From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Cheltenham Square Murder

John Bude,

Martin Edwards (Editor)

Start date: February 1, 2021

Finish date: February 28, 2021

Discussion: Group reads

Why we're reading this: Runner-up in the poll for our January read - lots of members voted for it so we decided to read it in Feb…more
[close] Runner-up in the poll for our January read - lots of members voted for it so we decided to read it in February.

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What Members Thought

Feb 04, 2021 Infosifter rated it liked it · review of another edition

Ordinarily if a murder is committed with a bow and arrow the field of suspects would be narrowed considerably, but not in this classic case. The people of Cheltenham Square are mad for archery, and all the suspects belong to the local archery club. The local police Inspector is a bit of a bungler, so it's a good thing that police superintendent Meredith is visiting the neighborhood. Although inspector long doesn't have much of an imagination, he is humble enough to except help so the two of them ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Apr 14, 2019 Anissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-fiction-uk-ireland, series, mystery-suspense-crime, 2019, british-library-crime-classics

This is the first story I've read with Inspector Meredith and I'm completely out of order in his series. This is book three but I've come to it as part of The British Library Crime Classics (which I'm working my way through & recommend). It's written in such a way that reading the first two books don't seem necessary.

The insane odds of having a murder by arrow shot, in a residential square overflowing with archery enthusiasts (six in all!), was a bit much but it did play out well. Which home is This is the first story I've read with Inspector Meredith and I'm completely out of order in his series. This is book three but I've come to it as part of The British Library Crime Classics (which I'm working my way through & recommend). It's written in such a way that reading the first two books don't seem necessary.

The insane odds of having a murder by arrow shot, in a residential square overflowing with archery enthusiasts (six in all!), was a bit much but it did play out well. Which home is facing the right way? Who was at home or out and about? What was the motive? So many suspects and red herrings and the story still kept a steady pace. It's no tense page-turner as the procedural aspect comes into play but I would say it was more than a serviceable case. The killer carries out two murders before all is said and done and it made for a bit more tension as Meredith and his accompanying officers puzzle over the whole over several weeks.

This reminded me a bit of the short story, A Bit of Wire Pulling by E.C.R. Lorac (featured in The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories by Martin Edwards) in tone and Meredith reminded me of Inspector Lang. I don't know if there are any other Inspector Meredith books in TBLCC but I wouldn't mind coming across him again. Recommended.

Favourite quotes:

“Now then, lads, I want you to think carefully. Don’t answer unless you’re quite sure of your facts. I don’t want any second-hand rumours, see? The point is this—the police have an idea that a member of the club may have slipped off the course during a round of golf and used that as his alibi. Know what an alibi is, eh?” “O’ course,” said a lean, hatchet-faced man.
“It’s when a bloke swears ’e’s in a place when ’e isn’t.” Meredith grinned.

and

Which only goes to show,” said Long in his slow, lugubrious voice, “that things more often than not are not what they appear to be, and what they appear to be, more often than not, they’re not!”
...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jul 22, 2017 Shauna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: golden-age-crime, 2017

A very frustrating read. The pace was dreadfully slow and I seemed to have worked out the clues long before the detectives which may be gratifying but I got bored waiting for them to catch up.

3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 19, 2018 SewingandCaring rated it did not like it · review of another edition

What the hell? This book was so dull I skipped from 26% to 90% to see if anything of note would actually happen at any point, and it became obvious that literally nothing had been decided on in between apart from someone asking a landlady for an alibi. Then out of nowhere in the chapter “a shocking conclusion” an entirely new piece of information got dropped out of nowhere.
“oh by the way he did X thing all the time, which should have been something naturally mentioned right at the first chapter ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 30, 2021 Jill rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: john-bude, jill-s-seventh-years-aty-challenge

This is the fourth books I have read by this author, and the third involving Superintendent Meredith. I did like this one better than the previous two in this series. Although there was still a lot of toing and froing, and repetition of interviews with the various suspects, I felt that the humour in the attitude of Inspector Long broke that up, making it more acceptable. The plan of the square, at the very start, was certainly help at keeping track of the residents.

1 like · Like · see review