I didn't like this as much as I liked the first in the series - but I think that may be because it took quite a while for Inspector Purbright to get called in to look into the mystery. It's still good fun and the mystery is intriguing, with a bit of a twist and the characters are eccentric enough to make you smile as well as wonder which of them did the crime.

Bump in the Night is the second book in the Flaxborough Mystery series being republished by UK publisher Farrago. It was originally published in 1960 and is quite a nice little glimpse into British village life of that era. Colin Watson (1920-1983) had a delightfully fun way of writing, spearing each of his often stuffy, pompous characters with incisive descriptions. The mystery in this police procedural keeps you guessing right up to the end, which I quite appreciated. A fun, quick read with humor and heart.

Many thanks to Farrago and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this delightful old chestnut of a detective story. I hope you bring back all twelve!

Bump In the Night is the second book of the Flaxborough series (after Coffin, Scarcely Used) and if anything I enjoyed it even more than the first. This time, a series of small nocturnal explosions destroys a drinking fountain, a statue and the like in Chalmsbury, and eventually Inspector Purbright is called in from neighbouring Flaxborough to investigate as matters become more serious.

It's a decent plot which maintains interest (although I'd spotted the culprit well before Purbright did), but the chief pleasures of Colin Watson's books are his wonderfully dry, witty style and his brilliant portraits of the characters which inhabit his small, fictional towns. People like the editor of the local newspaper, his over-eager, cliché-prone cub reporter, the local Councillors and others are quite brilliantly drawn and the reality beneath outward respectability is very neatly skewered. It is also worth saying that the book is about half the length of a typical modern crime novel and is all the better for it, in my view.

A couple of brief passages may give you a flavour. Purbright spends a night at a supposedly superior small-town hotel "where he had been ill-fed and insulted by a staff who behaved like émigré dukes," and later visits a room in a boarding house: "The room was as he had last seen it; tidy, ordinary, and wear the faintly depressing air common to all apartments, whether prison cells or bed-sitters, in which a man must share his dreams with his shoe brushes."

I have only recently discovered Colin Watson, but I am coming to regard him as a treat to be looked forward to. I have no doubt that I shall read the whole Flaxborough series as they are reissued, and I'm looking forward to them enormously. Very warmly recommended.

(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)

It takes a bit of time to get into Colin Watson's books. You have to adjust to his style of writing. But a couple chapters in, everything starts to click. The characters are great and the humor is subtle. I enjoyed getting to know Flaxborough.

In his second book, Purbright was put into invidious circumstances in order to discover what was really happening in another village. Innuendoes and indiscretions are all part of the nature of this village’s residents. The author’s succinct descriptions of people and places are like short stories themselves about the people and places.

Replete with red herrings, BUMP IN THE NIGHT is the second book in the Flaxborough Mystery series. Originally published in 1959, it is another kinder, gentler, more polite police procedural where folks call each other Mister so-and-so or, in the case of policemen, by their rank as in Mr. Purbright or Inspector.

Once again, I am compelled to note that reading this series is much like watching BBC offerings like "Midsomer Murders" or "Father Brown." I have often commented that Midsomer is a really dangerous place to live. I'm beginning to think of Flaxborough in the same way.

BUMP IN THE NIGHT takes place in the town of Chalmsbury, one of Flaxboroughs many towns and villages, where a series of explosions have occurred flummoxing the local constabulary. Enter Inspector Purbright, from CID.

The locals of Chalmsbury are a tight knit lot. Everybody knows everything about everybody. There seems little ability to keep oneself to oneself. Watson paints a picture that comes alive in the mind's eye.

Although reference is made to the first book in the series, COFFIN, SCARCELY USED, there is no absolute reason to read it first. However, if you start at the beginning, you will have had the pleasure of meeting Inspector Purbright, and you will be familiar with his methods. I have always found reading a series most enjoyable when I read from end to end. It's like meeting a new friend and getting to know them over time.

The next stop on my journey of discovery is HOPJOY WAS HERE.

Highly entertaining, clever, full of amusing eccentric characters, this is a must read for fans of English mysteries!

A tidy mystery peopled with thoroughly awful villagers and a resolution that makes sense if you let your mind just sort of wander around the conclusion and don't ask too many questions. Mr. Watson has a crisp, wry writing style, a clear enjoyment of human foibles, and a loose commitment to narrative clarity. I like it, but readers who really want a "fair play" approach may feel a bit shirty.

It may be that I am easily amused by absurd domestic drama. I remember as a kid howling over Thurber's "The Night the Bed Fell" and just now, as I prepared to write this review I laughed at it all over again. (It's on the New Yorker website.)

