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With a Bare Bodkin (Francis Pettigrew, #2)

Cyril Hare

Start date: August 15, 2022

Finish date: September 9, 2022

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: Cyril Hare is popular with our members.
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What Members Thought

Jul 26, 2022 Susan rated it it was amazing

Having loved the first Francis Pettigrew mystery, 'Tragedy at Law,' I was looking forward to continuing the series and I am pleased to say that I really enjoyed this. 'With a Bare Bodkin,' was first published in 1946 and sees Francis Pettigrew sent to do wartime work at the seaside resort of Marsett Bay, with the Bureau of Pin Control. Having been blitzed out of his chambers, he is relocated to a boarding house, where he shares space with those from his department. These include his secretary, M ...more

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May 07, 2018 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, mysteries

Maybe even 4.5*

I found Hare’s setting in this one very amusing (a satire of WW2 British bureaucracy, it’s set in the Bureau of Pin Control and has a subplot about black market trading in pins!) and the mystery was very good. I thought that I had figured it out but not so!

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Aug 12, 2022 Susan in NC rated it really liked it

Shelves: tbr-with-gr-groups

Really enjoyed this clever, witty mystery set during WWII. Francis Pettigrew accepts war work as legal counsel to the bureaucratic Pin Control board, headquartered away from London, in a seaside resort.

The board workers are isolated, living away from family and friends, with very little to do outside of work. When they discover one of their fellow workers writes mysteries (albeit, not very popular ones), they amuse themselves of an evening plotting a murder. Tensions boil over and a murder take ...more

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Mar 14, 2020 ShanDizzy rated it liked it

“It’s against all reason!” Mallett burst out. “Here you have a woman killed in broad daylight in a building crammed with men and women, within a few yards of half a dozen people at least, and there’s not a rag of evidence against one of them. The only man of known criminal propensities has a complete alibi. So far as the others are concerned, there’s nothing whatever to choose between them on the ground of opportunity but in not one case is there the faintest trace of motive discoverable.”

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Aug 06, 2022 Jill rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cyril-hare

I liked this more than the first in this series. Here we get to learn more about Pettigrew. Having been removed from his chambers because of Blitz damage, he is relocated to a a coastal boarding house, in order to work as an advisor to Pin Control, the war effort to check on the usage of pins in England. The other residents of the house, are also working at this establishment, and so find themselves looking for amusement to pass the evenings after work. These residents are a varying mixture of p ...more

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May 30, 2023 Teri-K rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: zz-2023-bought, zz-2023-my-book-club, mystery-golden-age, historical-mystery, z-permanent-bookshelf

I have soft spot for sharp, amusing mystery novels. I had no idea when I picked up this story, by a new-to-me author, at my local used bookstore that this would turn out to be one. I'm delighted. Set during WWII, it seems that Mr. Pettigrew had been recruited as the legal advisor for the bureau of Pin Control, (yes, pins), and must move with all the others of this group to a mansion, built by the eccentric Lord Eglwyswrw, in Northern England. There he is surrounded by bureaucrats, frighteningly I have soft spot for sharp, amusing mystery novels. I had no idea when I picked up this story, by a new-to-me author, at my local used bookstore that this would turn out to be one. I'm delighted. Set during WWII, it seems that Mr. Pettigrew had been recruited as the legal advisor for the bureau of Pin Control, (yes, pins), and must move with all the others of this group to a mansion, built by the eccentric Lord Eglwyswrw, in Northern England. There he is surrounded by bureaucrats, frighteningly efficient secretaries, and assorted administrators and supervisors. When they discover they have a mystery writer working with them they begin a silly game of imagining a murder mystery that takes place on the grounds. It's perfectly harmless - or is it?

I figured out the culprit and the clues before the end of the story, but that doesn't ruin a book for me. What I look for is a cast of interesting people with several possible solutions to the mystery, and I got that here.

I love the writer's style. This is not a comic novel, but he employs the type of subtle irony that I really enjoy. Discussing one branch at Pin Control, he says, "By sheer dint of bullying (Miss Clark) had made them unquestionably the most efficient section in the whole office. To the public, clamoring for licenses to manufacture, acquire, or dispose of pins, they appeared evasive, dilatory, and imperturbably indifferent; but administratively they were well-nigh perfect."

I'm looking forward to tracking down more of the books in this series.

NB - The cover of my edition is atrocious. It shows a tall urban building with fire pouring out of the windows. There is no fire in this story, and the setting is secluded rural mansion. Granted, in literally the first two pages we learn Mr. Pettigrew is currently working in a London building that has suffered from bombing, but that's all. So anyone who picks this book up on strength of the cover will probably be very disappointed. What pity, as this is a really enjoyable story. ...more

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Aug 28, 2022 Carolien rated it liked it

Shelves: 2022, english-mystery

Francis Pettigrew finds himself assigned to the Pin Board as inhouse lawyer during WWII. The Board is located in a large requisitioned house in a small English seaside village. Francis is placed with some colleagues in a local boarding house where boredom leads the inhabitants to start planning a fictional murder. Until one of them is found dead, stabbed in the kitchen at the office. Francis starts asking questions, partly to alleviate some concerns about the man his inscrutable, effective secre ...more

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Mar 02, 2024 Sarah G rated it really liked it

Continuing this excellent series with Mr Pettigrew. Entertaining mystery with very interesting detail about life in the war.

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Aug 25, 2022 Sandy rated it really liked it

Shelves: rread-2022, own, mystery-classic, mystery-detective-grp, z2022-own-24

An excellent spoof of government policies (are they really controlling pins?) and paperwork, with all the office politics and sniping when people are forced to both live and work together. Pettigrew is a fine main character, quite normal and unassuming as he is caught up in the mysteries. The humor is good, characters interesting and plot engaging. I'm looking forward to continuing the series. ...more

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