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Sergeant Cribb #4
Mad Hatter's Holiday
Brighton in 1882 is the setting of this novel of crime and tangled emotions. Albert Moscrop, a visitor whose holiday is dedicated to peering through a telescope at the seaside scene, marches down Queen’s Road to the beach and draws us through a sequence of disarmingly trivial observations into a compelling drama, played in the fashionable haunts of the nineteenth-century resort: beach, piers, promenade, swimming bath, aquarium, and Devil’s Dyke.
A keen student of human nature, Moscrop concentrates his interest on one particular family of holidaymakers—the Protheros, and especially the beautiful Zena Prothero, whose husband appears to take her excessively for granted. Gradually Moscrop moves into the circle of the Prothero family, only to become involved in a sensational murder. All Brighton is horrified by the gruesome crime. The local police seek the help of Scotland Yard, which is provided in the persons of Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray. These indomitable detectives soon find themselves challenged by the strangest case of their careers, one that is as mystifying as it is macabre.
259 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
Peter Lovesey
262 books651 followersPeter Harmer Lovesey, also known by his pen name Peter Lear, was a British writer of historical and contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath. He was also one of the world's leading track and field statisticians.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
April 1, 2020
DAME AGATHA CHRISTIE AND HER PEERS
BOOK 64 - 1973
Some might say not much happens for over 100 pages. And I'll say to them, "Sayer's 'Gaudy Night' has 500+ pages of not much happening, then ends."
CAST - 4 stars: "Brighton this year! Albert Moscrop closed his eyes, drew back his head and sniffed. It was a long, indulgent sniff of a man quite absorbed in the olfactory function," opens this novel. Moscrop is the narrator, and has all sorts of telescopic devices to view the scenery. When he tells us he'd never spy on the 'bathing houses', you just know he does indeed. He encounters a lovely lady, her older husband, their 2 sons, and a maid/servant. Sergeant Cribb arrives and says, "Murder's got everything to do with the seaside. All that's curious is that there isn't more of it."
ATMOSPHERE - 5 stars: After reading this book, if you don't want to visit Brighton, you're probably the type who vacations in bed with travel books (not that that's a bad thing). Moscrop brings a city to life: winking females from upper windows, couples frolicking in the ocean with hands below sea level, much turtle soup, sneaking in and out shops, up and down alleys. And about "Brill's Gentlemen's Swimming Bath", Lovesey teases with "Visitors cognisant of the health-giving effects of manly exercises patronized Brill's...as devotedly in the season as the philharmonic concerts at the Pavilion." Why, you'll even find "...Gregory Prothero, M.C., in stripes worthy of a Hokey Pokey cart.* And Cribb's hilarious entry into the story at Brills has got to be one of the greatest 'author-winking-at-readers' I've encountered. This story MUST be told in a seaside resort: a great example of atmosphere and story melding.
CRIME - 4: Moscrop is a peeping tom. Lovesey plays it for laughs till there is a murder, then another. And both are rather original in their own way.
INVESTIGATION - 4: Moscrop and his telescopes see much too much, Cribb does ask the oddest questions.
RESOLUTION - 4; There is a twist. And another. And a rather macabre ending. Is there a "Brighton: Part 2"?
SUMMARY - 4.2. Read this for laughs AND for a very good murder mystery. Lovesey simply is fun to read. It's the PLACE, though, that reigns here.
*Repeat 10 times a day. Just cause. I've a feeling it's meaningless.
And he's a snob also as he quickly passes through the lower class residential section of Brighton where "
BOOK 64 - 1973
Some might say not much happens for over 100 pages. And I'll say to them, "Sayer's 'Gaudy Night' has 500+ pages of not much happening, then ends."
CAST - 4 stars: "Brighton this year! Albert Moscrop closed his eyes, drew back his head and sniffed. It was a long, indulgent sniff of a man quite absorbed in the olfactory function," opens this novel. Moscrop is the narrator, and has all sorts of telescopic devices to view the scenery. When he tells us he'd never spy on the 'bathing houses', you just know he does indeed. He encounters a lovely lady, her older husband, their 2 sons, and a maid/servant. Sergeant Cribb arrives and says, "Murder's got everything to do with the seaside. All that's curious is that there isn't more of it."
