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Pollard & Toye #6
Let or hindrance
Another thrilling mystery for Pollard & Toye to solve! Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, M C Beaton, Sophie Hannah and Faith Martin.Someone in the village is lying…The summer letting of exclusive St Julitta’s School to Horner’s Holidays caused a rift between the governor’s. The money was welcome, but they didn’t want any old ‘riffraff’ contaminating their public image.But when a girl’s body is found just outside the grounds, more than just their reputation is at stake.It is soon clear that one of the residents must be the killer.With his aunt being one of the school governor’s, Detective Superintendent Pollard is called in to help, along with his partner, Detective Sergeant Toye.Is someone from Horner’s Holidays involved? Can they narrow down the suspects?For the two inspectors, there is No Vacation From Murder…No Vacation From Murder is the sixth cosy village mystery in the Pollard & Toye crime an intriguing police procedural set in rural England.'Meticulously plotted and time-tabled whodunnit, perfect for insomniacs' – Sunday Telegraph'A mystery which is a real treat ... irresistible reading' – Los Angeles Times'In the best Agatha Christie tradition' – ArgosyTHE POLLARD & TOYE INVESTIGATIONS SERIESBook Death of an Old GirlBook The Affacombe AffairBook Alibi for a CorpseBook Death on DoomsdayBook Cyanide With ComplimentsBook No Vacation From MurderBook Buried in the PastBook Step in the DarkBook Unhappy ReturnsBook Suddenly While GardeningBook Change for the WorseBook Nothing to Do with the CaseBook Troubled WatersBook The Wheel TurnsBook Light Through GlassBook Who Goes Home?Book The Glade Manor Murder
185 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 18, 2025
Life is busier than usual at St. Julitta's School in Kittitoe during the summer holidays. Normally, they lease the grounds for just one session, but this year the board of governors have been convinced to let the school to Horner's Holidays for one of the company's Horner Discovery Fortnights. Previous visits to the area had found the Discovery retreat at a hotel in nearby Biddle Bay, but a fire had caused enough damage to the hotel to prevent its use. The board was unsure at first, but the fee that Horner's was willing to pay was definitely a deciding factor. The naysayers were afraid that there might be unwanted publicity associated with the venture. After all, Horner's is "so commercial." But the educational aspects of the Discovery Fortnights also helped win the day. The retreat provides an opportunity for adults to engage in outdoor and recreational interests, such as amateur archaeology, botanical exploration, and British architecture.
So, late summer finds 80-90 visitors descending upon St. Julitta's. Marcia Makepeace, Domestic Bursar for the school, is fully prepared--accommodations ready, meals planned, staff on duty (extra pay packets!). Horner's guiding lights and instructors arrive first: Michael Jay, Paul and Janice King, Susan Crump, and Geoffrey Boothby. Nearby, is Eddy Horner, founder and owner of the firm. He has recently become a grandfather and his daughter Penny Townsend and new grandson are staying with him in "Uncharted Seas," his bungalow on the coast. His son-in-law works in London and comes down on weekends and a relation of his first wife's Wendy Shaw, is on hand to provide nursing support for Penny and the baby. Wendy is training to be a nursery nurse and is a quiet and serious girl.
On the first evening of the Fortnight Horner invites the Discovery staff and Marcia to his bungalow for a small reception. Everyone gets a tour of the made-to-order bungalow and the women are all invited to admire the new grandson. The Discovery Fortnight is off to a swinging start. Everything goes well until the last evening. There is a massive rainstorm. There is a huge glitch in the timing of the final bus tour which puts the entire farewell program behind. After a lavish final dinner, there is a showing of the Discovery Fortnight film. Paul King always takes video of all of the lectures and outings during the Fortnight and shows an edited final version that is a big hit. Due to the late return from the bus tour, he's not sure he'll get the final edits made in time...but after filling in with a previously-made film on birds in the area, the big show is ready.
As things are wrapping up, Marcia is called to the phone. Eddy Horner is a bit upset. He and his daughter had gone to the train station to meet his son-in-law leaving Wendy in charge of the baby at home. The train was late (what a day for lateness!) and when they got back to the bungalow, there was no sign of Wendy. Her coat and purse are gone as well and Eddy wants to know, "Was young Wendy Shaw at your place this evening?" Even though both Eddy and Marcia (who talked with the quiet young girl that evening at the bungalow) don't believe she would have abandoned the baby, the police believe she must have taken off with a man. But then...her strangled body is found at the seaside end of a blowhole near the school and Superintendent Tom Pollard and Sergeant Toye arrive from Scotland Yard to take up the investigation. The more they learn about Wendy, the more they realize that Eddy and Marcia were right--the young woman wouldn't normally have abandoned a baby in her charge. So, what could have happened to cause her to do so? And why would anyone have needed to kill her? Motives are pretty thin on the ground, but Pollard doesn't believe this was a random killing or a theft gone wrong. Proving that and finding the evidence to convict is going to be pretty tricky, though.
