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Sir Gideon Ware came from humble beginnings before striking it rich as a property developer, taking the sleepy harbor town of Westcombe and turning it into a thriving, if garish, holiday destination. It is a change that many of the locals resent, feeling exhausted by the steady stream of holidaymakers most of the year round. In spite of that ill-feeling though, Ware has been able to find success in local politics, becoming the town’s mayor just a few years after first being elected.

He’d Rather Be Dead opens by giving us a brief overview of Ware’s background and career as he prepares to speak at a luncheon he is throwing for local dignitaries. Many of the town’s most prominent people have been seated at his table yet, as we learn, most have reason to loathe their host. As Ware rises to give his speech he shows signs of being unwell, collapsing just a short while later. His appearance and subsequent autopsy points to strychnine poisoning but it is difficult to see how the drug, which should be fast-acting, could have been administered to him when everyone ate from the same communal pots and there is no trace of the poison on any of his dishes.

This is the basis for a case in which the question of how the murder was achieved will be as much a focus as whodunnit. I even briefly considered whether I ought to classify this novel as an impossible crime story; it’s the closest thing I have found in Bellairs’ oeuvre so far, though I would suggest that those reading purely for that aspect of the puzzle are likely to be disappointed but the solid but unexciting explanation as to how it was managed.

Like most of the Bellairs novels I have read the author’s greatest interest seems to lie in trying to capture a sense of a place and the people who might reside in it. The victim, Ware, should rank among his best creations (up there with the wonderfully-drawn Harry Dodd) for some of the complexities and contradictions in his character. He feels dimensional and realistic, reminding me of a few people I have met in my own life, and the author does a fine job of exploring the gap between how he perceives himself and how he is perceived by those who have come to rely on him.

This attention to characterization is replicated throughout the rest of the novel’s cast of characters with even some of the most incidental of figures given unexpected depth or personality traits that help to bring them, and the story’s setting, vividly to life. Their resentments that we learn of in the course of Littlejohn’s investigation feel credible and realistic to this sort of town setting and I enjoyed the process of uncovering those secrets and building fuller portraits of each of the figures involved in the case.

One particular source of pleasure for me was in the depiction of the local police who make for rather colorful figures. I am used to these figures quickly becoming anonymous once they call in the assistance of Scotland Yard but I was rather pleased to realize that they would actually be given some prominence in the story. Bellairs captures the tensions between two of the most important police figures in the story, once again helping to build that sense that Westcombe might be a real place.

As wonderful as the character development is, the actual procedural aspects of the case are unfortunately a little less exciting. There was certainly some interest for me in that central question of how the poison could have been administered but I felt that the investigation was rather straightforward with little to cause unexpected shifts in focus or thinking.

It perhaps didn’t help that I think the killer’s identity becomes clear rather earlier in the story than I think Bellairs believed it would as our focus quickly narrows to just a couple of serious suspects thanks to some of the more technical components of the case. I am the last person to complain about an obvious killer but the book isn’t set up to read as an inverted story and aside from the rather awkward shift to a first person account right at its end, does little to capture that killer’s perspective or voice.

Nor does it help that the solution as to how the crime was committed turns out to be quite practical and straightforward, making it feel a little less clever than I had hoped. What’s more, discovering that nature of that solution only makes the solution as to whodunnit even more obvious long before we actually reach the novel’s conclusion.

Bellairs, to his credit, does try to add some dramatic elements to the book’s conclusion, giving us one of the few moments of surprise in the novel, but then undercuts its effect with that strange choice to cut to a first person account from the murderer. This, written in a rather formal and old-fashioned way, feels stylistically strange and also a little redundant as very little of what is revealed was unknown to us. The one thing that this could have given us was an exploration of the emotional angle but here he misses and we never get any deep contemplation of that aspect of the killer’s crimes. It’s a missed opportunity that also blunts the impact the author might otherwise have achieved with the remainder of the ending.

These disappointments, both in terms of the investigation and its resolution, unfortunately waste what was one of the author’s most intriguing setups and some truly marvelous character development. He’d Rather Be Dead is still quite readable with some beautifully observed moments but those reading primarily for the puzzle are likely to be a little disappointed by how straightforward the case becomes.

The Verdict: One of the authors’ most promising setups is not fully realized thanks to some straightforward plotting that indicates the solution far too early. The rich setting and interesting characters compensate somewhat.

