Coffin on the Water

John Coffin Mystery #18

by Gwendoline Butler

In 1946, a war-ravaged South London is being terrorized by a local menance, an unknown multiple murderer whom Scotland Yard's young detective John Coffin is determined to apprehend

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Fiction, Crime, British Literature, Procedural

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Gwendoline Williams Butler (aka Jennie Melville)

Gwendoline Williams was born on 19th August 1922 in South London, England, UK, daughter of Alice (Lee) and Alfred Edward Williams, her younger twin brothers are also authors. Educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read History, and later lectured there. On 16th October 1949, she married Dr Lionel Harry Butler (1923-1981), a professor of medieval history at University of St. Andrews and historian, Fellow of All Souls and Principal of Royal Holloway College. The marriage had a daughter, Lucilla Butler.

In 1956, she started to published John Coffin novels under her married name, Gwendoline Butler. In 1962, she decided used her grandmother's name, Jennie Melville as pseudonym to sign her Charmian Daniels novels. She was credited for inventing the "woman's police procedural". In addition to her mystery series, she also wrote romantic novels. In 1981, her novel The Red Staircase won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Les Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like the Coffin stories and although not the best I’ve read it is still worth a read.

[Nilmini J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

t took me some time to adjust to the slightly different writing style that this author has, and there were numerous sentences that began with 'Later, ..." which amused me as it meant that I needed to take note of that 'clue'.

I will look out for other books by this same author as the mystery was detailed and clever, and I do like books set in London as well.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE having found this series of Coffin. A little strange to get used to the style of writing initially but I'm beyond that on this one so it's ALL GOOD. Greater London, immediately post WW2, theater aspect - that I know continues through the series. A bit of personality conflict but not the run of the mill from U.S. police procedurals (a genre I do like, however). I just go through a period of getting hooked on these now that there are a number published as eBooks and available through the download library and oh dear, I just found that our D.C. regular library and lots and lots of the series; I see a lovely long winter of reading ahead.

[Vic Lauterbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to read series books in publication order, but I read book #20 Coffin Underground back in 1994, so I switched to chronological order here. This one, book #18, takes place a decade before Coffin first appeared as a Detective Inspector in Receipt for Murder. Set in the spring of 1946, this book finds new Detective Constable Coffin and fellow DC Alex Rowley working for the irascible DI Tom Banbury. Their cases include the normal array of tragedies, but soon the focus is on the body of a woman found floating in the Thames at the Greenwich Docklands. This is a gripping mystery, but it unfolds slowly. The tension builds as the CID team searches for a killer who intends to keep killing until stopped. I'm not a fan of serial killer novels because the premise often leads to a reliance on action and sloppy plotting caused by the lack of any need for a motive beyond lunacy. That's not the case here although this isn't a "pure" mystery. You will probably guess who did it as I did (hence no fifth star). It's more of a "how we got here" mystery. Telling a period mystery story unselfconsciously isn't easy, but Ms. Butler pulls it off quite well. Ms. Butler's style takes some adjusting to, but it works to make this novel atmospheric and engrossing. In sparse yet evocative style, Ms. Butler tells the story of Coffin's first major case which parallels his growing attraction to Stella Pinero. Highly recommended to fans of Post-War British mysteries.

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"Humble searcher after truth."

Although apparently number 18 in the series, it is this book which introduces John Coffin to the reader, charting his first job as a young detective, still on probation. It is set in 1946 London, shortly after the ending of World War II when rationing was still rife, bombed buildings were still waiting to be cleared, food was in short supply and rationing of, it seemed, everything was getting even worse than it had been in wartime. And a body is found in the river.

Most enjoyable with a real feel for the time, written in a style of detective stories more familiar to the period. Nigel Carrington narrates, his performance just perfect for the style and characters depicted. This is the only John Coffin I have read so far - and it will not be my last.
As a bonus, too, it was a free download from the Audible Plus programme

[Vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never judge a book by its cover. I should know that by now. I read the back cover of the book, and it sounded like a really good mystery. I was greatly disappointed. The author's writing style was jumpy. I felt like I was missing things because the flow of the sentences seemed to be unclear or missing something. None of the characters were likable. It had a great plot, but because of the writing style the book wasn't as good as it could have been.
I don't plan on reading another of this series.

[Jelena]

DNF

The narrator was great and it was the only thing that kept me going, such a pleasant voice and accent. The story itself is chaotic, doesn't flow well. I miss a sentence or two and have no idea what's the author talking about. There was a lot random, unnecessary information about characters and not enough about those that are important. I just had no interest to find out what was going on. Idea and concept were interesting, but execution was just lacking.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read how Coffin began his career and met Stella.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, 1st of the 34 in this series I’ve read. It’s odd in the sense that 30 years after beginning the John Coffin books, Butler wrote this 18th effort with a setting of 1946, but no mention of the fact that it’s a “throwback.” One wonders if this sort of jumping around occurs again…and one will find out because it was quite good enough to make me want to read another.
Coffin is a “newbie” policeman here, and eager to make his mark. There are a series of brutal murders of young women with notes left behind by the killer, and as a low ranking officer he’s excluded from much of the official investigations - no reason why he shouldn’t look into the murders on his own, is there? And so he does. Another unusual aspect to this book is that altho’ it’s set in @1946, it feels like a story set in the 1880’s, but it doesn’t suffer for that as it’s a riveting tale.