This is another fantastic example of Colin Watson’s whodunnits and also still there are parts that had me in stitches. I have grown to really love this series of books. In this one letters are sent to three prominent members of the town and one Mrs. Henrietta Palgrove (the names are always wickedly divine) is found wrong side up in her garden pond. It is up to our favorite detective Purbright to solve the case and he brings in some interesting characters to help him do it. Loved it!!!!!!

I am reading everything I can find by this author now. The book was well paced and I enjoyed the protagonist very much. Will be looking forward to more in this series.

This is the 5th book in a series, and I have read books 1-3 and enjoyed them. I still love the noir feel, the low tech mystery solving. It's fun to have it in a book. The humor is funny, the book is entertaining. I need to read more of this series.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

Come to Flaxborough and stay for the mystery! I received a copy from NetGalley and this is my honest review. Oh, how I love this series! Purbright is such a good detective and the wry British wit shines through the story. Always feels like coming home when I read a book by this author.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. This did not influence my review.

I decided to keep going with the Flaxborough Chronicles. The next book in this charming detective series by Colin Watson is Charity Ends at Home.

Detective Purbright is wearily keeping tabs on increasingly competitive Flaxborough charity drives when an anonymous letter is brought to his attention, a letter that has been sent to three local VIPs: the coroner, the constable, and the newspaper editor. The distressed writer is convinced he/she is in danger. Loved ones are plotting murder. Although the writer does not sign the letter, an enclosed photograph is referred to – but no photo is enclosed.

Purbright is duty-bound to take the threat seriously, but has no idea where to start until a local woman is found dead, drowned in a well. She was active in the local fund-raising community, favoring charities that support dogs. She was not happily married. Naturally, her husband becomes the prime suspect. But how does the letter tie in?

At the same time, a newcomer to town is trying out his own amateur detecting skills. His job is to catch a cheating husband. However, the detective, Mortimer Hive, is not very bright, a drinker, and easily distracted. He bungles his job, but no matter. The person who hired him has decided he doesn’t need Hive’s input after all. The assignment is over.

Hive doesn’t leave town. He’s a good friend of Miss Lucy Teatime (a con-woman introduced in the previous book). Lucy has set up camp in Flaxborough. She is no longer scamming gentlemen looking for lady friends. She’s involved in a new plot, skimming money from charities.

Purbright seems to be impressed by Miss Teatime. It’s difficult to believe he doesn’t realize she is up to no good. Still, she’s courteous and helpful as well as very clever. With her help and with some prodding of Mortimer Hive, Purbright sets about chasing down the murderer.

This book is a bit more jumbled than the others and the humor seems more forced. Mortimer’s ramblings take up a good deal of the book and he wasn’t as interesting a character as the others. Nevertheless, he serves his purpose. The threads are all pulled together to bring about a satisfying conclusion. I’ll take a little break, then return eagerly to this series.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. It is refreshing to go back him time to see how mysteries were solved before modern day technology. Excellent writing and delightful characters. Thanks to NetGalley and to Farrago for providing me with an e-galley for my honest opinion.

This mystery takes on another interesting setting as it occurs in the midst of the many charities of Flaxborough. While it took me a little longer to get into this book, I especially enjoyed learning more about the main detectives. For instance, Chief Constable Chubb never opens his mail until at least three hours have passed. “Experience had taught him that problems which were altogether raw and unpalatable at eight o’clock could acquire a manageable blandness by eleven” (location 170). I might have to try that strategy. Malley treats Mr. Amblesby as if he’s a doddering old man in revenge for the coroner’s cruelty to other people. And then there’s Love whose mental processes take their time but often turn up significant leads. I like coming back to the same characters and getting a fuller picture of who they really are.
As I’ve come to expect from other books in this series, the mystery is full of twists, clever clues, and witty writing. It’s fascinating watching the police track down leads and determine what to focus on next. It’s a delightful English mystery. I’d recommend it.
Thank you to Farrago and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. I was not required to leave a positive review. All opinions are my own.

