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Gideon #4
Gideon's Month
An increase in child crime propels Scotland yard's most brilliant detective, George Gideon, into a maze of kidnap and murder
Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
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54 people want to read
About the author
J.J. Marric
42 books19 followersA pseudonym used by John Creasey.
The Gideon series was continued after Creasey's death by William Vivian Butler.
The Gideon series was continued after Creasey's death by William Vivian Butler.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 8, 2012
As the title indicates Gideon's Month by J. J. Marric (aka John Creasey) covers a month's work of work for Commander George Gideon's and the policemen who with and for him. The month's caseload includes everything from a housekeeper who knocks off elderly men faster than the sisters in Arsenic & Old Lace to a pickpocket "school" that trains children of 6-8 years of age to lift billfolds with all the dexterity of a horde of young Houdinis. There are young women with new husbands plotting their demise, a missing child, and the murder of underworld criminal who had purportedly gone straight--but Gideon's not buying it. Especially since the widow is too frightened to talk about what really happened. Gideon and his men manage to solve each of these cases before the month is out.
As I mentioned in my previous Marric read, I read a couple of installments of this police procedural series early in my mystery-reading career and remember liking them. However, these last two (Gideon's Power and now Gideon's Month) haven't gone down quite as well. I realize that a policeman's lot is a very busy one and that real life does not allow the police to focus on only one crime at a time--but trying to realistically represent the day--or week--or month of a policeman in a very short paperback novel (169 pages this time round) produces a very scattered and yet cluttered effect. Few of the crimes get the attention they deserve and very little of the actual detecting gets recounted. For the most part Marric is telling us all about it rather than letting Gideon and his colleagues show us. Gideon goes in to the office....various phones ring and in the conversations we learn the details. There isn't much footwork and spadework going on before our eyes. It's not quite...but almost...like reading the police reports. Not very exciting stuff. And then...the most attention is devoted to the story of one of the children who has been pressed into pickpocket service by his mother. Reading the details of that abusive relationship certainly didn't increase the book's appeal for me. Fortunately, since the book is over 50 years old, those details aren't quite as graphic as they might be in a more modern novel. I can do without child-endangerment stories. Two stars.
This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
As I mentioned in my previous Marric read, I read a couple of installments of this police procedural series early in my mystery-reading career and remember liking them. However, these last two (Gideon's Power and now Gideon's Month) haven't gone down quite as well. I realize that a policeman's lot is a very busy one and that real life does not allow the police to focus on only one crime at a time--but trying to realistically represent the day--or week--or month of a policeman in a very short paperback novel (169 pages this time round) produces a very scattered and yet cluttered effect. Few of the crimes get the attention they deserve and very little of the actual detecting gets recounted. For the most part Marric is telling us all about it rather than letting Gideon and his colleagues show us. Gideon goes in to the office....various phones ring and in the conversations we learn the details. There isn't much footwork and spadework going on before our eyes. It's not quite...but almost...like reading the police reports. Not very exciting stuff. And then...the most attention is devoted to the story of one of the children who has been pressed into pickpocket service by his mother. Reading the details of that abusive relationship certainly didn't increase the book's appeal for me. Fortunately, since the book is over 50 years old, those details aren't quite as graphic as they might be in a more modern novel. I can do without child-endangerment stories. Two stars.
This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
December 11, 2016
I read my first Inspector Gideon mystery, Gideon's Day, 5 or 6 years ago. And while I've accumulated 3 or 4 more books in the series, I've kind of avoided getting back to them. My loss really. Gideon's Month, by J.J. Marric, aka John Creasey, is the 4th book in the series. We find Gideon now the Commander of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Division, spending the month running the CID all over London, working various cases, moving and manipulating his personnel like chess pieces to try and get a hold on the varied criminal cases that are in the forefront of his schedule.
It's an interesting, very matter-of-fact police procedural. We follow Gideon, we follow various of his investigators who are working on the applicable cases and also the people who are the victims and / or the instigators of the crimes.
