispin is planning on getting even with Hatch for destroying his boat.  On the night of one of Hatch's revelries at his Floradora Club, Crispin has designed a plan of revenge of his own, and he doesn't realize that it will mask a murder about to take place. 

It is only when a matter of coincidence occurs in Purbright's presence that all will be made clear as to what everything means...

While this book does begin a little slow, it leads into a plan that takes time to form.  The characters are introduced, and the red herrings begin.  While Purbright is seeking nuns - naked or otherwise - that may have drifted into his town (for what else could the letters mean?) life goes on pretty much as it should, but with Hatch growing ever more impatient and angry as he believes his life may very well be at stake.

The clues are well hidden in this little mystery, which has been reissued from its original date yet still remains quite a gem.  Anyone who has read the previous Flaxborough mysteries will recognize some of the characters from those books (they drift in and out) of which we have become fond.  I do love to watch Purbright go through the motions, as it were - while his chief thinks he is unambitious, he may very well be so; but he is an intelligent man who is able to take the clues and put them together nicely.

This book is no different than any of the others I have read.  I have become quite fond of DI Purbright and the others in this town; even Miss Teatime - whom I wouldn't trust any farther than I could see her - has grown on me.

When the ending comes and everything is put together it comes as a complete surprise.  In fact, it is only a matter of a chance meeting that puts it all together for Purbright himself.  A delightful ending to an engaging mystery.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C929JKK/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2421828305

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/

Broomsticks Over Flaxborough (A Flaxborough Mystery)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780413502203; 9780571254149
Farrago Publishing
192 Pages
Various Prices; $.99 Amazon
May 17, 2018; Reprint

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What could be more wholesome than the Folklore Society's quarterly "revels", with dancing, a bonfire, and a quaffing bench?  Well-upholstered matrons and town worthies enter most enthusiastically into the spirit.  So it's unfortunate when a younger woman, the freethinking Edna Hillyard, goes missing that night.

Then the manufacturer of "Lucillite" (gives your wash lightness, brightness and whiteness), filming a promotion locally, is dismayed to find a gruesome bull's head ruining his key scene, while desecrations take place in the church, and the press begins reporting on Black Magic and a Town of Fear!  Are DI Purbright and his team really battling against evil forces?

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There are a group of people in Flaxborough who consider themselves witches and warlocks (but are probably in reality just wanting to have regular orgies) under the guise of a folklore society...

When a couple of schoolboys find an abandoned vehicle with womens' clothing inside they anonymously call the police.  What is discovered is that the car belongs to a missing woman and during the investigation it is discovered that this woman was the mistress of a Mr. Persimmons, who has also become missing.  At first the police simply think that they have run away together, but then the body of Mr. Persimmon is discovered and a mysterious mask washes up in the river that makes DI Purbright rethink his initial conclusion...

A local reverend calls the police because there have been desecrations in his church and when they arrive they find odd things - corpses of a frog, a mouse, and what appears to be an effigy of the poor reverend.  They also discover that the reverend is part of group of four men who are concerned with the seemingly satanic worshippers and trying to help those that have been affected.

But it is from an unlikely source - one of a group of women who are working for a company promoting "Lucillite" - a product that makes your wash the brightest it's ever been - that gives them the break they have been looking for and it's not too long after that, with the help of intrepid Sergeant Love, that Purbright is able to put the clues together and find the truth of the matter..

Again we visit the village of Flaxborough where this time the mysterious goings on of a group of devil worshippers is about to be discovered.  It is only when a young woman disappears and the body of a man is discovered that brings things to the attention of the police, and their activities are about to be laid bare for all of England to see.

Purbright delights me.  He is an intelligent man who, with the help of his faithful Sergeant Sid Love and his other officers, manages to glean bits and pieces of information and put them together in a truly impressive manner.  This time out they are searching for a coven that has apparently committed murder and are brazen enough to believe they can get away with it.  Unfortunately, they don't count on the resolute DI Purbright, who is as good a detective as they come.

It is indeed a pleasure reading about the investigation and how thorough Purbright's crew is; at the end he masterfully creates what is nothing more than a coordinated raid on some of them to bring out the murderer into the open, and I was truly surprised by the result.  It is always satisfying to see the unexpected become the truth. 