The Pollard and Toye books are good, solid police procedurals with fully realized characters. Even those characters, like Wendy's mother, who appear briefly come to life during their short appearance. Pollard and Toye have a nice dynamic and work well together and Pollard is an intuitive investigator who adapts his questioning style to fit the person he's interviewing. He's able to handle the neurotic Mrs. Shaw and the intense, in-charge Eddy Horner with equal ease.
I did spot the culprit, though I didn't pick up on the various instances of emphasis that should have told me the motive. That's all I lacked to complete the case. I was very suspicious of the apparent alibi and was not surprised when Pollard saw how to get round it. Those who are swifter on the uptake than me might figure out what the culprit was really after and why Wendy had to die.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
So, late summer finds 80-90 visitors descending upon St. Julitta's. Marcia Makepeace, Domestic Bursar for the school, is fully prepared--accommodations ready, meals planned, staff on duty (extra pay packets!). Horner's guiding lights and instructors arrive first: Michael Jay, Paul and Janice King, Susan Crump, and Geoffrey Boothby. Nearby, is Eddy Horner, founder and owner of the firm. He has recently become a grandfather and his daughter Penny Townsend and new grandson are staying with him in "Uncharted Seas," his bungalow on the coast. His son-in-law works in London and comes down on weekends and a relation of his first wife's Wendy Shaw, is on hand to provide nursing support for Penny and the baby. Wendy is training to be a nursery nurse and is a quiet and serious girl.
On the first evening of the Fortnight Horner invites the Discovery staff and Marcia to his bungalow for a small reception. Everyone gets a tour of the made-to-order bungalow and the women are all invited to admire the new grandson. The Discovery Fortnight is off to a swinging start. Everything goes well until the last evening. There is a massive rainstorm. There is a huge glitch in the timing of the final bus tour which puts the entire farewell program behind. After a lavish final dinner, there is a showing of the Discovery Fortnight film. Paul King always takes video of all of the lectures and outings during the Fortnight and shows an edited final version that is a big hit. Due to the late return from the bus tour, he's not sure he'll get the final edits made in time...but after filling in with a previously-made film on birds in the area, the big show is ready.
As things are wrapping up, Marcia is called to the phone. Eddy Horner is a bit upset. He and his daughter had gone to the train station to meet his son-in-law leaving Wendy in charge of the baby at home. The train was late (what a day for lateness!) and when they got back to the bungalow, there was no sign of Wendy. Her coat and purse are gone as well and Eddy wants to know, "Was young Wendy Shaw at your place this evening?" Even though both Eddy and Marcia (who talked with the quiet young girl that evening at the bungalow) don't believe she would have abandoned the baby, the police believe she must have taken off with a man. But then...her strangled body is found at the seaside end of a blowhole near the school and Superintendent Tom Pollard and Sergeant Toye arrive from Scotland Yard to take up the investigation. The more they learn about Wendy, the more they realize that Eddy and Marcia were right--the young woman wouldn't normally have abandoned a baby in her charge. So, what could have happened to cause her to do so? And why would anyone have needed to kill her? Motives are pretty thin on the ground, but Pollard doesn't believe this was a random killing or a theft gone wrong. Proving that and finding the evidence to convict is going to be pretty tricky, though.
The Pollard and Toye books are good, solid police procedurals with fully realized characters. Even those characters, like Wendy's mother, who appear briefly come to life during their short appearance. Pollard and Toye have a nice dynamic and work well together and Pollard is an intuitive investigator who adapts his questioning style to fit the person he's interviewing. He's able to handle the neurotic Mrs. Shaw and the intense, in-charge Eddy Horner with equal ease.
I did spot the culprit, though I didn't pick up on the various instances of emphasis that should have told me the motive. That's all I lacked to complete the case. I was very suspicious of the apparent alibi and was not surprised when Pollard saw how to get round it. Those who are swifter on the uptake than me might figure out what the culprit was really after and why Wendy had to die.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
January 28, 2024
Police procedural from the 1970s. A young babysitter is found murdered. Her employer is the owner of a package holiday company, and one of his groups happened to be lodging in a nearby school. The school staff, the guests, a couple of local characters, and the guides, organizers and lecturers of the tour group all come under suspicion. The resolution of the crime involves a lot of meticulous checking of alibis, whereabouts, phone calls and the like.
July 22, 2019
I think it is time to move on, for the time being, from this series. It's starting to feel like a well trodden path, the names of the locations and local police change whilst remaining very much the same. I was probably more irritated than I should have been when someone who was being spoken to in connection with the investigation suddenly became a suspect when Pollard "noticed a certain weakness about his chin". Seriously, this is a credible basis for following a line of enquiry? I guess the author didn't know her Macbeth or didn't subscribe to Duncan's view?
Time to move on I think though I expect to pick up the series again at a later date.
Time to move on I think though I expect to pick up the series again at a later date.
February 8, 2020
Fairly dated in language, relationships and style but then so am I. I enjoyed it. A good if undemanding read, a pleasant way of relaxing. I did recognise the key issue in the murder very quickly, but was not sure about identity until the end.
Although this falls into the crime or detective story genre and is about a police investigation I'd hesitate to call it a police procedural. True we are following the police here but the first 20% of the books is setting the scene and establishing the ethos of the various people. Even after the murder has been discovered the focus is as much on the characters as on the investigation.
Although this falls into the crime or detective story genre and is about a police investigation I'd hesitate to call it a police procedural. True we are following the police here but the first 20% of the books is setting the scene and establishing the ethos of the various people. Even after the murder has been discovered the focus is as much on the characters as on the investigation.
June 7, 2022
Three and a half stars: An easy-to-read entry in the series with two decent, intelligent investigators who deal with the death of a young woman in an English coastal town hosting a nature convention at a school empty for the summer.
I appreciate these books with maps of the area, and although you could infer from directions ("turned left on the Biddle Bay Road") where some locales were, I thought more places could have been added to the map. (I know, a little nit-picky).
P.S. Don't let the fact that this is Book 6 in the series deter you: there is no background plot points through the series you need to be aware of to enjoy each entry.
I appreciate these books with maps of the area, and although you could infer from directions ("turned left on the Biddle Bay Road") where some locales were, I thought more places could have been added to the map. (I know, a little nit-picky).
P.S. Don't let the fact that this is Book 6 in the series deter you: there is no background plot points through the series you need to be aware of to enjoy each entry.
June 21, 2021
By Book 6 of her Pollard & Toye series, it seems that Ms. Lemarchand was writing completely to a formula. Pollard and Toye and their circumstances never change, and the dependence on the timetable only increases. By the end of the book, I didn't care who killed the victim.
The books have a certain charm, and Ms. Lemarchand could turn a sentence, but I have the feeling that having read one, you've read them all.
Recommended if you are perhaps laid up with a cold.
The books have a certain charm, and Ms. Lemarchand could turn a sentence, but I have the feeling that having read one, you've read them all.
Recommended if you are perhaps laid up with a cold.
September 15, 2019
Enjoyed it once the investigation got started
Over all a very interesting plot and characters. I did think, though, that the board meeting in progress at the beginning of Ch 1 introduces a lot of names at once, hard to sort and remember.
If ever the book is redone, Chapter 1 could be condensed into a few bits of back story and the book started on the second chapter.
Over all a very interesting plot and characters. I did think, though, that the board meeting in progress at the beginning of Ch 1 introduces a lot of names at once, hard to sort and remember.
If ever the book is redone, Chapter 1 could be condensed into a few bits of back story and the book started on the second chapter.
November 4, 2019
Another Great Investigation!
Detective Superintendent Pollard and Detective Inspector Toye have another unusual murder to solve. With their usual thoroughness and intelligence, an unexpected conclusion is finally reached. These mysteries are very involved, detailed, and extremely satisfying for the dedicated reader!
Detective Superintendent Pollard and Detective Inspector Toye have another unusual murder to solve. With their usual thoroughness and intelligence, an unexpected conclusion is finally reached. These mysteries are very involved, detailed, and extremely satisfying for the dedicated reader!
October 13, 2020
Excellent
A nursery nurse is missing when the parents and grandparent return home, she is eventually found in a cave dead and has been strangled. The local police call in Scotland Yard and Chief Superintendent Pollard and Inspector Toye are sent to investigate. Follow the investigation to its climax, a thoroughly entertaining read.
