A Little Learning

Inspector Peach #6

by J.M. Gregson

After this murder, everyone is lying to DI Peach; One weekend in November, two students at the University of East Lancashire are at a loose end. After having one drink too many, the idea of committing the Perfect Crime comes up in casual conversation. But the idea is aiready fully-formed in the mind of one of them, Paul Barnes. Claptrap Carter, the director of the university, is a pompous fool. Who better to be the victim of a crime that can never be unravelled? But as Paul and his friend Gary stage a break-in into Claptrap's mansion, they don't realize that it is Detective Inspector Percy Peach who will be questioning them the following day. And however clever the intellectuals of the university may consider themselves to be, they could never have anticipated a detective so clever with words, so good at reading minds - and, for that matter, so well read.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

James Michael Gregson taught for twenty-seven years in schools, colleges and universities before concentrating on full-time writing. He has written books on subjects as diverse as golf and Shakespeare.

Reviews

[Susan]

When two students decide to commit the perfect crime they did not count on finding a body. How to explain the circumstances to the police.
DI Percy Peach and DS Lucy Blake investigate.
An entertaining modern mystery

[Margaret]

Really enjoyed the academic setting of the book. It made a change from the other Percy Peach novels.

Worked out who did it and why, but couldn't get the how. Missed a bloody clue yet again!

This series is fantastic for given the brain a workout.

[Sandra Hooke]

Excellent series of books but this one not quite as good as the rest because quite a lot of the sub plots seemed a bit far fetched.

[Damaskcat]

Two students at the University of East Lancashire talk about committing the perfect crime. Paul Barnes, one of the students has thought about this for some time and agrees with Gary Pilkington that 'Claptrap' Carter, the Director of the university would make an ideal victim. They plan to break into his house on the campus which they believe to be empty one weekend but someone has got there before them and Carter's dead body is there to greet them.

DI Percy Peach is set to investigate the case and is immediately suspicious of the threadbare story the two students tell him though he doesn't actually suspect them of murder. His investigations soon reveal that Carter was not popular but did anyone really hate him enough to put a period to his existence?

I enjoyed reading this well written and well plotted police procedural crime story set in and around the fictional Lancashire town of Brunton. The book is part of a series but can be read as a standalone novel. Peach and DS Lucy Blake make a good ream - at work and out of it - and their questioning of suspects is very cleverly done.

If you're looking for crime novels without too much graphic violence or bad language then try J M Gregson - who also writes crime novels set in Gloucestershire featuring Lambert and Hook which are every bit as good as the Percy Peach series.

[Katie]

The mystery itself was intriguing, but his constant references to the appearance of the women in the story was disconcerting. Ok, we know that D.S. Blake is attractive. It’s been established. We know she’s in a relationship with Peach (as if we want to picture her in bed with him and his mustache). She is intelligent and capable, too, but Peach’s highest praise for her is when she behaves *just like him.* Blake doesn’t have much personality of her own.

In this story there was also an oversexed Black woman, which is a not unusual stereotype. Much is made of her promiscuity and very little of the fact that she’s A PROFESSOR.

Gregson is an excellent mystery writer. I just wish he had a little more respect for his female characters.

[Chandru CS]

Good

They had been a much larger group earlier in the evening, but the others had their own agendas for the night; they had drifted away when the dancing finished. Lust was usually in the air at that heady hour on a Friday night: as the crashing rhythms of the music ceased, activated hormones began to throb even more insistently than the regular beat of the rock groups. Most of the students departed in pairs towards the dim lights of the residential hostels. But four of them remained, obstinately ignoring the requests for their glasses as the bar gradually emptied.

[Doug Ward]

In this British police procedural, DI Percy Peach and DS Lucy Blake investigate the murder of George Andrew "Claptrap" Carter, the widely-ridiculed Director of the new University of East Lancashire. Several people have motives for the murder, so it takes several days for them to figure out what happened. The author plays fair with the reader; all the necessary clues are given.

[P.]

2 1/2. The story was tedious and while most characters were uncharismatic, a couple were prigs. Peach got his last minute phone call where everything he thought turned out to be true. Then the killer confessed in such detail I'm surprised a trial was necessary.

[Kathleen]

Wild Justice was the book I quit reading by this author but it isn't on Goodreads so this review is just a reminder to not try any other Inspector Peach Mysteries.

[sharon cooke]

Love the banter

Great book and characters. Love the banter, it's laugh out loud writing. Clever plots and the cringingly awful Tucker, heavenly.