The Inspector George Gently Case Files
– Book VI
Alan Hunter
Robinson (Constable and
Robinson)
21 April 2011/ ISBN 1849015031
Classic Mystery / 1959 Norfolk, England
Amazon
US
|| UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
As the seaside resort of Hiverton broils in the hottest summer
anybody can remember, beautiful new girl in town Rachel Campion
is found dead on the beach. Instantly there are questions raised
about who she was, why she was there and the dubious business practices
of her employer, but when an older skeleton is also found on the
beach the plot thickens.
I can see why this series of books ran to forty-six as there are
so many things to enjoy about them. Firstly their brevity, pace
and linear but convoluted plots, secondly the likeable character
of Gently himself and lastly but not leastly Mr Hunter’s remarkable
talent for brief but telling descriptions. You can almost feel the
intense heat, and there are equally tangible descriptions of a seaside
boarding house and a waterfront pub filled with salty old fishermen.
This isn’t historical fiction but it is something rather better,
fiction written at a particular time in the recent past and managing
to capture it perfectly. I’m going to savor every single one
of these reprints; recommended to everybody who enjoys a good murder
mystery.
|