The Doors Open

Inspector Hazlerigg #3

by Michael Gilbert

Life had been good for Paddy Yeatman-Carter. First-class Rugby and good beer at eightpence a pint before the war; during the war, command of the finest regiment in the British Army. But peace-time life as a clerk was more than a bit dim--until he saw an attempted suicide and decided to intervene. That act of good nature cost him his job and plunged him into the deepest intrigues of the City, where he and his friends walked in the shadow of death.

Genres: Mystery, Procedural

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Born in Lincolnshire in 1912, Michael Francis Gilbert was educated in Sussex before entering the University of London where he gained an LLB with honours in 1937. Gilbert was a founding member of the British Crime Writers Association, and in 1988 he was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America - an achievement many thought long overdue. He won the Life Achievement Anthony Award at the 1990 Boucheron in London, and in 1980 he was knighted as a Commander in the Order of the British Empire. Gilbert made his debut in 1947 with Close Quarters, and since then has become recognized as one of our most versatile British mystery writers.

He was the father of Harriett Gilbert.

Reviews

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nicely convoluted mystery involving financial skullduggery and murder. Set in London c 1949-59, the Cold War is in its early years and the worry about communists hiding in high places is quite real.
As Gilbert had done in a number of books, this was not written as a straight police procedural. A good deal of the investigating was done by our amateur sleuths, who shared their info with the police and vice versa. Inspector Hazlerigg played a major role, but has only a modest time on the pages.

I really liked our two young male protagonists--Nap Rumbold(junior lawyer) and Paddy Yeatman-Carter(chartered accountant). And I loved Nap's uncle, Alfred, Lord Cedarbrook. The three of them made a good team. In addition to the various bits of physical action, Gilbert managed to work in a tense courtroom scene. This scene led to a thrilling final chase, which ended in a most spectacular fashion.

I enjoyed this book very much; Gilbert is a great story teller. I am fortunate to have access to the Pratt Library in Baltimore, a treasure trove of older books that they manage to keep in circulation. No need to scour used book stores or buy pricey reprints; simply borrow from the library! And that's just what I did.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

GR reviewer Stabenow calls this a "gem of crime fiction," and I totally agree. This is my second Gilbert book, which I had to get from a library downstate, so his titles are not widely available. Worth the wait. I loved Nap and his father in the first one I read (Death Has Deep Roots), and this was mentioned in the introduction to that book as having Nap as a character. This is definitely from the Golden Age of Mystery Writers time (published in 1949) and I highly recommend Gilbert as an author to my mystery-reading friends who also like cozies. I think it is not necessary to read them in order.

The characters are all very real and personable, even with their flaws, and the plot is very interesting and has interesting twists and turns. The setting in post WWII England also adds to the ambience of setting. Highly recommended.

Reread as I did not remember much about it. Even then the resolution was not in my memory. What came back to me was how convoluted the business aspects of the book were. I still like Nap as a character, tho. This second reading made the complexity of the plot and characters more obvious, and not all readers would enjoy.

[Peter Tillman]

An old British mystery series that Dana Stabenow likes a lot:
"Another little gem of crime fiction by Michael Gilbert, he of The Night of the Twelfth and Fear to Tread and The Long Journey Home and The Queen Against Karl Mullen and so many more titles. If you haven’t heard of him, you have a long and happy reading time in front of you."
https://stabenow.com/2020/03/23/paddy...

She's been a pretty reliable book-guide for me. TBR, high-priority. Not at any of our libraries, 7/14/23

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Michael Gilbert. The publication date is 1962 and the plot is rooted in the Cold War attitude toward Communism which makes the ideas seem a little dated. The saving grace is the "bad guy" may be a Communist, but his evil is rooted not in political idealism, but in the need for revenge for an ignominy he has suffered. Gilbert is a good story teller, but in this book, he needs to remember that some things are just exposition, and you don't need to spend pages and pages telling the backstory. Also stories that are based in financial fraud make me yawn when the permutations of the scam are convoluted and hard to follow. So, there were too many characters (though I really enjoyed the main characters themselves), the plot is difficult, and in short, the book needed a really firm editor.

[Jacqueline Vick]

Michael Gilbert is one of those masters of the traditional British detective novel. In "The Doors Open", he brings together a nice mix of amateurs and professionals. The story revolves around Paddy Yeatman-Carter, a returned soldier with average brains who talks a man out of committing suicide. The next morning, the man is dead, and Paddy doesn't buy the suicide angle. By asking questions, he is pulled deeper and deeper into a tangle of lies, conspiracies and death. The inspector, Hazlerigg, doesn't have much to do, as most of the investigating seems to be carried out by Paddy, his friend, Nap, and Nap's Uncle, Lord Cedarbrook, (from MI5, of course). As with many books written in this time, (1949) the romance is light and the story ends on an abrupt note. I really enjoyed this book.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hazlerigg said "I don't think I've ever known a more curious case. Consider this. It opened, so far as we were concerned, six months ago, when Britten went into the Thames at Staines. For five and a half out of these six months we've had practically nothing to go on at all. At times, I haven't been sure there was a case...

This was a very intriguing and thrilling mystery. Michael Gilbert certainly knew how to write a good story.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Michael Gilbert book! I love his earlier books with Chief Inspector Hazlerigg. :-)

I got a great old copy (probably first edition) through MELCat. I love everything about it!

The book talks a lot about the war records, friendships and reputations of various characters. The villain is a Communist!

Great characters - Paddy & Patricia, Nap & Jenny, Chief Inspector Hazlerigg, and more!

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed that characters that I have come across in other books in this "series" are coming together in different ways. Enjoyed this mystery/thriller. It didn't go where I thought it would so that is always fun. Can't wait to read more and glad I was introduced to this author.

[Pgchuis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had a strong post WWII setting and engaging heroes in Paddy and Nap, although it did all get a bit political and complex. Very right-wing good, left-wing bad.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun set of characters, with the assistance of Hazelrigg undo the villan. McCann appears as does another wonderfully bold character, Lord Cedearbrook.

The story starts with a man seeing another man about to commit suicide so talks with him and hopes he has succeeded in talking him out of it. But the next morning, he finds the man has died. The discrepancies eat at him and it is in this tenuous lead, that the story of a greater crime's undoing begins.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good until all of a sudden one of the characters went undercover...then he lost me.