Plaster Sinners

I've yet to be disappointed by a Colin Watson Flaxborough book. This one has very few of the usual characters and introduces us to some of the local aristocracy and happenings from before the second world war. Our aristocratic lady was known to be a 'bit of a thruster' in her day and now as an old lady she's not changed all that much.

An enjoyable read that brings in a detective from London, and an old folks home called 'Twilight Court' - enough to make you shudder

Whiffs of melancholy and faded grandeur hang about this penultimate novel in the Flaxborough series.

There are secrets to be uncovered both in Twilight Close, a home for the elderly, and at Moldham Hall, the home of the local squire. Secrets so important that they lead to murder.

Why was there such interest at the local auction in an uninspired plaster plaque of a country cottage? How is a very incompetent London burglar involved in it all?

With the aid of Inspector Bradley from London, and despite the attempts of various seemingly
respectable local worthies to impede him, Purbright works it all out.

This was not laugh-out-loud funny, but did have its wry and tongue-in-cheek moments.

3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrago for the digital ARC

Sergeant Sidney Love has some time before he's scheduled to go to work, so he stops at an auction. While there he sees a box of supposed junk items, and among them is a plaster cast of a little cottage. Sergeant Love thinks his young lady would enjoy this, and he's decided to bid on the lot. But while standing there he doesn't notice the man right behind him, the one who has a heavy doorknob in his hand. He also doesn't notice when the man hits him in the back of the head with the knob, sending him straight to the floor.

While unconscious, the man attempts to remove the plaster picture from Sid's hands, which are underneath his body, but is unable to do so. Upon waking, he realizes that no one has seen anyone about. An ambulance is sent for, and they don't take him seriously when he tells him he's a police officer nor that some unknown person hit him.

While at the hospital, he is visited by Detective Inspector Purbright, who takes the matter very seriously. After getting the details from Sergeant Love, he decides to visit the auction himself and tells someone there that they are not to release the contents of this lot, regardless of the purchaser. He is surprised when the bidding tops nearly 400 pounds.

Once he discovers who the fingerprints on the knob belong to, things get even more interesting. And when a detective inspector from London arrives because he knows of the attacker, the story becomes even more bizarre as they start digging into the origins of the box of rubbish. When a body turns up in the river that is connected to the case, Purbright finds that he now has a murder on his hands as well...

This book is another delightful entry in the Flaxborough Chronicles written by Colin Watson. It is quite as involved as all the others, and we are given bits and pieces throughout the story that all eventually connect to each other. Purbright is always enjoyable to read about and I love the methods he uses while solving a case.

We follow Purbright and crew as they dig into the reasons why anyone would be interested in a cheap plaster cast of a cottage. What we come away with is the fact that all is not what it seems, and someone was - and still is - willing to do whatever it takes to keep the cottage in the hands it was intentionally meant for.

The mystery itself was a tight one, with all the threads weaving together nicely at the end. It is always fascinating to see the means people will go to in order to keep their secrets hidden, and makes me grateful that I will never know any like this group of miscreants. Recommended.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Farrago for an advance copy of Plaster Sinners, the eleventh novel in the Flaxborough Chronicles series of police procedurals, originally published in 1980.

Sergeant Love is at the auction intent on buying a picture of a plaster cast cottage for his girlfriend when, taking a final look at it he his hit over the head and suffers a concussion. While investigating Inspector Purbright is astonished to see the picture become the subject of a bidding war, finally being sold for £370. He promptly impounds it to investigate. He is joined in his investigation by Inspector Bradley of North London who has an interest in and knowledge of the chief suspect.

I enjoyed Plaster Sinners which is a clever mystery and a fun read. It is not, perhaps, one of the better novels in the series as the humour is not as evident and the situation less absurd but it's still cleverly done and quite engrossing. Mr Watson tackles the class division in this one with much of it centred on the upper class Moldham family. He nails their sense of entitlement and imperiousness when faced with impertinent questions and Chief Constable Chubb's resistance to any suggestion of wrongdoing on their part. It seems rather old fashioned in these more egalitarian times. The final solution is, however, rather jaw-dropping and worth the read.

Inspector Purbright finds a like-minded investigator in Inspector Bradley and they work well together, two smart middle class men fighting against their "betters", with Purbright going as far as to admit that the "patrician" but not very bright Chief Constable thinks he is a"cad".

Plaster Sinners is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

The investigation of why Lot 34 at the local auction attracted such high bidding leads to revelations of old family scandals, hidden wills and illegitimate children, involving the inhabitants of Moldham Hall and Twilight Close Home for the elderly. This well-crafted tongue in cheek murder mystery pokes gentle fun at the Golden Age detective stories with their blend of cozy English gentility and menace. Watson’s dry humour, inventive turns of phrase and memorable character portrayals are endlessly entertaining and I shall be working my way through the whole series.

"Sergeant Love is a sucker for a picturesque country cottage.

But he finds himself quite literally knocked out by the little bas-relief plaster cottage that’s on display at Flaxborough’s antiques auction. This pretty but rather crudely painted trinket mysteriously sells for hundreds of pounds having sparked a heated bidding war, while the Sergeant gets floored by a would-be cottage thief.

So DI Purbright, teamed up with a world-weary brother officer down from London, must dig deep into the dubious past of the local gentry, the laconic Moldhams, in their crumbling stately pile, to find out how the little plaster picture leads to a tale of heirlooms and murder.

Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson’s tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay."

The thing I love most about Kindles are they keep bringing back forgotten classics!

These books are just fabulous, they may seem unassuming, but the have twists and turns you done see coming whilst meandering through the puzzle. The story just takes you along, and you really don't want to put it down but you really don't want to finish it.
Maybe a little slow for a first time reader of Colin Watson, but it does get under your skin.