ATMOSPHERE - 5 stars: After reading this book, if you don't want to visit Brighton, you're probably the type who vacations in bed with travel books (not that that's a bad thing). Moscrop brings a city to life: winking females from upper windows, couples frolicking in the ocean with hands below sea level, much turtle soup, sneaking in and out shops, up and down alleys. And about "Brill's Gentlemen's Swimming Bath", Lovesey teases with "Visitors cognisant of the health-giving effects of manly exercises patronized Brill's...as devotedly in the season as the philharmonic concerts at the Pavilion." Why, you'll even find "...Gregory Prothero, M.C., in stripes worthy of a Hokey Pokey cart.* And Cribb's hilarious entry into the story at Brills has got to be one of the greatest 'author-winking-at-readers' I've encountered. This story MUST be told in a seaside resort: a great example of atmosphere and story melding.
CRIME - 4: Moscrop is a peeping tom. Lovesey plays it for laughs till there is a murder, then another. And both are rather original in their own way.
INVESTIGATION - 4: Moscrop and his telescopes see much too much, Cribb does ask the oddest questions.
RESOLUTION - 4; There is a twist. And another. And a rather macabre ending. Is there a "Brighton: Part 2"?
SUMMARY - 4.2. Read this for laughs AND for a very good murder mystery. Lovesey simply is fun to read. It's the PLACE, though, that reigns here.
*Repeat 10 times a day. Just cause. I've a feeling it's meaningless.
And he's a snob also as he quickly passes through the lower class residential section of Brighton where "
May 25, 2013
I've enjoyed the Peter Diamond mysteries by Peter Lovesey and when I found MAD HATTER'S HOLIDAY: A Sargeant Cribb Investigation at Half-Price books I decided to try it. It was different. It took almost half of the book before anything dastardly took place. It is 1882 in Victorian England and everyone has gone to Brighton for holiday. Mr. Albert Moscrop runs an optical shop in London and his favorite past time while on holiday is to people watch -- with his lens'. He becomes intrigued with the Prothero family to the point of following them. One day a severed arm is found in the alligator habitat at the aquarium. Enter Seargeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray. Wonderful descriptions of walking along the boardwalk, enjoying the sea air, bathing machines, the different classes ... a study of Victorian England. The mystery part was okay (easy to figure out) and the ending interesting. Different!
March 22, 2017
This is an odd little story published over forty years ago but because the author is one of my favourites, I figured it was worth trying it as one of this series.
A typically suppressed, obsessive and rather vain little Victorian man, Albert Moscrop is convinced that spending his Brighton holiday "testing" the science of his various optical instruments, their designs and accuracy justifies his actual peeping-tom pursuits. His life is limited to this dangerously narrow hobby (and thus his "madness"?) implying all the isolation and peculiar perceptions he owns could easily lead to further more aggressively illegal results.
As the tale trickles on, the assumptions Moscrop makes through his prolonged snooping activities inevitably involve him in what turns out to be the slow reveal of a domestic tragedy that typically must be covered up for the sake of everyone's reputation.
The glacial pace could irritate some. Had the writing not been as good as Lovesey's usual standard I would have bailed and moved on. As it is, the actual puzzle itself wasn't so unusual. Consequently, the length of this novel's tooth betrays its age and that has nothing to do with the Victorian setting. However it does have everything to do with what a writer could get away with publishing back in the 1970s and the pace of story telling we all expect today four decades later.
Finally, while I see the trendy leverage in the title, I still am mystified over it's relevance. Moscrop sells optics not hats...so what gives? or am I being too obtuse?
A typically suppressed, obsessive and rather vain little Victorian man, Albert Moscrop is convinced that spending his Brighton holiday "testing" the science of his various optical instruments, their designs and accuracy justifies his actual peeping-tom pursuits. His life is limited to this dangerously narrow hobby (and thus his "madness"?) implying all the isolation and peculiar perceptions he owns could easily lead to further more aggressively illegal results.
As the tale trickles on, the assumptions Moscrop makes through his prolonged snooping activities inevitably involve him in what turns out to be the slow reveal of a domestic tragedy that typically must be covered up for the sake of everyone's reputation.
The glacial pace could irritate some. Had the writing not been as good as Lovesey's usual standard I would have bailed and moved on. As it is, the actual puzzle itself wasn't so unusual. Consequently, the length of this novel's tooth betrays its age and that has nothing to do with the Victorian setting. However it does have everything to do with what a writer could get away with publishing back in the 1970s and the pace of story telling we all expect today four decades later.