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Further Reading: Rekha and Kate discussed the book in a spoiler-filled buddy read at Kate’s blog, CrossExaminingCrime.

Anjana at Superfluous Reading also admired Bellairs’ characterizations here in their review.

Bev at My Reader’s Block shared my dissatisfaction with the final few chapters and also seemed to find that the killer’s identity leapt out at them.

It has been quite a while since I last found time to read and blog so when I did get an opportunity I decided to go to my safe space and pick up a work by one of my favorite authors, George Bellairs.

I really enjoyed the rather bizarre sequence of events that lead to the discovery of a crime in this story. Bellairs begins by telling us about the discovery of a rather small-scale embezzlement scheme at a bank but when the investigation into that crime reveals that another account has been emptied with forged paperwork. Attempts to contact the account holder fail and when they visit the property in person they discover that the reclusive homeowner has vanished and a dead body in the attic.

These opening chapters contain some of Bellairs’ funniest and sharpest writing. I particularly enjoyed the way he lays out the sequence of events that follow the initial discovery of the embezzlement and the response of the guilty party.

While you could look on this introduction as being a rather complicated introduction to the case, I appreciated the idea that a major crime was discovered as a consequence of investigating that rather petty case. Firstly I feel it has the effect of making the concealment of the crime seem that much more impressive. Without that chance discovery there really would have been little chance of the body being discovered for some time. Perhaps more critically though it also allows Bellairs plenty of scope to have some fun with a cast of bank officials, no doubt drawing on his decades of experience as a bank manager.

Once the body is discovered, the book does take a somewhat more serious tone although there are still plenty of comedic observations about the characters as well as on topics like modern art and newspaper columns. Bellairs’ witty approach to telling his crime stories is one of the reasons that I keep coming back to his work and can often help paper over a less-than-thrilling case. Rather unfortunately that is exactly what it does here.

The focus of the investigation does not fall on the body that was discovered but on the missing occupant of the house. While that does make some sense as a focus for a Scotland Yard investigation, it does feel a little odd that we spend so little time focused on that death. That partly reflects that the murder is not particularly notable in terms of the method employed and also that the motive is fairly clear.

Bellairs acknowledges this pretty quickly, confirming any suspicions that the reader may have about why the gas man died. This is for the best as it does at least allow him to refocus the investigation on trying to discover the identity of that killer.

The problem here is that Bellairs sets up a situation that seems to quite clearly point at a solution. There are some gaps in our knowledge but from a very early point in the story the general thrust of the explanation as to who committed the crime and why will be quite obvious – all that remains is to follow Littlejohn’s investigation and discover how the guilty party will be caught.

While the reader may not have been able to anticipate the details of the ending at the start of the novel, Bellairs’ approach of carefully setting up each development means that there are relatively few moments in his story that could constitute a surprise to the alert reader. For that reason I would suggest that this book will have far more appeal to procedural readers than those who are looking to play at being an armchair detective.

One of Bellairs’ strengths as a novelist is his ability to create interesting and well-observed characters and that skill is, once again, quite evident here. In the course of the novel Bellairs introduces us to a mix of interesting characters from a variety of different backgrounds and situations.

These characters are not only interesting in terms of the way they are used in the context of the mystery itself but several possess interesting backstories of their own. I was particularly intrigued by the exploration of the life of the art teacher, Hunt, who lives with his invalid sister. These characters have strong and distinct personalities, doing a great deal to bring this scenario to life.

Littlejohn pursues his case with his typical quiet competence and, as always, he proves good company, even if he is not a particularly characterful sleuth. I do appreciate the way Bellairs is able to portray his steadiness and persistence, both qualities we see at play here, though I do not think that this case challenges him particularly compared to some of his other outings.

My only complaint about his investigation would be that he is gifted an enormously lucky break that he does little to earn. In other stories that might have irritated me but I did appreciate that Bellairs shows Littlejohn’s skill in taking that piece of luck and turning it into a bigger opportunity to progress his case which, in turn, sets up an interesting, if not particularly thrilling, conclusion.

Death in Dark Glasses is an amusing and often quite enjoyable story. Its characters are often quite interesting and the basic scenario Bellairs creates is intriguing enough. If you enjoy Littlejohn you will probably find this a comfortable read but the author has certainly written more complex and compelling cases.

The Verdict: This solid procedural has an interesting starting point but the ending packs no surprises.

Vintage Mysteries Challenge: Professional is main sleuth (Who)

A little while ago I made a list of how often I had reviewed works by particular authors and I was surprised to see that George Bellairs had come in second place. While nearly half a year has passed since I read anything by him, I have been looking for an opportunity to return to his work and when I saw that Agora were planning to reissue this one I couldn’t resist requesting a review copy.

Inspector Littlejohn is asked to investigate the death of Harry Dodd, a man who was discovered stabbed in the back when apparently on his way back from the pub. It turns out that Harry’s brother is a Member of Parliament with ambitions for very high office and while the crime itself seems like the sort the local police might handle, he desires for it to generate as little scandal as possible.

When Littlejohn arrives in the village he learns more about Harry’s somewhat unusual living arrangements. It turns out that he had a one-night stand with his typist that had been discovered and he had been divorced and given a payoff to leave his position with the family business. While he had no feelings for the woman, he decided to stand by her and acquired a cottage where he lived with her and her mother, making her a regular allowance.

Initially it is hard to understand why Harry might have been a target for murder but Littlejohn, in pursuing a few loose ends, uncovers more about his life which considerably broadens the scope of the investigation. What follows is a story that feels more procedural as we try to sort out the nature of relationships and understand how the various plot threads connect to each other.

I have often remarked on how one of Bellairs’ greatest strengths as a writer is his ability to create credible characters. This skill is once again clearly in evidence here not only in the array of suspects he presents us with but in the character of the victim himself who really looms over this whole narrative.

Harry Dodd is not a character who gets murdered and then fades into the background. He is clearly an eccentric but also deeply complex man. At first I was a little skeptical about the way that he had been imagined here, finding some contradictions in how he was being presented. I soon realized that these were entirely intentional and that a significant part of the story would deal with resolving these different images of Harry to understand exactly who he was and what his values were.

That journey was, for me, a deeply satisfying one, revealing him to be a complex and layered figure. In her review (linked below), Kate at CrossExaminingCrime remarks on how complicated a portrayal it is of a man who has been unfaithful to his wife. While I would point out that Bellairs is not necessarily flattering in the way he depicts Dorothy Nicholls or her mother, I agree that it is far more candid and clear in its discussion of these issues than I might have expected (though he uses the phrase Menage a Trois in a way I have not encountered before which caused a little confusion on this reader’s part at first!).

The cast of characters that Bellairs creates to be suspects and witnesses are just as memorable and come from an interesting mix of social classes and professions. Each feel well observed, particularly Dodd’s politician brother who as a socialist is embarrassed by his family’s links to industry and marriage into one of the county’s oldest families.

Bellairs develops his story well and there are a number of interesting and unexpected twists, even if I felt that the guilty party was clear long before any evidence turned up to link them to the crime. Part of the reason for that is because the narrative is complex with a relatively large cast of characters and a winding focus, there are relatively few figures who are around long enough to be truly credible. For that reason I think it’s helpful to think of this as a procedural – the destination is no more important than the journey to get to that point. Thankfully that journey turns out to be a fascinating one.

There are perhaps one or two too many murders, leading to a few feeling rushed and overshadowed by the more important ones. Still, they do at least contribute to the main thrust of the narrative and one does spin the story off in a really interesting new direction.

I also felt a little frustrated that a few characters’ fates are essentially left unresolved with them disappearing from the narrative after a while. I could understand why this would be desirable given they had no direct role to play in the case as it changed but it would have been nice to have at least a little information about what happened to them.

On the other hand, I think the ending packs some real emotional resonance and I was pleased to find that a few things I felt were sure to be loose ends were wrapped up more tidily than I could have hoped. It made for a very satisfying conclusion to what I would regard as one of the best novels I have read by Bellairs, sitting comfortably alongside The Dead Shall Be Raised (this is the more interesting case, that had the more interesting setting).

A copy was provided by the publisher, Agora Books, for review.

Vintage Mysteries Challenge: Means of murder in the title (What)

Further Reading

Kate @ CrossExaminingCrime liked the book a lot saying that the mystery becomes “bigger and more intricate than you expect”. She also praises the complex depiction of Harry Dodd.

Rekha @ The Book Decoder was also full of praise for this book saying that the “the quirk factor and the humor was at an all-time high”.