"Bump in the Night" had me laughing out loud over and over. I am sure I shall never forget a man who walks the streets on full moon nights to avoid his "tidally amorous" housekeeper. Or them man whose neck is like pink luncheon meat squeezed out of a can. This isn't modern humor and it is hilarious.

There is a mystery too, the question of who blew up the philandering Mr. Biggadyke (silly surnames abound in this series), it could have been suicide, though, and it's up to Detective Inspector Purbright to sort it all out. It's a lot of fun to watch him do it.

I received a review copy of "Bump in the Night: Flaxborough Mystery Book 2" by Colin Watson (Farrago) through NetGalley.com. It was first published in 1960 in the UK and USA and has been reissued several times.

Very different mystery, not as good as Watson's previous book, but not too shabby either. The stories re quite involved and there are lots of false starts and ends. The dry humour is very entertaining, and make the book very entertaining.

Strange happenings again in Flaxborough. And yet another convoluted path leads us on a journey that must be read to be believed.

Sardonic writing makes this series a delight - the petty politics of English suburbia remind me a little of the Mapp and Lucia books... but 40 years later and with added murder!

This engaging series is new to me and I am so happy to have been introduced to the characters. British mystery is one of my favorite sub-genres and this one is superbly written.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Farrago for an advance copy of A Bump in the Night, the second novel in the Flaxborough series to feature Inspector Purbright, originally published in 1962.

The neighbouring town of Chalmbury is experiencing some strange events with various well known landmarks being blown up. As DCI Larch doesn't seem to be taking it very seriously the Chief Constable sends Inspector Purbright to take a different angle on these explosions.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Bump in the Night as it made me laugh out loud on several occasions. The plot is tricky enough to hold the reader's interest but it is the farcical nature of the initial scenario which brings the humour - the blowing up of a water fountain.

The plot premise was probably fairly ingenious and perhaps a bit risqué at the time of writing but can now be regarded as rather standard but it's well done and held my interest throughout. Mr Watson's skill lies in his characterisation and the humour he draws from their actions and reactions. I love the trainee reporter and his desperation to imitate his heroes at The Sun - it would seem that not much has changed there in 50+ years. It's delicious. The optician's revenge is another one.

Throughout it all the enigmatic Inspector Purbright chats to, rather than interviews, the main players and throws a strong light on middle England and its foibles. It is accurate and humorous without being malicious. As befits the fashion of the time we learn little of the inspector beyond he's pleasant, looks rather naïve and has blond hair.

A Bump in the Night is a pleasant step back in time which I have no hesitation in recommending as a good read.

First published 60 years ago in England, the Flaxborough Chronicles feature Inspector Purbright in the quiet town of Flaxborough. In his second adventure, Purbright is sent to the nearby town of Chalmsbury to look into a series of bombings. First a memorial water fountain was demolished in an explosion, then the head was removed from a statue with another bomb, and an antique optometrist's sign was blown to smithereens. Who could be doing this and what are their motives? The local police chief doesn't seem too motivated to solve the crimes, but a delegation from the town council has him request help - and Purbright comes to town.

The characters are almost caricatures of small town life. There are adulterous wives, odd political alliances, local gossips, and even a young reporter with dreams of breaking a big story. The Inspector walks a carefully balanced path through all the secrets, innuendoes, and finger-pointing among the town's residents. As an outsider, it is hard for him to know which details might prove important to the case and which will send him off down a rabbit hole. Is it relevant that the police chief is the son-in-law of a council member? Do the ridiculous practical jokes of the trucking company's owner play into the explosions? It seems that the more the police uncover, the less hope there is that any of it will tie together and help them close the case.

Readers who enjoy Miss Marple and mysteries set in small English towns full of eccentric residents will welcome having this series drawn to their attention.

So happy that this series has been brought back. Inspector Purbright 's sardonic wit and humorous asides are a delight. The plot is preposterous, the characters eccentric and the writing is great. It's such a pleasure to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrago for the advance digital review copy.

Another neatly written and enjoyable instalment in the Flaxborough Chronicles and another triumph for the investigative powers of Inspector Purbright who has been dispatched to Chalmsbury to look into a series of mysterious “blowings-up”.

When the fourth explosion results in a death, has the mystery been solved…or not? Purbright’s gentle persistence, and refusal to accept the obvious, leads to the solution and a rather melancholy conclusion to the case. This was a little more difficult to work out than the murder in Book 1..

As ever, Watson’s knowledge of the venalities of small town politics is ably utilised, and his sardonic wit is well to the fore. Councillors, policemen, shopkeepers, journalists and landladies are among those whose foibles are pinpointed. These portrayals stop, cleverly, just short of caricature.

Very readable and highly entertaining. A must for fans of English mysteries with a humorous twist

Excellent , A throughly enjoyable mystery.
Review scheduled for release date .