Finally, while I see the trendy leverage in the title, I still am mystified over it's relevance. Moscrop sells optics not hats...so what gives? or am I being too obtuse?
June 20, 2009
Alfred Moscrop is looking forward to his holiday at Brighton. Like many other middle class Victorians, his two week stay by the sea is the high point of his summer.
But Moscrop has an unusual hobby. Today we might call him a Peeping Tom, but he would describe himself as an "optical enthusiast." He enjoys trying out his newest telescope on the bathers. He's not really looking for sexual secrets, he's just sort of, well, peeping. (Which honestly, how many of us do? You know, taking a look in someone's window as you drive by.)
This time, his spying has gotten him involved a little too deeply. He sees a remarkably beautiful woman. He can't help wanting to know about her. He follows her. He spies on her. He follows her stepson, her maid, her husband. And the more he watches, the more he gets tangled up in her life. He contrives a meeting with the family. He's convinced she's in the victim of a plot by her cheating husband. He sees himself as a rescuer.
What I enjoyed about this book was that I really couldn't tell where the story was going. Is Moscrop to be trusted? Is the woman? Are any of the characters really who they seem?
This is from a series featuring Victorian detectives Sergeant Cribb and was on the PBS show Mystery! But it wasn't quite like the others I had read in the series. I don't want to give too much away, so let me say that I really enjoyed it. There were some loose ends at the end of the book, but it felt like a realistic conclusion. Well done.
But Moscrop has an unusual hobby. Today we might call him a Peeping Tom, but he would describe himself as an "optical enthusiast." He enjoys trying out his newest telescope on the bathers. He's not really looking for sexual secrets, he's just sort of, well, peeping. (Which honestly, how many of us do? You know, taking a look in someone's window as you drive by.)
This time, his spying has gotten him involved a little too deeply. He sees a remarkably beautiful woman. He can't help wanting to know about her. He follows her. He spies on her. He follows her stepson, her maid, her husband. And the more he watches, the more he gets tangled up in her life. He contrives a meeting with the family. He's convinced she's in the victim of a plot by her cheating husband. He sees himself as a rescuer.
What I enjoyed about this book was that I really couldn't tell where the story was going. Is Moscrop to be trusted? Is the woman? Are any of the characters really who they seem?
This is from a series featuring Victorian detectives Sergeant Cribb and was on the PBS show Mystery! But it wasn't quite like the others I had read in the series. I don't want to give too much away, so let me say that I really enjoyed it. There were some loose ends at the end of the book, but it felt like a realistic conclusion. Well done.
March 11, 2021
The beginning almost put me off, since Mr. Moberly came across as a voyeur of the worst sort, but things smoothed out a little as we got into the Brighton holiday. The date is 1882 so we are reminded of the sensibilities of the time: the respect for ladies, the separation of classes, the use of bathing machines, the separation of the sexes on the beach, and the need for introductions before speaking to anyone.
Mr. Moberly sells telescopes and binoculars from his London shop, good quality ones since he mentions his Zeiss lenses, and he takes his holidays at the seaside where he can test his work. It appears that he watches attractive women through those lenses and imagines what speaking to them would be like. He also enjoys being in crowds in London where he is part of the populace. There is no question but that he does have considerable insecurity where people are concerned.
He is tracking a towel through the Aquarium when he arrives at the newly opened crocodile cavern, or as the Brighton paper later describes it "the saurian display", when he realises that his towel holder is right there holding a young child up above the wall of the croc tank, an action that disturbs the child's nursemaid. Mr. Moberly does not think well of the young man's actions.
The next morning a visitor to the aquarium reports spotting a human hand wedged against the glass of the croc tank. Sgt. Cribb and Const. Thackeray are sent down from London to investigate this most unfortunate event.
We meet Dr. and Mrs. Prothero, his 15 year old son Guy, their two year old son Jason and Jason's nursemaid Bridget. The plot goes through a number of twists, well thought out for the most part, and Lovesey does not hide information, but you do have to remain alert (we all know the world needs more lerts).
The writing is good and Lovesey gives us the feeling that he knows Brighton of the 1880s well. If you know Pride and Prejudice you will feel familiar with the return of the regiment even though there are 80 years between the two books.
