Shelf Life

Masters and Green #16

by Douglas Clark

A gang of young vandals are let off by the magistrate with a warning. Naturally, the police are disappointed. That same night one of the youths is found drunk on the street, is put into a cell to sleep it off, and dies. A public outcry ensues when it's discovered that a policeman's daughter is pregnant, and the dead youth was the father. Chief Superintendent Masters and Chief Inspector Green of Scotland Yard are engaged for an independent invesitagion and to everyone's astonishment discover that the youth was murdered by a most unusual and startling form of poison...

Genres: Mystery

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Douglas Malcolm Jackson Clark was a British author.

He was also known by the pseudonyms James Ditton and Peter Hosier.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Colesworth police department have finally managed to haul in three teenaged vandals and have them brought before the magistrate court. But the women on the bench let the young hoodlums off with just a rather pointed warning. The arresting officer is disappointed. He's not the only one to leave court disappointed. Despite being let go, the vandals are none too pleased to have been read the riot act by those in authority and go off to meditate on their grievances. Joe Howlett, a local tramp who occasionally draws the attention of the law (on purpose) so he can get a bit of rest at Her Majesty's pleasure has been denied his regular room and board. The magistrates are on to his game and let him go with a warning as well. And, if he's brought before them again, they promise him that instead of a room at the gaol, he'll be assigned some work as community service. His day doesn't get any better when he goes off to his friendly fish and chips shop only to find that the owner is absent and his harridan of a daughter is in charge. She isn't about to waste the scraps and leftovers on a dirty, old layabout...and tells him so in no uncertain language. The desk sergeant (Watson) at the police station finds out that his daughter has been running around with Boyce--one of the young vandals. All of these disappointed and distressed lives are heading towards an event that will leave one dead and a cloud of suspicion over Colesworth's finest.

That evening Boyce is brought in roaring drunk and deposited in a cell to sleep it off. When Watson sends a fellow officer to check on the young man at midnight, Boyce is found to be dead. A reporter who got a bit of the brush-off from the police at the court happens to be on the spot when all the officials (police surgeon, Chief Constable, etc) show up to investigate and his nose for news leads him to the pertinent facts--a man the police wanted to put away and who has impregnated the sergeant's daughter has died while in police custody. The morning headlines are enough to give the Chief Constable and Inspector Snell (head of the Colesworth force) a headache or two.

They quickly decide to call on the Yard to do an outside investigation (and hopefully prevent any cries of "cover up!") and they specifically ask for Chief Superintendent Masters and his special investigative crew. Masters has a certain flair for the oddball cases. And this is certainly one--for the autopsy report shows that Boyce was poisoned. And not by your run-of-the-mill arsenic or strychnine...oh, no. How about a little gold sprinkled in your wine (make that a lot of gold)? An expensive death, indeed.

I always enjoy the Masters and Green series by Douglas Clark and Shelf Life is no different. The camaraderie and rapport of Masters' team is fun to watch and I enjoy watching Masters show the others how it's done. There is a hint of a feeling that Clark may be trying to complicate things and maybe pull a fast one, but the clues are laid out. I had no trouble figuring out how and once you know how, you've got the who. If you're looking for interesting characters and character interaction in a decent little police procedural from the early 1980s, then you will enjoy Clark's series of mysteries. Three and a half stars.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Doug Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

One night the police in Colesworth bring in young Norman Boyce, who has passed out on the street outside a pub, apparently drunk. They place him in a cell to sleep it off, but a little over an hour later, Boyce is dead.

The press is quick to blame the police for Boyce's death, even though they followed proper procedure in picking him up. The medical examiner finds that, in fact, Boyce had been poisoned. Local authorities ask Scotland Yard to conduct an independent investigation, hoping to exonerate the Colesworth police. They request that George Masters be chosen as investigator.

Who poisoned Boyce, and how? Masters and his team do their usual efficient job of finding out. As is also usual for this series, the details about the poisoning (with gold!) are interesting.

[Jennifer paton]

Masters and Green

Enjoy the well thought out storylines. The one disappointment I have is I have volume two but nowhere can I find volume one. Need Masters and Green to resolve that mystery too.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both Masters and Green do a turn at social work in Shelf Life, involving themselves in the rehabilitation of two local families. I don't get it either. Otherwise a decent, if long-winded, read.

[John Sargent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done. Good plot

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a death occurs in a police cell Scotland Yard is brought in, in the form of Masters and his team to ensure that the correct procedures occur.
An entertaining mystery

[Barry Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

The death of a young man in police custody has the locals and the press against the local police, especially as the young man had just been let off by the magistrates along with his two accomplices for house breaking. The local police feel they are too close to carry out the investigation for fear of the press headlines stating police corruption so they look for outside assistance. The result of the post mortem also found the young man was poisoned there is only one man for the job, DCS Masters and his team.

[Cynthia Grove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not one of the best in the series, at least not for this reader. It is, however, a good solid read.
9th July 21. Barely four months later I have re-read this and found highly enjoyable. Speaks volumes about the benefits of re-reading and of the degree to which daily circumstances and mood affect one's response to a book. Have upped the rating from 3 to 4 stars. Some great research appears in the book which always raises the book's satisfaction.