What an enjoyable book to spend a few lazy hours with. This was the first book I’ve read in this series but I will definitely read the others. I thoroughly enjoyed
the quirky characters and atmospheric setting. The plotting was excellent as well.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This, the fifth Flaxborough Mystery, is something of a place holder. Yes, there is a mystery, although it is not very compelling. More to the point, this short book introduces two new characters – Miss Lucilla Teatime, the con artist, who we met briefly in Book 4, and Mr. Mortimer Hive, a private detective who specializes in photographing straying spouses. These two, I am sure, will shore up the stories in future books.

I received a review copy of "Charity Ends at Home: A Flaxborough Mystery Book 5" by Colin Watson (Farrago) through NetGalley.com. It was first published in 1968 by Eyre and Spottiswoode and was reissued in 1991 and 2009.

When Detective Inspector Purbright visits his superior, Chubb, the man is in possession of a a letter that seems, for all intents and purposes, to foretell of a murder not yet committed. But it was addressed only “My Dear Friend” and unsigned. While it purported to have a picture of the would-be victim, there is no picture attached. Stranger yet, it seems that Coroner Amblesby and the editor of the local newspaper have also received copies of the same letter. While at first it appears to be only a crank, when a prominent woman is murdered - in one of the ways mentioned in the letter - it is up to Purbright and his sergeant, Sid Love, to find out who wanted the woman dead.

At the same time, a private detective named Mortimer Hive is on the trail of a pair of illicit lovers, but is having a problem - his camera has been stolen and his car has been disabled - yet the intrepid detective isn’t going to let either stop him, and proceeds on foot to the little love cottage where he finds one lover but not the other.

What these two incidents have in common seem nothing at all; yet eventually it becomes clear to Purbright that they are indeed connected, and with the help of Mr. Hive and the redoubtable Lucy Teatime, Purbright may very well find a murderer who has been hiding in plain sight all along...

This is the fifth book in the Flaxborough Chronicles and is a very good entry in the series. Purbright is once again in top form, along with Love, whose reasoning process, while slower than his D.I.’s, is still right on the money. He goes about solving the murder methodically, finding the clues and placing them exactly where they’re supposed to be.

This is what makes a good mystery, and Colin Watson has a knack not only for doing so, but leaving us with endings, while not entirely complete, still leave us the answers we have been looking for. As it is, I have enjoyed every book in the series thus far, and am looking forward to reading the next. Highly recommended.

We skip a few years forward to 1968 in this fifth Flaxborough Mystery. Several notable citizens have received anonymous letters from a woman claiming that a loved one is planning to murder her. The recipients include the Chief Constable, and thus is passed on to Inspector Purbright. Since the extremely theatrical letters are unsigned and missing a photograph that was meant to be included, there is little that Purbright can do. However, when a local woman is murdered in a manner that brings to mind the letter, he has something to investigate; the local community of charitable organizations.

Charity Ends At Home has the humor, vivid sense of place and time, and characterization of its predecessors. I was particularly pleased by the reappearance of the ambiguous Miss Lucy Teatime in this book. However, nothing much happens until the second half of the book and I found the pacing a little slow. Not that anything happens quickly in Flaxborough! I enjoyed it, but not so much as the previous books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrago for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.

Another fun and comical detective story by Colin Watson. A good mystery plot with great sense of humor makes "Charity Ends at Home" a wonderful weekend reading.

It is a must read for people who enjoy quality classic crime story with a good laugh.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3H4A9VUZNBQPR/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8. I don't know what else to say!!