When the book was finished and everything came together nicely, the tale was absorbing and written well; my only disappointment is that the author is deceased and when I am done with the series there will be no more.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Broomsticks-Over-Flaxborough-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07BPD82PW/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2417650487

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/

The Flaxborough Crab (A Flaxborough Mystery #6)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780571253654
Farrago Publishing
176 Pages
Various Prices; $.99 Amazon
May 3, 2018 (Reprint)

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Leaping out from behind bushes at unsuspecting females, making lewd suggestions and, when challenged, scuttling away with odd off-balance leaps, he soon earns the nickname of the 'Flaxborough crab'.  No one can identify him, and it turns out that quite a few older gentlemen have begun exhibiting over-familiar behavior around the opposite sex.

Suave Dr. Meadow knows more than he is letting on, yet how can Purbright, aided once again by the fragrant but dodgy Miss Lucy Teatime, get him to talk?  Events take a darker turn before the ill-assorted pair succeed in catching their crab.

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When a staid librarian arrives at Detective Inspector Purbright’s office to relate a tale of being nearly assaulted while walking home (saved only by the fact that she managed to get a better grip on the gentleman than he was able to get on her) Purbright thinks it might be a one-time occurrence.  And after all, with her description of the man sidling away, how many elderly men could their possibly be that fit that description, so it would be easy enough to capture him.

But, as it turns out, there are quite a few actually.  In fact, Purbright is puzzled when there is another attack on a young girl who was saved by a passing doctor who seemed to take his time before calling the police.  Dr. Meadows, the rescuer, seemed even less concerned because the girl was not injured, and he took a bit of time before even calling the police and then only at the girl's insistence; but Purbright also soon finds that when a respected alderman attacks his assistant and later dies in an accident that Dr. Meadows may know more than he is telling.  Even so, he finds it interesting that at the inquest Dr. Meadows blames the alderman’s strange actions on an herbal drug called “Samson’s Salad”.  He also learns that the herbal mix is being marketed by none other than Miss Lucilla Teatime, a con artist that Purbright has come in contact with before.

But is it the herbs that is causing the strange behavior in the elderly men or is it something else - something Dr. Meadows knows more about than he’s saying?  When Dr. Meadows is later found dead in his surgery, Purbright is convinced the death was not a natural one; but proving that fact and finding out who killed him may be more difficult than even the intrepid Purbright ever imagined...

I truly enjoy this series, as I find Purbright a fascinating man.  He senses things are not right when others say they are and he is usually the one who is correct.  This time, he's after a bevy of elderly gentlemen who seem to be after women who are out in the evening - even taking to peeping in their windows.  When he visits Dr. Meadows he professes to know nothing about these occurrences, but Purbright soon finds that his old friend Lucilla Teatime is involved in the situation.

Miss Teatime is involved indeed, but not in any nefarious dealings.  She is the manufacturer of "Samson's Salad" which seems harmless enough; but once she speaks with Sergeant Love she gets a clearer idea that something may be afoot that can benefit her financially - Miss Teatime never misses an opportunity to fatten her purse.

But Purbright discovers that Dr. Meadows was killed because he knew more about the situation than he was telling, and with the coroner refusing to do an autopsy on the man he must find another way to prove it, and it is quite enjoyable to follow along as he conducts his investigation into a killer while watching Miss Teatime conduct her own.

When the end comes and we discover who the killer is and how it was done it is satisfying indeed.  This is the sixth book in the series and I look forward to the next.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B9S63HB/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2415494923

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/

Charity Ends at Home (The Flaxborough Chronicles Book 5)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback: Digital Book
ISBN # 9780413443502; 9780571252879
[Faber & Faber]; Farrago Publishing
192 Pages
[Various Prices]; $3.99 Amazon
[1968] April 19, 2018

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"I am in great danger...I know that murder is going to be the reward for my uncomplaining loyalty."

This letter containing heartfelt urgent pleas for help is received by three very eminent citizens of Flaxborough, including the Chief Constable himself.  So when one of the town's most tireless charity workers, Mrs. Henrietta Palgrove, is found the wrong way up in her garden pond, a connection seems likely.

Yet Detective Inspector Purbright finds the case does not quite add up and it takes the acute wits of his old friend, the ever-charming Miss Lucilla Teatime, as well as the more unwitting help of Mortimer Hive, indifferent private investigator and accomplished ladies' man, to tease out the real murderer.

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When Detective Inspector Purbright visits his superior, Chubb, the man is in possession of a a letter that seems, for all intents and purposes, to foretell of a murder not yet committed.  But it was addressed only “My Dear Friend” and unsigned.  While it purported to have a picture of the would-be victim, there is no picture attached.  Stranger yet, it seems that Coroner Amblesby and the editor of the local newspaper have also received copies of the same letter.  While at first it appears to be only a crank, when a prominent woman is murdered - in one of the ways mentioned in the letter - it is up to Purbright and his sergeant, Sid Love, to find out who wanted the woman dead.

At the same time, a private detective named Mortimer Hive is on the trail of a pair of illicit lovers, but is having a problem - his camera has been stolen and his car has been disabled - yet the intrepid detective isn’t going to let either stop him, and proceeds on foot to the little love cottage where he finds one lover but not the other.

What these two incidents have in common seem nothing at all; yet eventually it becomes clear to Purbright that they are indeed connected, and with the help of Mr. Hive and the redoubtable Lucy Teatime, Purbright may very well find a murderer who has been hiding in plain sight all along...

This is the fifth book in the Flaxborough Chronicles and is a very good entry in the series.  Purbright is once again in top form, along with Love, whose reasoning process, while slower than his D.I.’s, is still right on the money.  He goes about solving the murder methodically, finding the clues and placing them exactly where they’re supposed to be.

This is what makes a good mystery, and Colin Watson has a knack not only for doing so, but leaving us with endings, while not entirely complete, still leave us the answers we have been looking for.  As it is, I have enjoyed every book in the series thus far, and am looking forward to reading the next.  Highly recommended. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B9RK4S6/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2396488473

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/

Coffin, Scarcely Used (A Flaxborough Mystery Book 1)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:   9780754086024; 9781601870162
Farrago Publishing
210 Pages
$36.96; $14.95; $.99 Amazon
February 22, 2018

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In the respectable seaside town of Flaxborough, the equally respectable councillor Harold Carobleat is laid to rest.  Cause of death:  pneumonia.

But he is scarcely cold in his coffin before Detective Inspector Purbright, affable and annoyingly polite, must turn out again to examine the death of Carobleat's neighour, Marcus Gwill, former proprietor of the local rag, the Citizen.  This time it looks like foul play, unless a surfeit of marshmallows had lead the late and rather unlamented Mr. Gwill to commit suicide by electrocution.  ('Power without responsibility', murmurs Purbright.)

How were the dead men connected, both to each other and to a small but select band of other town worthies?  Purbright becomes intrigued by a stream of advertisements Gwill was putting in the Citizen, for some very oddly named antique items...

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When one man is killed in a village it isn't really news unless a few months later another turns up dead - this time a suicide; and connected to the other.  Now, it seems at first all cut and dried, but to Inspector Purbright, a highly intelligent policeman, he knows that it's foul play.  But proving it is going to be another matter.

Not to mention that the reason for both deaths escape him at the time; he doesn't seem to have any headway by questioning the dead man's companions; nor does he get anywhere questioning his housekeeper.  But then, something occurs to him: it is only a matter of a book at the home of the deceased Mr. Gwill, and a list of repetitive advertisements that bring his attention.  And our intrepid inspector is on his way to solving a very intricate and detailed operation of the highly delicate sort that could just change everything...

What a delightful surprise this book was.  I have never read anything by Mr. Watson before, but I can tell you that I am going to read the rest in this series.  As far as British police procedurals go, this is one of the best.  I can almost see it come to life, with the late Alistair Sim playing Inspector Purbright; a man who knows in his gut what is going on around him, and uses his wits to discover the truth of the matter.

What seems at first as cut and dried isn't; and by use of several policemen Purbright manages to get all the pieces of the jigsaw and put them together.  And what a puzzle he has fashioned!  This is an older book, but masterfully written, and is right up there with the best of them. Murder, blackmail, and scandalous immorality are woven within indeed make for a remarkable mystery that is very well written.

When all is said and done and the ending comes, we realize how simply enjoyable it was to read.  I look forward to the next book by this late author.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Coffin-Scarcely-Used-Flaxborough-Mystery-ebook/dp/B079JHF82B/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2325323676

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/