The Case of the Famished Parson

4 and 1 / 2 stars

Inspector Littlejohn and his wife are taking a holiday at the seaside. When a body is found on the beach, Littlejohn gets reluctantly drawn into the investigation. 

The body is that of a Bishop. The autopsy shows that he was emaciated to the point of starvation. That in itself is odd enough, but when Littlejohn and Cromwell begin to interview the witnesses, family and acquaintances the situation gets even more complicated. The family is angry and combative and the witnesses are vague and unsure. 

When a near tragedy strikes, the case turns even more serious. Then another body is found. What is going on? Who disliked the Bishop so much as to violently kill him? And the other body; what is going on there? As time drags on, Littlejohn and Cromwell have no leads. Everyone they interview has an alibi it seems. Then something fortuitous happens. The story picks up speed at a rapid pace as we are led to the killer. 

An ongoing subplot of this book has to do with the smuggling of goods from Ireland. It seems no one knows that it is going on, except Littlejohn suspects that it is. Our story all comes together at this point. I must admit that my number one suspect was indeed the guilty party. Some inconsistencies in the behavior of this person is what clued me in. 

However, that did not take away from the adventure of getting to the conclusion of the story. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next in the series. The books are both well written and plotted. 

Mr. Bellairs was a great writer and well ahead of his time with his books. I am extremely pleased to be reading his books after all this time. 

I want to thank Amazon, Netgalley and Ipso Books for forwarding to me a copy of this most delightful book to read.

Although most people automatically have PD James as their go to British Crime Mystery author of note, George Bellairs deserve some of that love as he is a sorely underappreciated writer from a bygone era of greatness in literature. He was quite prolific and could write detailed, realistic stories that pulled you into the time and settings of his crimes.
 
This book was perfectly Bellairs and showed off his shattering talent with a well-written and expertly plotted mysterious narrative. There are his classic touches of humor, his charming and eloquent word choices, and of course his intricately complex and well-developed characters.
 
Along with his perfectly written personalities, Bellairs knew how to write settings that provided such vivid imagery you felt you were walking alongside his characters as you saw the world around them through their eyes.
 
His plot provided plenty of red herrings alongside the real clues so it won’t be overly difficult to spot the Big Bad of the story which still offered up plenty of twists on the silver platter of crime lit. The beauty of Bellairs is you can rely on him to provide a view, a portal in time if you will, of how mystery and crime used to be written when humanity didn’t need graphic blood and gore to be entertained.

I love Crime Fiction. Especially the who dunnits and books from the Golden Age. So when I saw this ARC I knew I had to read it. It did not disappoint!
Bellairs is a credit to the genre. Wonderful writing, excellent plot and believable characters. 
It was tied up well and I have a definite soft spot for red herrings, I like to be able to decipher what my thoughts are!
A fantastic crime story.

A real page turner for me from page one I was hooked, I know I have heard that before  but this is a exciting novel that I highly recommend.  It's a who done it that gives lots of clues but which are the red herrings?  Littlejohn is enjoying a well earned break at the coast when a bishop staying in the same hotel is murdered, and to know more you need to read the book.

A quick read, nothing to upset, but not quite a cozy mystery. An inspector on holiday has to step in to determine the facts when a bishop staying at the same hotel dies during the night. 

Some nice bits of humour and insight, especially with the man of all work at the hotel and the additional police who come on the scene. However, dated in its attitudes and struck me as anti-Irish.  A lovely British setting and strong admiration for the attractions of nature and village life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ipso Books for an advance copy.
Bellairs is currently one of my favourite writers. I love the titles- the parson here is actually a bishop whose emaciated body is found on a cliff near a seaside resort. I love Inspector and Mrs Littlejohn and his sidekick Cromwell. I love the cast of eccentric  and oh -so- well-depicted characters including the usual awful family. The writing is excellent.
As for the plot…well, it is often secondary to the glorious fun! As well as murder and attempted murder we have smuggling thrown in  here.
Bellairs has been unjustly neglected but is now experiencing a bit of a revival.
Do read this and any others you come across.The earlier titles are often the best but all are interesting.

The Bishop of Greyle was an unassuming, quiet man. Hardly anyone knew his surname even. Then why would someone obviously hate him so much that they would push him off a cliff. Why was his body so emaciated to the point of being declared starved. 

Inspector Littlejohn has a puzzling case in front of him. Embarrassing that no apparent clues in the Bishop's own life could lead to solving the case, the Inspector has to look elsewhere as to why the Bishop was done away with.  The investigation is puzzling but it leads to certain unconnected leads and how to connect these leads to give a coherent picture is not easy.

The story was a bit slow, not a fast paced mystery but the series of deductions and connections was well placed.

Interesting take on a mystery.

Goodreads and Amazon reviews up on 3/6/2017. Reviews on my blog mid September 2017.