An anonymous letter in which the writer is in fear for their life arrives on the desk of Constable Chubb, but our intrepid Purbright is inclined to believe it is somehow tied to the murder of local resident and charity ‘maven’ Henrietta Palgrove. Several suspects are possible, and the help in uncovering the perpetrator is never-ending with the return of Lucy Teatime, new resident, and a PI named Montgomery Hive. From the start the story takes off into several directions (often spinning off Purbright’s pointed observations) as the habits, behaviors and the penchant for charity work / workers to get, shall we say, overly involved in their work. With so many different people investigating and discovering (but not necessarily sharing) information, the eccentricities and unique flavor of Flaxborough comes forward in each resident. All of the ‘investigating’ factions are often at cross purposes, making Purbright’s job a bit more convoluted and complicated than necessary, but this element simply adds delight for readers. While the story has several clever, and funny, moments: a particular delight is in the careers evening at the local school where the PI, masquerading as a photographer and thinking he’s to present at a prize-giving devolves with hilarious results after some pointed asides from students and a few drinks in.

Oh the mystery is solved and the culprit unmasked, but the delightful writing and character observations combine to bring a more cynical look at the penchant for charity work, the purpose of the charities and the secrets buried behind the public faces of the town residents. Watson’s prose, observations and a sense that much of the ‘daily life’ is riddled with nonsensical traditions based more in appearance than meaning, the story is a true delight. A bit slower to the reveal than a more contemporary mystery, these are must-reads for their cleverness in construct and well-developed, presented and commented upon characters that brings readers a sense of place and time. Another in the long line of writers of British mysteries that is sure to please fans of Christie – these are a clever escape sure to engage.

I received an eBook copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-9JG/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

This wonderfully entertaining take on the traditional British crime/mystery novel is attractively old fashion and zanier that most books in this genre. Set in the village of Flaxborough which supports 43 charities, 18 of which are canine and whose competitive committee leaders are entrenched in plots and counter-plots conducted to ensure the success of their particular organization.

A ""Dear Friend "" letter to the coroner, the constable and the town newspaper editor asking for assistance in preventing the writer’s assassination is followed by the death of Mrs. Palgrove of the Four Foot Haven. Did she fall or was she pushed into her goldfish pond? Could the culprit be one of her “doggie adversaries”? It’s up to Detective Inspector Purbright to root out the truth. Author, Colin Watson is accomplished plotter and he handles the varied plot strands and unusual characters, like Mortimer Hive and Lucilla Teatime with tongue in cheek assurance.

As always, duplicity and chicanery are at the forefront in this addictive series.

One of my favorite things about this series is the originality of the storylines. This one starts when the competition for donations to local charities starts to get a little nasty. Then the head of one the charities is found dead. Inspector Purbright and Sergeant Love are right on top of this one. In the meantime, Mortimer Hive, a private detective, is in Flaxborough on a job which just happens to involve the husband of the dead woman. He is also visiting his old friend Miss Teatime, who we first met in Lonelyheart 4122. Sergeant Love continues to have a more prominent role in the solving of crime which is delightful. All of Colin Watson’s book so far in this series are written with a great deal of wit and humor, but I found myself laughing a lot more with this one. This one seemed a bit shorter than the first 4 but the story was just as well constructed and the mystery well twisted. You definitely don’t want to miss this one!

Charity Ends At Home is another hugely enjoyable Flaxborough mystery. The plot revolves around the murder of an indefatigable charity committee-sitter, from which elements of rivalry, adultery, genteel jiggery-pokery and out-and-out farce develop.

As always, it's a neatly crafted mystery distilled into fewer than 200 pages and superbly written. Watson's style is, as ever, wry and witty and he uses it to pierce the hypocrisies and self-importance of many his small-town characters. The estimable Inspector Purbright and his colleagues are on fine form and the wonderful Miss Lucy Teatime reappears after her triumphant entry in Lonelyheart 4122. There are, of course, plenty of lovely phrases, descriptions and dialogue to enjoy; as a small example, as the fire brigade pump water out of a crime scene, "…the last of the water disappeared with a noise like German political oratory."

This whole series is a delight. This is the fifth; it is fine as a stand-alone book, but I am reading them in order and enjoying them all the more for doing so. Whether you start at the beginning or just read this one, I can recommend it very warmly.

