Classic mystery from one of the masters. George Bellairs is currently undergoing a well-deserved resurgence.

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.

This is a book a book written during the golden age and it is typical of the era. I rather enjoyed the build up and the way the story moved along quite quickly but I did have some issues with the title, which I won"t mention here. These books are pure escapism and just wonderful to read, they get you involved until the book is finished leaving you completely happy.

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.

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.

George Bellairs was a prolific writer of mysteries in the Golden Age tradition, but set in the in the post-WWII era well into the 1970s. He was not a great writer, but his books were popular and critical successes at the time. I suspect the reason is that he honored the old conventions while younger writers were breaking new ground. His books are only nominally set in the second half of the 20th century, the characters and attitudes are many decades out of date. In fact, there are always Victorian holdovers who are figures of fun, the serious characters who came of age in the 1920s or 30s and are feeling threatened by change, and the younger characters who get taught lessons by their elders.

None of this translates well to anyone under 90. The normality that Bellairs' characters long for seems hopelessly outdated, and the [[ASIN:B006PFC2FA Brigadoon]] England they inhabit has little appeal.

In this story, Bellairs' series detective is on holiday when an undernourished parson is apparently thrown over a cliff to his death. The local police ask the hero to step in as a consultant. This allows him to act like a Golden Age amateur and ignore any sort of procedure. Instead of looking for evidence he interviews a series of eccentric characters who give him clues on cue for no logical reason other than the plot requires them. There are parsons and bishops, widows and newlyweds, gold diggers and sugar daddies, loafers and crusty handymen none of whom would have been out of place in 1900.

Artificial as they are, the clues play out fairly, according to the old rules. If you are a fan of Golden Age detective fiction, and have read all the good stuff, this is an adequate imitation. But it is many notches below the best Golden Age novels, and far inferior to the work of some of Bellairs' contemporaries who were willing to evolve with the times.

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.

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 mystery that, to me, was neither fish nor foul - a typically cozy-ish Inspector and sidekick (they struck me as very Alleyn and Fox) but with a hearty ladling of the seedy hardness of a certain type of noir. There are two chapters especially that serve no purpose, not even as red herrings, other than to give the author an opportunity to describe odious people and their dirty homes. The mystery itself is neither here nor there and the victim is a cipher of the highest order. Not satisfying but not really bad either. A solid C.

While on holiday with his wife Inspector Littlejohn is called on to help solve the death of Dr. James Macintosh, the Bishop of Greyle, the famished parson.
A well-written story and a decent mystery.

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.

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.