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Death of a Busybody

Inspector Littlejohn, Book 15

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About this listen

Miss Tither, the village busybody, is not the best-loved resident of Hilary Magna. She has made many enemies: bombarding the villagers with religious tracts, berating drunkards, and informing the spouses of cheating partners. Her murder, however, is still a huge shock to the Reverend Ethelred Claplady and his parish. Inspector Littlejohn's understanding of country ways makes him Scotland Yard's first choice for the job.

A second death does little to settle the collective nerves of the village, and as events escalate, a strange tale of hidden identities, repressed resentment, religious fervour and financial scams is uncovered. Life in the picturesque village of Hilary Magna proves to be far from idyllic.

George Bellairs was the pseudonym of Harold Blundell (1902-1985), a prominent banker and philanthropist from Manchester who became the author of a popular series of detective stories featuring Thomas Littlejohn, published over nearly 40 years.

©1943, 2016 The Harold Blundell LLP, Martin Edwards (P)2017 Isis Audio Mystery Traditional Detectives Village
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Good classic whodunnit, with lots of humour, and engaging characters. I guessed the main plot quickly but there were some more twists which kept it interesting. The narrator did a good job, bringing out the humour and keeping it engaging. Unfortunately the chapter headings for the audio book are wrong and seem to be from a different book!
As usual in these older stories, you find some language and attitudes which grate on modern ears.

Well written and entertaining

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Be aware that this is not a new release on 1 June 2024 but a repackaging of a recording released several years earlier. Having said that it is a very enjoyable story well read by Ric Jerom.

Not a new release

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Ric Jerrom reads brilliantly. This is a fairly sliw-moving tale, but Jerrom holds your attention. Weirdly, chaper headings and divisions are from a completely different book, making navigation tricky.

Classic mystery

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The storyline is easy to follow. The author draws incredibly strong, believable and substantial characters and the reader delivered them perfectly. A great story, rolled along neatly without unnecessary details, pathos or emotions, but very sensitive to village life then. could smell the hay, hear the bees, and laugh at the characters!

excellent reading of this murder mystery.

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