Silence After Dinner

Inspector Harry Charlton #11

by Clifford Witting

It was a far cry from Communist China to the peaceful village on the South Downs, but to be a self-confessed murderer, keeping his agonized diary, it could buy no peace. But then who was the writer of the diary? 'I feel the net drawing in around me even closer and closer. Dufydd has appeared suddenly in Southmouth. He will never forgive. I remember his last words to me. 'Remember to come back, man, for if you do not, vengeance will follow.' What did he mean by that? Who's vengeance? The communists? Or had he guessed what I was going to do?' This is one of the strongest narratives that the acclaimed writer, Clifford Witting, ever penned. Although it has the familiar Inspector Bradfield involved to investigate the murderous goings-on, the story that hangs between Communist China and the South Downs is entirely original - and completely compelling. Clifford Witting wrote 16 novels between 1937 and 1964. Galileo is proud to be reissuing them all.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Clifford Witting (1907-68) was an English writer who was educated at Eltham College, London, between 1916 and 1924.

During World War II he served as a bombardier in the Royal Artillery, 1942-44, and as a Warrant Officer in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 1944-46.

He married Ellen Marjorie Steward in 1934 and they had one daughter. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a clerk in Lloyds bank from 1924 to 1942. He was Honorary Editor of The Old Elthamian magazine, London. from 1947 up to his death.

His first novel 'Murder in Blue' was published in 1937 and his series characters were Sergeant (later Inspector) Peter Bradford and Inspector Harry Charlton. Unusually, he didn’t join The Detection Club until 1958 by which time he had written 12 detective novels.

In their 'A Catalogue of Crime', Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor stated, 'Witting started feebly, improved to a point of high competence, and has since shown a marked capacity for character and situation, with uneven success in keeping up the detective interest.'

On the gadetection website it reports, 'Why is Witting so obscure? His detection is genuinely engrossing, and his style is witty, if occasionally facetious. He could do setting very well—Army life in Subject: Murder. His books have the genuine whodunit pull. He can brilliantly misdirect the reader (Midsummer Murder) or invent a genuinely clever and simple murder method (Dead on Time).

'He experimented with form: the surprise victim (whowillbedunin?) of Measure for Murder, or, weak as it is otherwise is, the riff on the inverted detective story in Michaelmas Goose. In short, he always has something to offer the reader, and found original ideas within the conventions of the formal detective story.

'And yet he’s barely known—no entry in 20th Crime and Mystery Writers, and only a passing reference in the Oxford guide. Only treated in detail in Cooper and Pike, and in Barzun.'

Reviews

[Calum Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

B+:

Really great. Loved the interweaving China story and not guessable for a while.

The best in the series since Measure For Murder.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read, an interesting premiss, but a bit of a let-down at the end. Still 4 stars from me, though.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.com/2025/...