The ending is certainly not what I had expected but was a reasonably satisfactory conclusion to the case.
Mr. Moberly sells telescopes and binoculars from his London shop, good quality ones since he mentions his Zeiss lenses, and he takes his holidays at the seaside where he can test his work. It appears that he watches attractive women through those lenses and imagines what speaking to them would be like. He also enjoys being in crowds in London where he is part of the populace. There is no question but that he does have considerable insecurity where people are concerned.
He is tracking a towel through the Aquarium when he arrives at the newly opened crocodile cavern, or as the Brighton paper later describes it "the saurian display", when he realises that his towel holder is right there holding a young child up above the wall of the croc tank, an action that disturbs the child's nursemaid. Mr. Moberly does not think well of the young man's actions.
The next morning a visitor to the aquarium reports spotting a human hand wedged against the glass of the croc tank. Sgt. Cribb and Const. Thackeray are sent down from London to investigate this most unfortunate event.
We meet Dr. and Mrs. Prothero, his 15 year old son Guy, their two year old son Jason and Jason's nursemaid Bridget. The plot goes through a number of twists, well thought out for the most part, and Lovesey does not hide information, but you do have to remain alert (we all know the world needs more lerts).
The writing is good and Lovesey gives us the feeling that he knows Brighton of the 1880s well. If you know Pride and Prejudice you will feel familiar with the return of the regiment even though there are 80 years between the two books.
The ending is certainly not what I had expected but was a reasonably satisfactory conclusion to the case.
July 9, 2009
First Sentence: Brighton this year!
Albert Moscrop sells fine telescopes and binoculars. He is on holiday in Brighton, assessing the quality of some instruments he has brought when him watching others on holiday. He is becomes fascinated by a young woman and arranges to make her acquaintance. The more he gets to know her and her family, the more distasteful things he learns.
When the woman disappears and a dismembered body is uncovered, he contacts the police. Sargeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray on are the case.
Although written in 1973, this is a gem of a Victorian-era book. Lovesey has captured the societal restrictions as well as the richness and formality of the language of the time. Where else does a character admire the perpendicularity of a pier. I loved Cribb’s analogy of the pier to the city, being all sparking and fresh on top while slimy with weeds and black water underneath.
The story is very much plot driven, and well-plotted it is with some very good twists along with way. This was the fist Lovesey I had read, but it is not going to be my last.
THE MAD HATTER’S HOLIDAY (Pol. Proc-Sgt. Cribb-England-1882/Vict) – VG
Lovesey, Peter – 4tht in series
Soho Constable, 1973, Trade paperback – ISBN: 9781569475607
Albert Moscrop sells fine telescopes and binoculars. He is on holiday in Brighton, assessing the quality of some instruments he has brought when him watching others on holiday. He is becomes fascinated by a young woman and arranges to make her acquaintance. The more he gets to know her and her family, the more distasteful things he learns.
When the woman disappears and a dismembered body is uncovered, he contacts the police. Sargeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray on are the case.
Although written in 1973, this is a gem of a Victorian-era book. Lovesey has captured the societal restrictions as well as the richness and formality of the language of the time. Where else does a character admire the perpendicularity of a pier. I loved Cribb’s analogy of the pier to the city, being all sparking and fresh on top while slimy with weeds and black water underneath.
The story is very much plot driven, and well-plotted it is with some very good twists along with way. This was the fist Lovesey I had read, but it is not going to be my last.
THE MAD HATTER’S HOLIDAY (Pol. Proc-Sgt. Cribb-England-1882/Vict) – VG
Lovesey, Peter – 4tht in series
Soho Constable, 1973, Trade paperback – ISBN: 9781569475607
November 12, 2018
Käsi krokotiilialtaassa on kiehtova aikamatka 1880-luvun englantilaiseen kylpyläkaupunkiin. Tapahtumien keskipisteessä on herra Moscrop, joka on tavattoman kiinnostunut muiden ihmisten yksityisasioista ja viettää päivänsä tarkkailemalla kiikarilla rannalla loikoilevia ihmisiä. Nykyään tuollainen olisi kaiketi melko paheksuttavaa mutta tuolloin ilmeisesti kohtuullisen harmitonta huvia. Krokotiilialtaasta löytyvä käsi sekoittaa yllättäen leppoisan rantaelämän, ja herra Moscrop huomaa olevansa tärkeä todistaja.
