Discover new books on Goodreads

See if your friends have read any of Colin Watson's books

Colin Watson’s Followers (29)

Colin Watson

Born

in Croydon, Surrey, The United Kingdom

February 01, 1920

Died

January 17, 1983

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Humour

edit data

Colin Watson was educated at the Whitgift School in South Croydon, London. During his career as a journalist he worked in London and Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he was a leader-writer for Kemsley Newspapers.

His book Hopjoy Was Here (1962) received the Silver Dagger Award. He was married, with three children, and lived in Lincolnshire. After retiring from journalism he designed silver jewellery.

As well as a series of humorous detective novels set in the imaginary town of Flaxborough, featuring Inspector Purbright, Watson also wrote and later revised a study of detective stories and thrillers called Snobbery with Violence.

Combine Editions
Colin Watson’s books

Average rating: 3.94 · 5,006 ratings · 847 reviews · 63 distinct works • Similar authors

	Coffin, Scarcely Used (Flaxborough, #1) 3.67 avg rating — 1,259 ratings — published 1958 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bump in the Night (Flaxborough, #2) 4.03 avg rating — 616 ratings — published 1960 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hopjoy Was Here (Flaxborough, #3) 3.99 avg rating — 492 ratings — published 1962 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lonelyheart 4122 (Flaxborough, #4) 4.23 avg rating — 423 ratings — published 1967 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Charity Ends at Home (Flaxborough, #5) 4.03 avg rating — 382 ratings — published 1968	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Flaxborough Crab (Flaxborough, #6) 4.09 avg rating — 286 ratings — published 1969 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Whatever's Been Going on at Mumblesby? (Flaxborough, #12) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 272 ratings — published 1982 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Broomsticks Over Flaxborough (Flaxborough, #7) 3.97 avg rating — 256 ratings — published 1972 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Naked Nuns (Flaxborough, #8) 3.92 avg rating — 255 ratings — published 1975 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Plaster Sinners (Flaxborough, #11) 4.17 avg rating — 200 ratings — published 1980 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Colin Watson…

Series by Colin Watson

Flaxborough Chronicles (12 books)
by

Colin Watson

3.94 avg rating — 4,829 ratings

Quotes by Colin Watson (?)

“Real life is disobliging. People like to think, or feel, in black and white. Having to assess the relative values of all those intermediate greys is tiresome and perplexing.”
― Colin Watson, Snobbery with Violence: English Crime Stories and Their Audience

tags: greys

2 likes

“Charging commercial institutions with failure to educate public taste is an indulgence from which intellectuals will only be deterred when they grasp that a non-existant contract can be neither breached nor enforced. If commerce is to be indicted for anything, it can only be for commercialism, and whether that is a crime or not is a political question.”
― Colin Watson, Snobbery with Violence: English Crime Stories and Their Audience

tags: debilitated-taste, impoverished-thought

2 likes

“To tell the truth, it is regarding the physical side of marriage that I have always been apprehensive...There so seldom seems to be enough of it," said Miss Teatime.”
― Colin Watson

tags: humor, romance, teatime

1 likes

See all Colin Watson's quotes »

Polls

Which Golden Age English mystery would you like to read with the group during September? Please vote here.

The Layton Court Mystery by Anthony Berkeley

29 votes, 36.7%

Coffin, Scarcely Used by Colin Watson

22 votes, 27.8%

Seven Dead by J. Jefferson Farjeon

21 votes, 26.6%

Arsenal Stadium Mystery by Leonard R. Gribble

7 votes, 8.9%

79 total votes

3 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Cozy Mysteries : Title and Author Game, Round 2	15570	1215	Mar 21, 2016 09:15AM
Cozy Mysteries : Mystery ABC's, Round 2	12168	1142	Mar 21, 2016 12:30PM
2026 Reading Chal...: Elizabeth's 2018 Challenge Log	71	179	Apr 02, 2018 12:39PM
The Lost Challenges: January Scattergories	40	57	Feb 03, 2019 02:33PM
Nothing But Readi...: New 2 U authors 2018	127	369	Feb 06, 2019 10:50AM
The Lost Challenges: January Scavenger Hunt - Chicago	101	77	Feb 11, 2019 10:54AM

More…

Colin Watson’s Followers (29)

Colin Watson

Combine EditionsColin Watson’s books

Series by Colin Watson

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Colin Watson’s books