If you like classic British murder/mysteries. The George Bellairs, Littlejohn books are being republished by Agora Books, are well worth reading.

With his characters of Chief Inspector Littlejohn and Sergeant Cromwell, with well written plots, plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and turning the pages right to the end.

This was an enjoyable murder/mystery centred around a strange family and it’s fate.

This is the second time I have read this book in the past few years, and enjoyed it as much as the first time.

I was given this free review copy from Agora Books via Netgalley at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

As a regular reader of George Bellairs books I was not disappointed. As usual Inspector Littlejohn is on holiday with his wife when a suspicious death occurs and the good Inspector is ordered to investigate. Mr Bellairs does his typical introduction of all the participants involved with fairly lengthy descriptions including suggestions of their reasons for wanting the victims dead - which can make it difficult to work out the possible real motive or who the real killer is. If you are new to this period of crime writers I cannot recommend George Bellairs more highly, as he epitomises to me, one of the best crime writers of the period.

I found this hard going, I usually enjoy George Bellairs, but this one didn't grab me. None of the characters were warm or likeable and the "foreigners not being quite right" got a bit Waring. There are definitely better more enjoyable examples of this writer's work. Death of a Busybody springs to mind.

Inspector Littlejohn is a wonderful crime and mystery character. A man of quiet intelligence and some humour…...less cryptic than Poirot but equally as engaging.

Judge Nicholas Crake falls ill while out shooting, regrettably he dies of pneumonia...then his wife is found murdered…

Inspector Littlejohn is staying nearby on a small holiday…...and so the investigation begins.

With secrets, lies, murders and suicide this is a thrilling classic crime mystery and if you like Agatha Christie and Josephine Tey you’ll love this...

I would like to thank the Author/the Publishers/NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review

another good entry in the inspector Littleton series. I found the story really interesting and the characters well written. Can't wait to read more

4 stars
More deaths than Midsomer Murders (Inspecteur Barnaby in French)
16 mars 2019
Kindle
A host of unlikeable people die in suspicious circumstances. Detective Inspector Littlejohn has to work hard during his holiday to unravel the tangled threads, but justice is served in the end. Crime Classics provided an ARC via NetGalley.

This is a reprint of an older story by a great author. Detective Inspector Littlejohn is a tried and true character. This particular story has Littlejohn on vacation and pulled into a crime by just being in the wrong place at the right time. The characters were exceptionally weird but their weirdness just made the story better. As the tale moved along you could’t tell who was suspected and who was innocent so you were waiting for a clue to point you in the right direction. That clue held the reader until the very end. I will read this author again.
Note: I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Enjoyable murder mystery from the very talented pen of George Bellairs. Inspector Littlejohn has his holiday interrupted by misdeeds once again. A puzzle in the traditional vein, beautifully written and cleverly complied with superb attention to detail. Littlejohn, as ever, is quietly competent and oh so polite - solving the crime in his own inimitable fashion. Excellent vintage crime. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable.
(Review to be posted on Amazon)

You go on holiday with your wife to a nice quiet(!) village to visit an old colleague and the locals start dropping like flies.
Another case for Inspector Littlejohn and Sergeant Cromwell, the ever likeable Scotland Yard pair.
Nicholas Crake, a respectable man with a passionate and unfaithful wife succumbs to pneumonia.
Did Dulcie hasten the end for her husband in his final illness?
What is the hold her strange brother has over her?
Why is the local police sergeant being so unhelpful?
I am thoroughly enjoying working my way through these George Bellairs reissues by Agora Books.He packs a lot into his mysteries, they certainly keep you reading to the end. We went from a natural(?) death to a murder count that Midsomer Murders would be proud of via adultery, vivisection, drug abuse, blackmail, fraud, suicide and a faint hint of incest.
I think these books are to be read with tongue firmly in cheek, but are none the worse for it.
It definitely won’t be my last.

If you like a proper old fashioned detective story George Bellairs is the man for you, Set post war in the small town of Tilsey ,the town gossips are in overdrive over the death of much loved Nick Crake the local judge and the antics of his Spanish wife,who has cuckolded him for years with a succession of men.When she is murdered in the family home in Lepers Hollow Inspector Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is called in.
Littlejohn and his trusty sergeant Cromwell set about trying to separate gossip from fact and making sense of the relationships of the remaining residents of of the Crake household the son and daughter and Mrs Crakes strange brother 'Uncle Bernard'.
The bodies mount up as the police enquiries go on,,secrets are uncovered lies exposed the number of suspects with motives mount and Littlejohn patiently works through it all sifting fact from fiction lies from truth till he unmasks the murderers and the man responsible for Mrs Crakes bizarre behaviour.
This is a proper police detective story told with great style by Bellairs with a solid and thoroughly decent hero in Littlejohn and well developed cast of characters,
Good old fashioned ( but none the worse for that) detective story.Fabulous!

