Death Stops The Frolic by George Bellairs

This is a little different from the Inspector Littlejohn series that I love. It is an earlier book of Bellairs, first published under the name Turmoil in Zion, 1943. However, it still has the flair toward unusual names and the tendency to allow us to peek into English village life during the war years. Bellairs will always be one of my favorite Writers from the period because of his characters and the satire he sprinkles generously throughout the plot.

Start with another Bellairs though if this is your first read with the Author. I found the Story enjoyable but different from his later work. Still, a good "who dunnit" and much better than many of today's mysteries which is why I enjoy Bellairs. This Mystery is worth having in your collection as one of his stand-alone works.

Blurb:
On a joyous afternoon filled with tea and cake, something strange happens at Zion Chapel’s Anniversary Tea Party. The infamous Alderman Harbuttle is behaving uncharacteristically playful – laughing with the assembly, singing rhymes, and leading people in a rousing game of Follow-My-Leader throughout the chapel’s winding halls.

But his jubilee is cut short when the revellers find the Alderman’s murdered body in the dark recesses of the chapel, a bread knife buried to the hilt in his chest.

Superintendent Nankivell of the local police force takes up the case, and his investigation quickly stirs up sinister secrets lurking within the walls of Zion Chapel. His suspect list soon proves massive, as he learns there are many people who would be happier without the sanctimonious Alderman Harbuttle around…

Answer in the Negative by Henrietta Hamilton

Henrietta Hamilton was an English Author known for her crime-solving married couple, Johnny and Sally Heldar. Agora Publishing, has decided to reprint these books from the 1950's and this was a fabulous choice. I liked the whole environment of the Era, but in particular- drawing rooms, drinks, drizzly weather and the quirky English Characters. Set them in a book and a Photo Archives environment and I feel right at home.

The War years are over but England still has bombed-out sites and scars left in people as well. A series of nasty pranks keep getting worse and Johnny Heldar is called in...who works with his wife. They plan a siege...watching everyone in the Archive Office. Things take a turn for the worse and the unlikeliest of victims is murdered. Trying to solve this mystery and figure out whodunit was a lot of fun...but will the first murder be the last? Hamilton has a way of building clues that kept me guessing till the early hours.
4 stars good book

Blurb:
At The National Press Archives on Fleet Street, archive assistant Frank Morningside has become the recipient of nasty poison pen letters and cruel practical jokes. With Frank disliked by many, his superior Toby Lorn is concerned by the number of potential suspects. And when the nature of the letters becomes even more vulgar, things take a sinister turn.

Toby calls on his friends Sally and Johnny Heldar, two amateur sleuths, to investigate. Posing as researchers, Sally and her husband Johnny go undercover to scout out the myriad of suspects at the archive. But just as the Heldars begin to make some progress, Morningside is found dead in his office, bludgeoned by a box of glass negatives.

When another suspicious death occurs within the company, the Heldars fear they may be in over their heads.

Answer in the Negative was first published in 1959 and is part of Agora Books’ Uncrowned Queens of Crime series.

The Body in the Dumb River: A Yorkshire Mystery by George Bellairs

James Lane is found face down in a dirty, flooded area wrapped around a tree. Inspector Littlejohn has one of his more interesting cases because Jimmy was leading a double life. He had owned a shop that was unsuccessful and so he had taken to the road to earn a living. Those monies went to support a wife who considered herself much too good for him and their three Daughters. But a double life is bound to come out as will murder.

George Bellairs writes a tight plot with very defined characters in this Book. The plot has a lot of twists and turns which always makes for great reading. This is a part of English village life that moves in greed, violent temper and strong drink. The Women are particularly interesting in their whining, dis-satisfied lives trying to keep up appearances. Inspector Littlejohn has a lot on his plate when he interviews them and tries to separate who is lying from the rest of the cast of villagers.

I have become an Admirer of George Bellairs. His characters are not always attractive but they are real and convincing. They build the story often through shadowy lives. The unintended consequences are almost as prevalent if we had a cast of Oliver Twist nineteenth century models to follow. If you like older murder mysteries set in England from the 1940's to the 1960's this is a very good Author to read. Personally I do. I give this five stars and highly recommend it.

Blurb:

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder
'A decent, hardworking chap, with not an enemy anywhere. People were surprised that anybody should want to kill Jim.'
But Jim has been found stabbed in the back near Ely, miles from his Yorkshire home. His body, clearly dumped in the usually silent ('dumb') river, has been discovered before the killer intended – disturbed by a torrential flood in the night.
Roused from a comfortable night's sleep Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is soon at the scene. With any clues to the culprit's identity swept away with the surging water, Bellairs' veteran sleuth boards a train heading north to dredge up the truth of the real Jim Teasdale and to trace the mystery of this unassuming victim's murder to its source.

The Long Farewell by Michael Innes

Blurb:

Lewis Packford, the great Shakespearean scholar, was thought to have discovered a book annotated by the Bard - but there is no trace of this valuable object when Packford apparently commits suicide. Sir John Appleby finds a mixed bag of suspects at the dead man's house, who might all have a good motive for murder. The scholars and bibliophiles who were present might have been tempted by the precious document in Packford's possession. And Appleby discovers that Packford had two secret marriages, and that both of these women were at the house at the time of his death.

Review:

I loved this book. The literary illusions were fun, the characters were eccentric, intellectual and lived in a very elite environment of  rare books and mysteries. It is loaded with twists and turns with moments of wry humor interspersed. This book may not be everyone's cup of tea but for those of us that love elegant mysteries you will really enjoy it... Five Stars

Spitfire (A Livy Nash Mystery) by M.L. Huie

M. L. Huie writes a tense, gritty, knuckle- biting adventure with moments of WWII that will stay in your memory. The men and women that trained for the SOE and were parachuted into Paris while occupied...so very many of them died. It is a fascinating period of History with Women as well as Men bearing deep scars because of things they have seen. They were trained to kill in hand- to- hand combat and worked with the French Resistance.

Olivia drinks too much and works for the Paper writing a Woman's Column. She has been through what only hardened combat soldiers go through during the War and her job bores her. Mr. Fleming approaches her about joining Intelligence and from that point on this book takes off and doesn't let go. There are twists and turns and heart-break and sheer determination and you feel every emotion with her. Her flaws do not make her less likeable and the Characters twist and turns with double- cross as a main feature and trust very limited.

If you like WWII thrillers then this is the book for you. I do.This book is highly recommended. It has a proper bite and doesn't stop surprising you until the last page. Five Stars...

Blurb:

How far would you go for vengeance?

It's V-E Day 1946 in London. World War II is long over, and former spy Livy Nash is celebrating with her third drink before noon. She went to war to kill Nazis. Dropped behind enemy lines as a courier, she quickly became one of the toughest agents in France. But her war ended with betrayal and the execution of the man she loved. Now, Livy spends her days proofreading a demeaning advice column for little ladies at home, and her nights alone with black market vodka.

But everything changes when she meets the infamous Ian Fleming. The man who will create the world's most sophisticated secret agent has an agenda of his own and sends Livy back to France with one task: track down the traitor who killed the only man she ever loved. Livy jumps at the chance, heading back to Paris undercover as a journalist. But the City of Lights is teeming with spies, and Livy quickly learns just how much the game has changed. With enemies on every corner and ever-shifting alliances, she'll have to learn to fight a new war if she wants to conquer the past once and for all.

Facets of Death by Michael Stanley

Michael Stanley is the writing team of  retired Professors Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. They clearly have a love of Botswana which is in every page of these mysteries. The fear of a Witch Doctor and his gruesome packages adds an eerie touch to the book. Their writing style is an odd mix of gentle pacing, with the unusual mix of dogged police work. All in all this adds up to a very winning combination for a mystery. 

The main Character Sgt. Kabu is working very hard to make a name for himself in this preliminary book, that provides us with his background. He has a lot to learn, but has to overcome prejudice mixed with resentment. He came straight from the University and some of his co-workers resent him for entering the Police Force that way. Kabu has some heart- warming incidents... with a girl he gets a crush on and some hard taxing from an Asst. Supervisor but he is learning and working hard.

The background of this book has a wide-scoped Afrikaan frame- with murders intertwined with Witch Doctors and the Diamond Industry. The Book's pace is very easy-going but consistent. The Police Character is named after a Hippo, which after the first snicker, I settled down with very comfortably and rooted him on. The Background is magnificent and the Character is humble and the style is easy to read. This is a prequel to the award winning series and a great addition.

Blurb:


David Bengu has always stood out from the crowd. His personality and his physique match his nickname, Kubu—Setswana for "hippopotamus"—a seemingly docile creature, but one of the deadliest in Africa. His keen mind and famous persistence have seen him rise in the Botswana CID. But how did he get his start?

