CI Littlejohn does it again. He appears to be very casual, but he gradually learns everything he needs to solve the case. I really enjoy these mysteries which have clever plots and include some humor as well. In this book, Sir Gideon Ware, Mayor of Westcombe, is having a banquet for the important folks in the borough. During his speech, he keels over onto the floor and dies on the way to the hospital in the ambulance with Father Manfred.

Chief Constable Boumphrey doesn't want to stir things up interviewing all the town bigwigs, so he calls Scotland Yard, and Chief Inspector Littlejohn is asked to go to Westcombe. He is met by Inspector Hazard, who take him to the Police Station. Littlejohn is briefed briefly (without all the necessary details), and Hazard is assigned to help. It turns out that Ware had many enemies and had sired an illegitimate son, the local dentist Fenwick (not well known).

When it is found that Ware was killed with strychnine, at first they try to check all the food, but there is no way Ware could have eaten something that someone else hadn't. Soon they knew it was by injection, and the doctor had given him a shot shortly before the luncheon. Later they find Ware had gone to the dentist (Fenwick) after the doctor. Soon there is another death - the doctor's assistant. Meanwhile, Cromwell has been sent out to find out more about the son and dentist Fenwick, and uncovers a lot of background material. The two main suspects are now Fenwick and his friend Dr. Preedy, either of whom could have injected the strychnine. We gradually find out which one, and the end of the book includes full story written by the culprit.

George Bellairs is one of my favorite Golden Age writers re-discovered in recent years. His Inspector Littlejohn detective novels are well-written, well-plotted, and enjoyable, and that's why I've read over 20 of his mysteries.

"He's Rather be Dead" is an early Littlejohn. Set in a seaside vacation town, Bellairs does a great job of evoking the holiday setting and attendant loose behavior of its visitors. The early Littlejohn novels I've read, including this one, I find that Bellairs is a bit acerbic in his description of the characters, perhaps injecting a somewhat social satirical tone. I prefer the later Littlejohn novels where his introductions are a bit more sympathetic, but nonetheless, I enjoyed this solid mystery.

George Bellairs is a talented mystery author and I look forward to reading more Littlejohn novels.

I am a great fan of George Bellairs books and enjoy the social history that can be picked up in his pages. This book didin't disappoint on that count and the story was a good one although the start was a bit draen out and boring. What spoiled the book for me was the penultimate two chapters which I felt were unneccasary and only repeated things we had already learned. So, a good story spoiled by a too high word count. With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review and e_ARC of this title.

My thanks to the publishers for a review copy of this entertaining murder mystery from George Bellairs. This is a fairly typical Bellairs tale about the well merited demise of a nasty property speculator cum petty potentate, prime mover in the monstrous and vulgar development of what had been a quiet seaside resort. Bellairs is as usual acute in his observation of the characters and peccadillos of the minor dignitaries of a small town, all of whom have excellent reasons to wish harm on their newly elected mayor, Gideon Ware. I particularly enjoy the names he dreams up - the greedy gourmand, Cannon Wallopp, the teetotal Rev Titus Gaukroger, Chief Constable Boumfrey, DI Hazard, who introduces Littlejohn to the locality - and, while the characters are over the top at times and it is obvious who dunnit pretty early on, none of them are drawn without sympathy, even the corrupt Chief Constable and the murderer himself. The wartime touches, such as what passes for extravagance and haute cuisine in the menu for the mayor's feast or Sid and the Hot Dogs' swing band at the Wintergardens lend the book a period charm. I also enjoyed the melodrama of the murderer's exit, although I think the inclusion after the event of his autobiographical account of his life and decisions was less successful. Altogether a good escapist read for troubled times!