August 7, 2010
I'm reading Peter Lovesey's Sergeant Cribbs' Victorian era mysteries. The earliest ones have been okay, but nothing much to speak of. However, this one, which doesn't concentrate much on Sergeant Cribbs, but on one of the other characters is much more interesting and a better read. I really enjoyed it.
September 20, 2009
Unusual for this series of mysteries, Cribb and Thackery don't make their appearance until the commission of the crime, nearly half-way into the novel. The plot thickens with particularly deft sleight of hand as the scenes play out in very unexpected ways.
April 27, 2019
Murder in Victorian Brighton.
Read
February 1, 2024Mad Hatter's Holiday is the fourth in Peter Lovesey's Sergeant Cribb mystery series. The first half of the story, which is set in 1882, is seen from the point of view of Albert Moscrop who is in Brighton for his holidays. He spends his time watching people through his telescope and becomes enamoured with Zena Prothero, and uses various means to become closer to her and her family. Yes, he seems to be a bit of a weirdo, albeit a harmless one. Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray enter the story about half way through when a hand is discovered in a shark tank of a local aquarium.
Lovesey writes very enjoyable period mystery's, set before the turn of the century in England. I had previously read the first of his Albert Edward, Prince of Wales series, where the playboy Prince gets involved in various crimes. As per that novel, Mad Hatter's Holiday is well written and brings the flavour and colour of the times of which he writes.
The Sergeant Cribb novels were filmed and broadcast as part of the television series Mystery! on PBS by WGBH-TV Boston. The series broadcast original programmes specially made for the show as well as running other series such as Jeremy Brett's version of Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Morse.
Lovesey is still alive at the age of 87 and still writing, with his last novel, Showstopper which is part of his Peter Diamond novel series, being released in 2022. Lovesey is an above average mystery writer and this is a good example. Highly recommended.
Oh, and I've just discovered that the series is available on You Tube! Will be watching them I reckon. Starting with the version of this story.
Lovesey writes very enjoyable period mystery's, set before the turn of the century in England. I had previously read the first of his Albert Edward, Prince of Wales series, where the playboy Prince gets involved in various crimes. As per that novel, Mad Hatter's Holiday is well written and brings the flavour and colour of the times of which he writes.
The Sergeant Cribb novels were filmed and broadcast as part of the television series Mystery! on PBS by WGBH-TV Boston. The series broadcast original programmes specially made for the show as well as running other series such as Jeremy Brett's version of Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Morse.
Lovesey is still alive at the age of 87 and still writing, with his last novel, Showstopper which is part of his Peter Diamond novel series, being released in 2022. Lovesey is an above average mystery writer and this is a good example. Highly recommended.
Oh, and I've just discovered that the series is available on You Tube! Will be watching them I reckon. Starting with the version of this story.
December 26, 2023
I found this fourth book in the Sergeant Cribb series something of a disappointment. Cribb and Thackery do not make an appearance until half way through. The depiction of the the holiday town at this time was well described, as I had always been told. The cheap holiday makers leaving and the upmarket people taking their places.
We follow what can be described as a people watcher, maybe this is caused by him being a purveyor of very valuable telescope lens, but he definitely enjoys it. He continually watches a woman and her family, and finds a way of introducing himself to her by means of her young child. This obsession becomes somewhat unhealthy as he is convinced her husband, a doctor is going to kill her. When parts of a body are found, he reports his convictions to the police, and this is where Scotland
Yard detectives are called in.
From here the story gets more complicated, so making the book more interesting
We follow what can be described as a people watcher, maybe this is caused by him being a purveyor of very valuable telescope lens, but he definitely enjoys it. He continually watches a woman and her family, and finds a way of introducing himself to her by means of her young child. This obsession becomes somewhat unhealthy as he is convinced her husband, a doctor is going to kill her. When parts of a body are found, he reports his convictions to the police, and this is where Scotland
Yard detectives are called in.