His resentful new colleagues are suspicious of a detective who has entered the CID straight from university, skipping the usual beat cop phase.


Shortly after he joins the CID, the richest diamond mine in the world is robbed of 100,000 carats of diamonds in transit. The robbery is well-executed and brutal. Police immediately suspect an inside job, but there is no evidence of who it could be.
When the robbers are killed execution-style in South Africa and the diamonds are still missing, the game changes, and suspicion focuses on a witch doctor and his son. Does "Kubu" have the skill and the integrity to engineer an international trap and catch those responsible, or will the biggest risk of his life end in disaster?

e match his nickname, Kubu—Setswana for "hippopotamus"—a seemingly docile creature, but one of the deadliest in Africa. His keen mind and famous persistence have seen him rise in the Botswana CID. But how did he get his start?Inauspiciously. His resentful new colleagues are suspicious of a detective who has entered the CID straight from university, skipping the usual beat cop phase. Nearly broke, with no car or wife, Kubu has the support of his parents, but success will depend on self-reliance. He is immediately plunged into investigations at two airports.

One takes him to the airport near Gaborone where something criminal is going on in baggage claim.
The other begins at Jwaneng Airport, where a plane bursts into flames. It's the opening move in a brutal heist of stones from the world's richest diamond mine. The robbers die in a shoot-out, but the diamonds remain missing. So who masterminded the crime? Rumors of a witch doctor's involvement send the detectives down a dark path. Ultimately, new recruit Kubu finds himself engineering a risky trap. Will his first major case prove his worth—or kill his career?

Fell Murder (British Library Crime Clasics) by E.C. Lorac

Edith Caroline Rivett ,who wrote under the pseudonym E.C.R. Lorac, had a long running series with Inspector McDonald. The Author penned this during the War Years in 1944, and it has strong touches of all the hardships Britain went through. The story is set among the fells and downs of rural England, centered around a Family named Garth. They are Farmers now, but in times past- they had great wealth. They still live in the Manor House, with part of the rooms shut up, and large portions of land. The 82 year old Father is a harsh man- some say fair, but he is hot-tempered and at times cruel. The eldest son, Richard, married Mary, the Daughter of Ashthwaite, and fought with his Father over it. Twenty five years later and Richard is back hiking the countryside he loved. His wife Mary, died due to a lack of funds when something went wrong with the baby. Richard has never forgiven his Father, but, is it just coincidence that his Father is murdered after he reaches England?

He is not the only one back. Charles, who hates farming, is back from Malaya ,with no funds and bitterly resentful. Malcolm, the child of the second wife has a bad heart and is a poet and hated his Father for making fun of it. The only one who really loves farming is the only daughter and she cannot inherit the entailed land. Elizabeth is also staying there to help on the farm as a Land Girl.

E.C.R. Lorac writes a tightly- woven, mystery.The Garth's are an old family in rural England with many ties to the farming people around them. The Author has a way of making them come alive. Some are likeable- others not as much, but their lives revolve around the weather, bringing in the crops,  and helping their neighbors. The land is as much a character as the people and Lorac does not hesitate to use its beauty for both opportunity to develop characters and for murder. The story progressed in a slow- pace...building...  and I had no idea where all the red herrings would lead. But as the tension simmered I began to wonder... would this be the only murder? I am giving it five stars because I love this type of English Mystery.

Blurb:

A classic Golden Age mystery from acclaimed author E.C.R. Lorac
'...this crime is conditioned by the place. To understand the one you've got to study the other.'
The Garths had farmed their fertile acres for generations, and fine land it was with the towering hills of the Lake Country on the far horizon. Here hot-tempered Robert Garth, still hale and hearty at eighty-two, ruled Garthmere Hall with a rod of iron. Until, that is, old Garth was found dead—'dead as mutton'—in the trampled mud of the ancient outhouse.

Glowering clouds gather over the dramatic dales and fells as seasoned investigator Chief Inspector Macdonald arrives in the north country. Awaiting him are the reticent Garths and their guarded neighbors of the Lune Valley; and a battle of wits to unearth their murderous secrets.
First published in 1944, Fell Murder is a tightly-paced mystery with authentic depictions of its breathtaking locales and Second World War setting.

This edition also includes the rare E.C.R. Lorac short story 'The Live Wire'.