There is Frisky Lee, an arch-nemesis from Gideon's past, a man that Gideon has never been able to catch, who is moving to Australia, and who Gideon wants to sort out before he departs. There is a child crime ring; young children being taught to be pick-pockets by their mothers. This case strikes a chord with Gideon and his investigators who have strong feelings about child abuse. There is the nurse/ caretaker who seems to be killing off elder gentlemen to get their money. This is investigated by Inspector Marr, another interesting character. And there are other cases that Gideon follows, encourages his men to push forward and to try and solve the cases.
It's a month in the life, an interesting look at the criminals, the investigators and how the proceed to try and solve the crimes in their hands. I liked it very much and won't wait so long to try another of the Gideon series. (3.5 stars)
It's an interesting, very matter-of-fact police procedural. We follow Gideon, we follow various of his investigators who are working on the applicable cases and also the people who are the victims and / or the instigators of the crimes.
There is Frisky Lee, an arch-nemesis from Gideon's past, a man that Gideon has never been able to catch, who is moving to Australia, and who Gideon wants to sort out before he departs. There is a child crime ring; young children being taught to be pick-pockets by their mothers. This case strikes a chord with Gideon and his investigators who have strong feelings about child abuse. There is the nurse/ caretaker who seems to be killing off elder gentlemen to get their money. This is investigated by Inspector Marr, another interesting character. And there are other cases that Gideon follows, encourages his men to push forward and to try and solve the cases.
It's a month in the life, an interesting look at the criminals, the investigators and how the proceed to try and solve the crimes in their hands. I liked it very much and won't wait so long to try another of the Gideon series. (3.5 stars)
November 16, 2017
Oh, satisfying. A well done combination of character, story, loss, suspense, doubt, and victory.
February 22, 2020
Great book. Lots of interwoven mini mysteries wrapped up nicely in one novel. Recommend.
December 23, 2021
Gideon is a great character in the vein of other British detectives from the 1960s. Relatively light-hearted police procedural, though everything is not tied up with a bow.
August 1, 2025
Always a solid read,
Puts me in mind of a British Ed McBain,
or Ed McBain was and American Creasey.
Or they both write great procedurals.
Puts me in mind of a British Ed McBain,
or Ed McBain was and American Creasey.
Or they both write great procedurals.
September 19, 2014
It's easy to say this is just another in a long series of mysteries with Gideon as the protagonist. But that facile description would not do them justice at all. (And after all, justice is what Gideon is after.) Each work is a gem unto itself and I am relishing them all in the order in which they were written by the extremely prolilfic J.J. Marric.
Chief Superintendent Gideon of Scotland Yard juggles several cases during the month in question. Marric spins the tales, telling us just as much as we need to know about each story line, and we readers enjoy trying to deduce either the who, the when, the how, or the motive of the many crimes, small and large.
I look forward to the next book in the series.
Chief Superintendent Gideon of Scotland Yard juggles several cases during the month in question. Marric spins the tales, telling us just as much as we need to know about each story line, and we readers enjoy trying to deduce either the who, the when, the how, or the motive of the many crimes, small and large.
I look forward to the next book in the series.
April 7, 2010
Not a mystery fan, but I am a fan of this book and the Gideon series written by John Creasey under the Marric name. Many have claimed these to be the best of the police procedural books. Don't know, but they are the only procedural series I have tried that I respect. Creasey was slow bringing in characterization, but once he did he was off and running. It ain't great literature, but it is a great mystery novel.
June 10, 2017
The focus in this installment is on families. Commander Gideon is convinced there is a school for training child pickpockets, but Scotland Yard can't find it. We follow the suspenseful story of one of the boys. In addition there is more than one ill-fated wife; they just weren't careful of the men who swept them off their feet. And a crime lord who has frustrated Gideon for years ends up murdered before Gideon can latch onto him.
September 4, 2013
Have enjoyed others in the series more, but I can still sit down and enjoy a Gideon book
July 1, 2014
creasey's gideon
November 15, 2015
An enjoyable book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews