April 23: Surfeit of Suspects - SPOILER Thread - (1964)

[Susan]

Welcome to our April 23 group challenge Surfeit of Suspects by George Bellairs pen name of Harold Blundell (1902-1982). This month's challenge title is part of Bellairs long-running Thomas Littlejohn series, which started in 1942 and ended in 1980. This book was first published in 1964.

Following a mysterious explosion, the offices of Excelsior Joinery Company are no more; the three directors are killed and the peace of a quiet town in Surrey lies in ruins. When the supposed cause of an ignited gas leak is dismissed and the presence of dynamite revealed, Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is summoned to the scene. But beneath the sleepy veneer of Evingden lies a hotbed of deep-seated grievances. Confounding Littlejohn's investigation is an impressive cast of suspicious persons, each concealing their own ax to grind.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Jill]

I did like the fact that despite the number of years between the books I had read previously, and this one, Littlejohn has kept to the same character. After the war, quite a few new-towns were built up on the outskirts of old towns, to house those that had been bombed out. I liked that Bellairs chose to site a book about this. Unfortunately, I will admit that because of the workings and underhandedness of the dealing about the property laws, I was getting a bit lost, so was pleased that at the end it became clear.

[Susan in NC]

Jill wrote: "I did like the fact that despite the number of years between the books I had read previously, and this one, Littlejohn has kept to the same character. After the war, quite a few new-towns were buil..."

Same, I was grateful for the explanation, seemed like a lot of shady stuff going on, among several unpleasant suspects.

[Judy]

I quite enjoyed this but did get a bit confused by all the shady dealings and also at times by the relationships between the various characters.

Although this was published in the 1960s and teddy boys were mentioned a few times, I thought it felt like a slightly earlier era.

[Susan]

It did feel like an earlier era, didn't it? However, what an unpleasant lot of suspects they were, weren't they? Although it was good to see the lack of usual, 'yes, sir, no, sir' attitudes to authority that is so often shown. England at her uncooperative and unpleasant best!

[Judy]

Quite a lot were unpleasant but I do agree this was more realistic than the way people often behave to police in GA mysteries, Susan. Although it does feel earlier than the 60s to me, I've now read a few reviews which point out the way the book touches on aspects of post-war Britain.

I suppose the fact that a factory is failing because of not modernising and investing enough must have been very contemporary.

[Susan in NC]

Susan wrote: "It did feel like an earlier era, didn't it? However, what an unpleasant lot of suspects they were, weren't they? Although it was good to see the lack of usual, 'yes, sir, no, sir' attitudes to auth..."

Lol, good point! Couldn’t help thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail when I read your comment, King Arthur explaining why he was anointed king to a very unimpressed peasant ;)

[Susan in NC]

Judy wrote: "Quite a lot were unpleasant but I do agree this was more realistic than the way people often behave to police in GA mysteries, Susan. Although it does feel earlier than the 60s to me, I've now read..."

Very true - surrounded by all the money flying around, businesses failing, land being bought and sold, towns expanding or fading away, the average citizen still dealing with rationing, not really sure who’s behind the decisions of economic winners and losers. Thanks for explaining that!

[Abigail]

Gosh I disliked this book! At the best of times I have a bit of an issue with books written during Britain’s postwar years (up to the Beatles), and this story had so much of what I dislike about that era. It’s as if all England emerged from the war rude, sullen, and impoverished, and that’s not really true; it’s just that authors of the era tended to focus on those aspects while before and during World War II they did not. I disliked spending time with all the characters and especially hated all the authorial asides punctuated with exclamation points. They always seemed to be explaining the obvious.

[Judy]

Sorry you didn't like it, Abigail! It wasn't one of my favourites but I enjoy the author's writing style so his asides didn't really bother me. That's an interesting point about books from the UK in the post-war era, I'll bear it in mind when reading more from that period.

[Michaela]

I agree it was written well, and I liked Littlejohn too, but the financial complications and the high number of characters made it a bit difficult to read for me as a non-native English speaker.

What I was thinking of when I read the discussion about the re-writing of Christie´s work was that in all the Golden Age mysteries all the men (seldom women) are smoking, while here one or two of the men tried to stop doing it. (Of course racism and antisemitism aren´t comparable to smoking, but just to show the difficulty of censure)

[Frances]

I've just finished this and also didn't particularly enjoy it. I was surprised to hear it was from the 60's as well-the Teddy Boys reference should have clued me in but it felt very post-war/early 50's to me.
I think the lack of much personal motivation/intrigue is what lessened the interest for me-that this was almost entirely a financial shenanigans plot tied up in property speculation is perhaps what made it less interesting, with as someone else said very few particularly appealing characters. I did like Littlejohn again and enjoyed how the various police employees worked together.

Also, making the most unpleasant character the villain somehow seems against the grain for a golden-age type mystery!