From here the story gets more complicated, so making the book more interesting
July 7, 2017
An enjoyable entry in Lovesey's Sgt Cribb series, set in Victorian England. This book takes place at the seaside resort of Brighton and involves a doctor and his family, including his wife and their son, his older son from a previous marriage, and the nursemaid for the younger son. It begins with an overly-long prelude revolving around a rather eccentric visitor to Brighton who is "an optics enthusiast". In fact this prelude, in setting up the mystery takes up half the book. The murder and its solution become almost a minor afterthought in consequence. An interesting story, but not up to Lovesey's usual standards, I believe.
September 19, 2021
Holidaying in Brighton, Albert Moscrop is keen to try out his new telescope where can watch discreetly other people's business. By chance he meets a person he has watched, Zena Prothero who lives an unhappy life with her husband. When she vanishes and parts of a body are found in and around Brighton he contacts the police. While Peter Lovesey brings a vivid picture of Victorian Brighton he wastes half the book with the boring Moscrop. Cribb and Thackeray's introduction moves the book out of first gear with the writer making some clever plot developments to give a satisfactory conclussion.
October 8, 2023
A short read this and one I chanced upon in a local free library type thing, anyhow it's a detective fiction type thing which evokes a past era quite well.
The main character of this book is kind of creepy in many ways his voyeuristic stick ..well it's not aged well and as he's in many ways the force for good it makes for an unusual read.
It's good fun mind you and I would read others in this series as and when I chance upon them.
It's a take of murder in the seaside resort of Brighton..I won't say much as it is as I say a short book so even a brief synopsis of it might give too much away.
The main character of this book is kind of creepy in many ways his voyeuristic stick ..well it's not aged well and as he's in many ways the force for good it makes for an unusual read.
It's good fun mind you and I would read others in this series as and when I chance upon them.
It's a take of murder in the seaside resort of Brighton..I won't say much as it is as I say a short book so even a brief synopsis of it might give too much away.
February 9, 2017
I had actually ordered Thomas Moran’s „Water, carry me“ and erroneously received this insipid little book.
I don’t understand how the author managed to win those “Dagger Awards” – he needs half the book to just get his lame story started, which then turns out to be almost totally lacking in suspense and atmosphere.
I don’t understand how the author managed to win those “Dagger Awards” – he needs half the book to just get his lame story started, which then turns out to be almost totally lacking in suspense and atmosphere.
March 14, 2022
Classic Who Done It
Another installment in the Sergeant Cribb of Scotland Yard series. In this book, Cribb is called to Brighton to investigate an unknown woman's death and dismemberment. Parts of the victim were buried on the beach and her hand was found in a crocodile exhibit. There are plenty of red herrings to keep a reader guessing.
Another installment in the Sergeant Cribb of Scotland Yard series. In this book, Cribb is called to Brighton to investigate an unknown woman's death and dismemberment. Parts of the victim were buried on the beach and her hand was found in a crocodile exhibit. There are plenty of red herrings to keep a reader guessing.
August 27, 2024
A crime procedural that is odd in that the criminal investigation begins very late in the book. It is rare that the detective is introduced after the half-way point!
A glimpse into Victorian England and the joys of a holiday by-the-sea.
I found this book at a Street Library and to a Street Library I returned it.
A glimpse into Victorian England and the joys of a holiday by-the-sea.
I found this book at a Street Library and to a Street Library I returned it.
April 13, 2026
One of the things I love about Lovesey’s mysteries and particularly the inspector Cribb series so far is an exploration of an interesting hobby particular to the late 1800s, and a mystery that seems straightforward at first and then throws you for a loop several times. Mad Hatters Holiday does a great job with all these reversals, and as usual has a dry wit to add to the enjoyment.
December 14, 2020
Being my first Cribbs mystery novel, I enjoyed it. I liked how it starts with character development and the inter-crossing storylines before diving into the murder mystery to be solved. Definitely recommend for anyone who enjoys the game Clue.
October 15, 2024
Oops. I’ve read a few of his books. All of which I gave at least a 4 or 5. I almost stopped reading it, and I wish I had, too slow moving. I think I’ll try another of his books a. While later, and if it starts out as draggy, I will relegate it to my did not finish stack.
September 12, 2019
Was habe ich aus diesem Buch mitgenommen? Es kann sehr spannend sein sich in große Menschenmassen zu begeben und Leute zu beobachten. Man macht das viel zu selten.
August 25, 2022
Slow paced making you feel that you were in the period, good descriptions of Brighton and surrounding areas
June 14, 2025
My first Sergeant Cribbs, and I must say that overall I enjoyed it and look forward to more.