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

Charity Ends at Home, originally published in 1968, is the fifth novel in the Flaxborough Mystery series featuring Inspector Purbright and Sergeant Love. As with the first four books in the series, it’s a good, solid murder mystery full of sly humor and wit and a colorful cast of characters that will keep you amused – and sometimes laughing out loud.

Anonymous letters have been sent to the Flaxborough Chief Constable, the editor of the newspaper, and the coroner expressing a fear for the writer’s life and begging for help. Purbright and Love’s investigation leads them to take a close look at charity fundraising organizations. As usual, nothing is sacred to author Colin Watson and he takes more than a few jabs at the groups and those that lead them. With the addition of investigators Lucy Teatime and Mortimer Hive and a few well-placed clues it’s a delightful mystery laced with Watson’s satiric wit.

I have become a big fan of this series and intend to read all the way through. I recommend Charity Ends at Home although it’s not one of the best in the series so far. It got off to a slow start and didn’t pick up quite enough, and the ending was even more abrupt than usual. But the plot and the mystery are secondary to the characters Colin Watson develops and the words he uses to describe them and their antics. As always, there are some vivid word pictures, although possible politically incorrect in today’s world, some deliciously evil characters, and those laugh-out-loud moments (the cricket ball joke alone is worth reading the book).

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrago for an advance copy of Charity Ends at Home.

Despite this book being a more recent addition to my shelf, I read it before some of the others because of two reasons. The first is that it is a very small book in comparison to all the others I have and the second is that I have now got used to the pace of the book's sense of humour and knew for a fact that I would enjoy it.
By the time I reached this installment, I have a decent understanding of the workings of the people involved in the town, but even without that depth, this book can still be a fun read. I know it seems a little callous to term a murder mystery as a 'fun read' but the assorted cast and the dialogues can give it just that sort of distinction. In this tale, there are a lot of random events being described to us, and they seem liked fractured pictures of something that cannot become a coherent whole.It does all fit int together towards the end, I did not even suspect the possibility of what might actually have conspired while at the same time, it did not seem like a very unreasonable explanation. That is something that I am starting to realize ( five books into the series) seems like a trademark of either the author or the character of Inspector Purbright. In the beginning, the regular functioning of the town is described, with the additional point of a strange missive being sent out to crucial local people. Its presence is followed quite a while later by a body and a strange circumstance. The conversations between the people was as usual a highlight and Lucy Teatime, the enigmatic person from the previous book seems to have liked the place enough to have set down her very mysterious roots.

For anyone who has the time to take a leisurely stroll through Flaxborough and chuckle at the dry humour that will not make its presence very obviously known, I would recommend definitely giving it a try.

*3-3.5 stars. This is the fifth book in the Flaxborough Chronicles, a mystery series written by Colin Watson first published in the 60s, and now being brought back by Farrago UK. They are good old chestnuts, British police procedurals, which can be easily read in one day.

In this outing, some woman has sent out letters: one each to the coroner, the chief constable and the newspaper editor, which claim someone is plotting her murder. A nutter? The letters are unsigned so there is nothing much anyone can do to follow up. But later when a woman is found murdered, those letters take on even greater significance.

I really enjoy these mysteries and am so glad I've been introduced to this series. This one took its time developing and waited until the last 40% to really get cooking--my only complaint. I was happy to see Lucy Teatime back as a character in this story--she was introduced in the previous book. One is never quite sure which side of the law she is on.

In our current age, one often hears the complaint that when police investigators zero in on a likely suspect, they ignore all others. In this story, Inspector Purbright says: "I've no doubt that that person will be arrested and charged quite soon. But every other possibility must be examined thoroughly in the meantime." How refreshing!

Again, I have to mention how I adore Watson's descriptive writing style. Here's an example describing the murdered woman's maid: "Although she wore an apron, she had on her hat. It gave her the air of a helper prepared for flight at the first sign of fresh disaster. And she clearly regarded the appearance of the three policemen as just that."

Thank you to Farrago and NetGalley for providing me with arcs of these delightful old books.