I only discovered George Bellairs and Inspector Littlejohn in the last year or so (drawn in by the very attractive covers) and this is the fourth of his novels I have read. After only four novels picking up a Littlejohn book feels like a comfort. The character is new enough to me for the series still to feel fresh but also familiar enough to allow me immediately to immerse myself in the story. The only problem I had in doing that on this occasion is that reading a book set at Christmas in February feels a little peculiar. But that is not a fault of the book but it is a strange time to re-release a Christmas title!
Still, once I got over the incongruous timing, which to be fair has very little baring on the story, I slipped right in.

I feel an affinity with the 1950s; an era I didn’t know but where I fell I would have fitted in very well. So I am always predisposed towards a book written at this time but a predisposition to appreciate a novel does not necessarily make for a great or enjoyable story, but this is a great detective story.
I love the main characters and the often slightly eccentric or even comic edge to the smaller characters who may only be involved in a fragment of a scene but who provide a richer story. As seems often to be the case in Bellairs' novels, there is a genuinely moving and very sad event which is handled very sensitively, particularly for the time, but that along with the minor characters and an always finely plotted detective story is what makes George Bellairs a great crime writer.
Such a shame that he had been largely forgotten but wonderful that these old novels are once again seeing the light of day.

Copy provided by the George Bellairs Literary Estate

Inspector Littlejohn, speaking to a suspect in Crime in Leper’s Hollow, says “Small towns like this often have a kind of vicious circle of unsavoury events going on among their principal citizens.” This could be used as a plot summary of most of the Bellairs books I have read so far! In this book, Littlejohn is back in England and on his Christmas holiday in a small town. Like some other fictional detectives, Inspector Littlejohn does not seem to be able to take a holiday without encountering a murder, and being seconded to solve it! In this case, he is almost on the scene – at the gates to the Big House – when a distraught young woman rushes out, announces her discovery of a murder, and faints at his feet. At this point, the setting (including an earlier maybe-natural, maybe-murder death) has been established. Influential members of the legal establishment in an English town have secrets under their superficial respectability, and the secrets, one way or another, involve the family living in Beyle, a mansion built in an area once known as “Leper’s Hollow”. Inspector Littlejohn has an exceptionally complicated tangle to sort out and the plot has plenty of twists and turns to entertain the readers.

This is a typical Bellairs’ novel, with the small town English setting and the skilled detective and his assistant solving the mystery. This is not a criticism – it’s an entertaining light read and a classic style detective story.

Wonderfully convoluted tale of deception and murder marvelously unraveled by Inspector Littlejohn. Filled with Bellairs’ characteristic humour and evocative characters. Recommended.

Another fabulous Littlejohn mystery! I am so happy that this publisher is bringing these books back to a new generation of readers. While the writing style seems a little dramatic and unnatural, this mystery will stand the test of time. If you have not become a fan of Littlejohn, I highly encourage you to read this series! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy to review.

I was really looking forward to this book, as George Bellairs is a favourite. This book, however is not one of his best.

In each of his books I've read he has a trick of breaking the wall and revealing asides, additional information, which adds nothing to the tale, but gives a strangely conversational tone. I find it irritating.

This story takes a while to get going, is just too fantastic. Major characters are not well drawn, and there just isn't enough of Littlejohn and Cromwell.

Overall, I found this tale unconvincing and more than a little disappointing.

Poor Inspector Littlejohn never gets a relaxing vacation. This vacation, he's caught up in deaths at Beyle House, in what was formerly known as Leper's Hollow. The house's patriarch has died from an illness rumored to be hastened by his wife. She's later stabbed. Her brother-in-law is bludgeoned over the head. The son is an alcoholic and the uncle experiments on animals in his room. On top of the deaths, the village has secrets to keep too.

George Bellairs never disappoints me. This is definitely one of his best Littlejohn stories. The plot is clever, fast moving and never tedious. The characters are extremely well written and this reader was left guessing right up to the end. Please please republish all the Littlejohn books for all George Bellairs fans.

I really enjoyed this - the variety of characters is really interesting, and there are plenty of unexpected plot twists. There's a detailed emphasis on class and how it works within the village, plus the complicated story of the Crake family and its internal divisions, which leads to the whole tragic and murderous scenario. The author keeps coming up with a variety of motives and it's up to Inspector Littlejohn to unpick the truth from the scandals. If you like classic murder mysteries you will definitely like this. I received a review copy from NetGalley.

I have read and reviewed several George Bellairs Inspector Littlejohn mysteries and usually find them descriptive and entertaining, if sometimes a little confusing, but this one felt like ploughing through treacle.
I have given it 3 stars for the several twists and turns and the colourful descriptions of the mostly abhorrent characters. The actual plot felt very loose as well as the denouement when it came with a trickle rather than a flourish.
This won't put me off reading more in this series because I do like the character of Littlejohn. Thank you to the George Bellairs estate for this review copy in return for my honest opinion.

I discovered George Bellairs on Netgalley and I've read a lot of his mysteries since the first one.
This one was very good: atmospheric at times, full of twists and turns and with a humorous touch that makes it fun to read.
I like the plot, it kept me guessing till the end, the well written characters and the setting.
I look forward to reading other books by George Bellairs as they're both engaging and entertaining.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to George Bellairs and Netgalley for this ARC