The plot, as is often true with this genre, at times asked for more of a suspension of disbelief than I was willing to give but the characters and in particular the historical setting carried me along to a satisfying conclusion.
The plot, as is often true with this genre, at times asked for more of a suspension of disbelief than I was willing to give but the characters and in particular the historical setting carried me along to a satisfying conclusion.
February 12, 2010
In 1882 the Brighton Beach Resort is a beautiful place to visit, relax, and do some sightseeing; at least that’s what Albert Moscrop was hoping to find. Through his sightseeing and wonderings about the resort, Moscrop finds himself slowly becoming fascinated by a family of vacationers, the Protheros. As Moscrop becomes more acquainted with the Protheros, he becomes inadvertently involved in a gruesome murder that sends the whole town of Brighton into an uproar. In the shock of this horrible murder, Scotland Yard is called, and they send in Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray. As the two begin to investigate, it becomes clear that this will be one of the most challenging, and definitely strange, cases they’ve ever had.
Follow Cribb and Thackeray on another adventure of baffling proportions. This story will keep you turning the pages and you won’t want to put it down until everything’s resolved. Another excellent Victorian-era mystery from an author who does the genre so well.
www.suspensemagazine.com
Follow Cribb and Thackeray on another adventure of baffling proportions. This story will keep you turning the pages and you won’t want to put it down until everything’s resolved. Another excellent Victorian-era mystery from an author who does the genre so well.
www.suspensemagazine.com
June 21, 2013
This fourth crime novel in the Sergeant Cribb series catches perfectly the social atmosphere of Victorian Brighton and tells an ingenious story of murder. The year is 1882 and Albert Moscrop is visiting the seaside resort on his vacation from London. He has brought several telescopes from his shop and spends his time watching people. He spots a woman with her two sons and continues to watch them. He meets her when her younger son wanders away and he brings him back. He meets the Prothero family and follows the husband to an assignation with a beautiful red haired woman. A sensational murder brings Sergeant Cribb onto the scene with his partner from Scotland Yard, Thackeray. A woman's hand is found in a alligator tank and the rest of the body is found buried in pieces on the beach. Cribb suspects the husband when Prothero's son dies suddenly while dining with his father. When he learns that the son is connected with the death of the woman buried on the beach, he must use all his investigating powers to prove the crimes are connected.
November 3, 2015
I've just been watching the TV series Cribb and decided to check out the books it's based on. I already knew who the murderer was going to be, but this was an interesting read all the same. The level of background detail in these books, set in the late Victorian era, is quite remarkable and sets the scene and atmosphere very well. In this particular case, the background is the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton, a woman has been found chopped up to pieces, and Cribb has to figure out not only who killed her, but who she is in the first place.
September 3, 2012
Peter Lovesey was one of those writers who I saw recommended on somebody's list of good historical mysteries and so I thought I'd give him a go. I'd never heard of him before, and was not quite sure what to expect. At first, I was disappointed and almost put the book down but gradually the story tightened its hold abotu me and I began to enjoy it. The twist at the end was very clever, and rewarded me for my patience and persistence. A quiet, yet sophisticated, old-fashioned murder mystery ... I'll probably hunt down more of his work.
November 6, 2013
This is an odd book. The famous Sergeant Cribb isn't even mentioned until page 147. We get instead a Proustian description of a not-quite-voyeur trying to get close to a woman. Halfway through the book, no one's dead yet.
Don't read the blurb on the back. It gives away details that I'm sure the author would have preferred to withhold.
Eventually, we find out how the people all fit together, who's dead, and finally who dun it and why.
Slow-paced, but an interesting variation on the theme. And credit for an excellent look at life in Brighton in 1882.
Don't read the blurb on the back. It gives away details that I'm sure the author would have preferred to withhold.
Eventually, we find out how the people all fit together, who's dead, and finally who dun it and why.
Slow-paced, but an interesting variation on the theme. And credit for an excellent look at life in Brighton in 1882.
March 29, 2016
A somewhat predictable murder mystery set in Brighton. None of the characters were particularly likeable including the recurring Sargeant Cribb. Presumably readers have had a more thorough introduction to this character in earlier books. Lacking history with him myself, he did nothing for me. The book did make me want to visit Brighton.
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