A nursery nurse is missing when the parents and grandparent return home, she is eventually found in a cave dead and has been strangled. The local police call in Scotland Yard and Chief Superintendent Pollard and Inspector Toye are sent to investigate. Follow the investigation to its climax, a thoroughly entertaining read.
April 22, 2023
Was enjoying this book as an Agatha Christie style cozy mystery up until about 70% through, when the murderers were revealed and it became about how to catch them rather than figuring out who they were. That kinda bored me. Would read another book by this author in the hopes that it would be more of a traditional mystery all the way through.
September 5, 2019
Enjoy the series
Slightly different from the previous novels in the series. Well written and the lead characters are firmly set and fleshed out.
Slightly different from the previous novels in the series. Well written and the lead characters are firmly set and fleshed out.
September 9, 2019
Plot's a bit of a stretch, the boys [Pollard & Toye] make haste slowly in this one, and the ending was anyone's guess. Good writing. Characters just OK.
July 5, 2024
1971 - St Julitta's School is hosting the Horner Discovery Fortnight when on the last day a person goes missing who is later discovered murdered. Detectives Pollard and Toye investigate
An entertaining mystery with its likeable main characters.
Originally published 1973
An entertaining mystery with its likeable main characters.
Originally published 1973
February 26, 2021
Easy cosy procedural crime - perfect lockdown reading
February 12, 2017
Recently rediscovered Elizabeth Lemarchand's detective novels after enjoying them decades ago. If you love traditional English whodunits, don't miss this sadly, near-forgotten author. Her Chief Inspector Tom Pollard and Inspector Gregory Toye are a very likeable pair. Not mavericks with dysfunctional private lives, they're in the happily married Barnaby and Wexford mould.
'Let or Hindrance' is well-written with an attractive West Country coastal setting and interesting characters. The plot is an intriguing puzzle with a strong, believable motive. Set in the early 1970s, it's now a snapshot of social history and a pleasure to read about detection before present-day technology.
A very satisfying read. I'm so glad I found this in a second-hand bookshop and can't wait to track down the rest of the series. Perfect for fans of Caroline Graham, Ann Granger, Emma Page, Dorothy Simpson and co. Elizabeth Lemarchand should be back in print - at least as ebooks - for new generations to enjoy.
'Let or Hindrance' is well-written with an attractive West Country coastal setting and interesting characters. The plot is an intriguing puzzle with a strong, believable motive. Set in the early 1970s, it's now a snapshot of social history and a pleasure to read about detection before present-day technology.
A very satisfying read. I'm so glad I found this in a second-hand bookshop and can't wait to track down the rest of the series. Perfect for fans of Caroline Graham, Ann Granger, Emma Page, Dorothy Simpson and co. Elizabeth Lemarchand should be back in print - at least as ebooks - for new generations to enjoy.
December 24, 2019
Okay, Sapere Books, I need the rest of this series on Kindle soon!!!
This was another wonderful look into the investigation process as Pollard and Toye look into the murder of a young girl on a dark and stormy night. The case isn't easy. It's the summer holidays and the local school has hosted a discovery fortnight for a travel firm. The victim is a relative of the head of this travel firm who is helping out with his daughter and her infant not far from the school. So with nearly 100 bodies at the school (including staff and instructors) plus the school's board of governors, the CID has a real job on their hands. Not a lot of evidence. Lots of people to interview and figure out the truth versus the lies.
I really enjoy the whole investigative process as Pollard and Toye perform it. It's also a nice touch that they are able to put the local police at ease and get the help that they need instead of dealing with some sort of turf war.
This was another wonderful look into the investigation process as Pollard and Toye look into the murder of a young girl on a dark and stormy night. The case isn't easy. It's the summer holidays and the local school has hosted a discovery fortnight for a travel firm. The victim is a relative of the head of this travel firm who is helping out with his daughter and her infant not far from the school. So with nearly 100 bodies at the school (including staff and instructors) plus the school's board of governors, the CID has a real job on their hands. Not a lot of evidence. Lots of people to interview and figure out the truth versus the lies.
I really enjoy the whole investigative process as Pollard and Toye perform it. It's also a nice touch that they are able to put the local police at ease and get the help that they need instead of dealing with some sort of turf war.
April 17, 2016
Very good mystery series.
June 3, 2019
Bland.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews