What do you think?
Rate this book
Plain Murder (Penguin Modern Classics) by C.S. Forester (3-Nov-2011) Paperback
Morris is a bully who gets his buddies to do his bidding because he's more charming, more intelligent and more cunning. He has no conscience, he suffers no guilt. In short, Morris is a psychopath.
When he and his mates are caught in a two-bit scam, Morris decides quick murder is an easy fix. But murder leads to nightmare and before it is over, Morris turns on his friends, who know what they can expect from him.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
About the author
C.S. Forester
240 books1,031 followersCecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, about naval warfare during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen (1935; filmed in 1951 by John Huston). His novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
February 4, 2021
No good deed goes unpunished or bad people, do bad things and get punished.
Well written, dark circumstances and a proper thriller of a plot all meant this was a perfect crime read for me!
Wonderful discriptions of places long gone and people, lifestyles and careers we'll never see the likes of again.
A cracking good read, I couldn't put down. 👍
Well written, dark circumstances and a proper thriller of a plot all meant this was a perfect crime read for me!
Wonderful discriptions of places long gone and people, lifestyles and careers we'll never see the likes of again.
A cracking good read, I couldn't put down. 👍
January 15, 2015
A plain delicious murder!
In a paper company there are three workers who wants more power and faster. With a fool proof plan they execute a plain murder which opens a Pandora's box of power play, lies, blackmailing and more murders. With one of the three being more hungry than others, one way or another they all have face their doom.
I have exactly no idea why this book has such low ratings. I had first read this novel translated in Bengali(my regional language) and read the original a few months ago. Needless to say that the original fascinated me more.
There is a say in Bengali language that "Greed leads to sin and sin leads to murder". That is exactly what drives this novel. Yes we can all imagine the inevitable doom with a little guessing game of "Who is gonna be the last man standing?" while reading the book. But what works very very well is the narration. From the point of view of the worst character, C. S. Forester takes the reader on a ride of 'mind of a murder planner'. It should be mentioned that the novel is set in 1930's era and thus unlike todays techno-thrillers, this one is purely and deliciously psychological.
Sometimes the ride matters more than the destination and "Plain Murder" is a bright proof of that.
In a paper company there are three workers who wants more power and faster. With a fool proof plan they execute a plain murder which opens a Pandora's box of power play, lies, blackmailing and more murders. With one of the three being more hungry than others, one way or another they all have face their doom.
I have exactly no idea why this book has such low ratings. I had first read this novel translated in Bengali(my regional language) and read the original a few months ago. Needless to say that the original fascinated me more.
There is a say in Bengali language that "Greed leads to sin and sin leads to murder". That is exactly what drives this novel. Yes we can all imagine the inevitable doom with a little guessing game of "Who is gonna be the last man standing?" while reading the book. But what works very very well is the narration. From the point of view of the worst character, C. S. Forester takes the reader on a ride of 'mind of a murder planner'. It should be mentioned that the novel is set in 1930's era and thus unlike todays techno-thrillers, this one is purely and deliciously psychological.
Sometimes the ride matters more than the destination and "Plain Murder" is a bright proof of that.
April 13, 2014
Difficult to really enjoy this as the main character was so odious, but loved the narrators voice.
August 3, 2026
This is a striking piece of work though it's difficult to review given that any review can easily provide spoilers.
Three clerks have been taking bribes. This is discovered by a colleague whom the three clerks believe will inform their employer about their bribe-taking. They have to do something to save their jobs and decide to kill him, but only one of them can follow through on this. This individual (Morris) develops a taste for murder and starts to kill the other clerks who faltered.
One of the clerks who faltered (called Oldroyd) is nearly murdered via a noose but manages to scream out and Morris leaves. Oldroyd doesn't say anything but realises Morris has to be stopped. He then meets Morris's wife and as she describes her recent trips out with Morris, Oldroyd realises how the accident will occur, and is determined to stop it.
Three clerks have been taking bribes. This is discovered by a colleague whom the three clerks believe will inform their employer about their bribe-taking. They have to do something to save their jobs and decide to kill him, but only one of them can follow through on this. This individual (Morris) develops a taste for murder and starts to kill the other clerks who faltered.
One of the clerks who faltered (called Oldroyd) is nearly murdered via a noose but manages to scream out and Morris leaves. Oldroyd doesn't say anything but realises Morris has to be stopped. He then meets Morris's wife and as she describes her recent trips out with Morris, Oldroyd realises how the accident will occur, and is determined to stop it.
February 14, 2026
Very neatly explained anatomy of a murder - in a way that, despite being 100 years ago, feels very believable. Opposite of a murder mystery in a way on that you see the murder from start to finish - how the murderer got there, why, how, and then how they try to get away with it. Interesting, similar to Christie, assessment of characters’ drives, rationales and morality.
January 13, 2013
I've read many of the books written by C.S. Forester. I've been working through his Horatio Hornblower adventure series. He's written some excellent series based on both World Wars; The General, The Ship. His The African Queen was also translated into an excellent movie which won Humphrey Bogart an Oscar. He's also written some excellent crime stories. I've enjoyed Payment Deferred and now have just completed Plain Murder.
In its way, it's a simple story but at the same time, a fascinating one. 3 employees of an advertising agency are under threat of being fired for using bribery in finding customers. Under the thrall of one of the three, Mr. Morris, they determine that their supervisor must be murdered before he can put in his word to the owner of the business.
Morris is the ring leader and pressures the others into assisting him so that they can be blackmailed into silence. But murder can become something is easier and easier to commit. We get an interesting portrayal of Morris; his treatment of his family, his plotting mind, his matter-of-fact cruelty. The story moves along nicely and the action is sufficient. It was a different kind of story and I enjoyed it very much. I've enjoyed seeing the variety of stories in Forester's mind and his portrayal of his characters and their motivations. Well worth trying. (3.5 stars)
In its way, it's a simple story but at the same time, a fascinating one. 3 employees of an advertising agency are under threat of being fired for using bribery in finding customers. Under the thrall of one of the three, Mr. Morris, they determine that their supervisor must be murdered before he can put in his word to the owner of the business.
Morris is the ring leader and pressures the others into assisting him so that they can be blackmailed into silence. But murder can become something is easier and easier to commit. We get an interesting portrayal of Morris; his treatment of his family, his plotting mind, his matter-of-fact cruelty. The story moves along nicely and the action is sufficient. It was a different kind of story and I enjoyed it very much. I've enjoyed seeing the variety of stories in Forester's mind and his portrayal of his characters and their motivations. Well worth trying. (3.5 stars)
April 11, 2014
From BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Drama:
Most famous for his Hornblower series, C.S. Forester wrote three seminal psychological thrillers at the start of his career that took crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.
Plain Murder, set in 1928, takes us into a London advertising agency. Morris, Oldroyd and Reddy, have been caught taking bribes. One of their colleagues threatens to blow the whistle on them. Instant dismissal will inevitably be the result, and at a time of severe unemployment, their future prospects are bleak. Morris, a menacing bully, offers them a road out of their dilemma - a perfect murder, cleverly disguised as a tragic accident. But is there such a thing as the perfect murder?
Most famous for his Hornblower series, C.S. Forester wrote three seminal psychological thrillers at the start of his career that took crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.
Plain Murder, set in 1928, takes us into a London advertising agency. Morris, Oldroyd and Reddy, have been caught taking bribes. One of their colleagues threatens to blow the whistle on them. Instant dismissal will inevitably be the result, and at a time of severe unemployment, their future prospects are bleak. Morris, a menacing bully, offers them a road out of their dilemma - a perfect murder, cleverly disguised as a tragic accident. But is there such a thing as the perfect murder?
March 16, 2019
Having recently binge-read three of Forester's crime stories, this is the one with the most unpleasant protagonist. First published in 1930, this is the first of the trio making up the 'London Noir' collection recently broadcast on Radio 4 Extra and is in much the same vein as the other two, focusing on the life of an 'ordinary' man who more or less falls into murder without having previously planned or premeditated it. As with all of Forester's crime stories, there is a twist in the tale …
If you enjoy period drama/crime, then give it a try.
If you enjoy period drama/crime, then give it a try.
July 9, 2020
Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead. In this case it's three advertising clerks trying to hide the death of a fourth, and the cascading effects of a murder committed for 6 pounds sterling. Not a mystery, the murder is revealed in detail, but a psychological thriller as we follow three men and their reactions to the crime. Low level white collar workers with simple and unexceptional lives are changed by a heinous act. And the people around them are none the wiser. Well written and entertaining.
January 7, 2018
As for “Payment Deferred”, an utterly lurid story, the unscrupulous plots of an evil man, and an unpredictable ending. Shame this author just wrote a few crime novels... So well written, though, that I may even try with the Horacio Hornblower adventure saga...
Read
February 7, 2016An innovative crime novel from the unsung godfather of English noir.A hidden gem and a very good read from a master storyteller.
June 7, 2018
Entertaining, very English old-fashioned murder novel. I enjoyed the writing.
January 28, 2026
Three men sit at a table in a smoky café planning the murder of a fourth to prevent him from revealing to their employer that they have been taking bribes. Committing the crime the ringleader of this corrupt trio, the thick set and viciously ambitious Charlie Morris, discovers he has a talent for murder, if he can do it once without getting caught, he can do it again whenever it serves his purposes.
That sounds like the outline for a classic film noir, the setting though isn’t LA in the forties, this is London in the twenties. The streets and the men who go down them are though every bit as mean.
Best known now for his Horatio Hornblower novels set during the Napoleonic Wars C.S Forester started his career with three bleak crime novels, Payment Deferred, Plain Murder, and The Pursued, the manuscript of the latter was lost in 1935 and the book was published decades after his death.
Read almost a century on from its publication Plain Murder is still a brilliantly effective thriller brimming with tropes that Hollywood would make iconic twenty years later. His trio of main characters are ordinary to the point of dullness and made into tragic anti-heroes by being caught in a moral vacuum. Murder isn’t something done out of passion or to further a set of ideals, it is a means of getting ahead in a society where the fruits of success are always on display, and always just out of reach.
London for Forester, as Los Angeles was for Chandler is a city of dangerous contradictions, large enough to be soulless and yet, in its seedier quarters cramped enough to allow resentments to breed like bacteria. Forester’s prose might not have the same turn towards poetry, but it packs just as much of a punch.
The realisation that this book was written during the period when Christie, March, Allingham and other leading lights of the ‘golden age’ of crime fiction were in their pomp is a surprise that hits you like a hood with a blackjack hiding behind a door. There is nothing in any way ‘cosy’ about the crimes described here, they are brutal, pointless, and squalidly realistic.
This is a novel that richly deserves to be accorded the status that goes with being acknowledged as a modern classic, and its author should be thought of not as a purveyor of swashbuckling entertainment, but as a forgotten master of the crime genre.
That sounds like the outline for a classic film noir, the setting though isn’t LA in the forties, this is London in the twenties. The streets and the men who go down them are though every bit as mean.
Best known now for his Horatio Hornblower novels set during the Napoleonic Wars C.S Forester started his career with three bleak crime novels, Payment Deferred, Plain Murder, and The Pursued, the manuscript of the latter was lost in 1935 and the book was published decades after his death.
Read almost a century on from its publication Plain Murder is still a brilliantly effective thriller brimming with tropes that Hollywood would make iconic twenty years later. His trio of main characters are ordinary to the point of dullness and made into tragic anti-heroes by being caught in a moral vacuum. Murder isn’t something done out of passion or to further a set of ideals, it is a means of getting ahead in a society where the fruits of success are always on display, and always just out of reach.
London for Forester, as Los Angeles was for Chandler is a city of dangerous contradictions, large enough to be soulless and yet, in its seedier quarters cramped enough to allow resentments to breed like bacteria. Forester’s prose might not have the same turn towards poetry, but it packs just as much of a punch.
The realisation that this book was written during the period when Christie, March, Allingham and other leading lights of the ‘golden age’ of crime fiction were in their pomp is a surprise that hits you like a hood with a blackjack hiding behind a door. There is nothing in any way ‘cosy’ about the crimes described here, they are brutal, pointless, and squalidly realistic.
This is a novel that richly deserves to be accorded the status that goes with being acknowledged as a modern classic, and its author should be thought of not as a purveyor of swashbuckling entertainment, but as a forgotten master of the crime genre.
June 8, 2022
3.6 stars, rounded up to 4.
A very good crime tale, featuring the cold-blooded protagonist, Charlie Morris, who works for an advertising agency.
When Morris and two work mates, Oldroyd and Reddy, are caught in the act of accepting bribes at their workplace by a supervisor, they are terrified this will mean dismissal from their jobs.
In the London of the late-twenties/early-thirties jobs are hard to come by, and anyone sacked from their work will have a hard time finding other employment. The prospect of being unemployed, going cold and hungry is a prospect they can't bear to think of.
Fortunately their boss is out of town and unaware of any sackable offences. The objective of Morris and his colleagues is to prevent the supervisor from ratting on them. Cold-blooded Morris decides the supervisor must be killed. His two work mates are not so keen on this idea, but reluctantly agree to go ahead with it, becoming accomplices. The murder is committed, the trio save their jobs, and Morris actually gets promoted, taking over the dead supervisor's position.
Morris lets power go to his head in his new position and bullies staff, including his two friends who are not going to be friends for too much longer. When they get the jitters about what they have been involved in, they become problematic to Morris. He can't afford to have either of them rat on him, which would involve him being sent to the gallows as well as themselves.
Something must be done, maybe he should kill two other people as well?
So huge is his ego, so cold and heartless he is, he later decides in addition to these, another person should also die. He'll resort to anything to save his life, advance himself to greater heights in his work, and enjoy new gains in his personal life as well. But will he succeed in getting all his own way?
This a fast moving and enjoyable book that can be read over several days. The book does show its age, with some quaint dialogue, and occasional wordy passages, but overall it's very well written.
Maybe not quite as good (IMO) as his previous crime book PAYMENT DEFFERED, but still recommended.
Forester's other crime book, the long-lost THE PURSUED, was very good as well.
Worth checking out
A very good crime tale, featuring the cold-blooded protagonist, Charlie Morris, who works for an advertising agency.
When Morris and two work mates, Oldroyd and Reddy, are caught in the act of accepting bribes at their workplace by a supervisor, they are terrified this will mean dismissal from their jobs.
In the London of the late-twenties/early-thirties jobs are hard to come by, and anyone sacked from their work will have a hard time finding other employment. The prospect of being unemployed, going cold and hungry is a prospect they can't bear to think of.
Fortunately their boss is out of town and unaware of any sackable offences. The objective of Morris and his colleagues is to prevent the supervisor from ratting on them. Cold-blooded Morris decides the supervisor must be killed. His two work mates are not so keen on this idea, but reluctantly agree to go ahead with it, becoming accomplices. The murder is committed, the trio save their jobs, and Morris actually gets promoted, taking over the dead supervisor's position.
Morris lets power go to his head in his new position and bullies staff, including his two friends who are not going to be friends for too much longer. When they get the jitters about what they have been involved in, they become problematic to Morris. He can't afford to have either of them rat on him, which would involve him being sent to the gallows as well as themselves.
Something must be done, maybe he should kill two other people as well?
So huge is his ego, so cold and heartless he is, he later decides in addition to these, another person should also die. He'll resort to anything to save his life, advance himself to greater heights in his work, and enjoy new gains in his personal life as well. But will he succeed in getting all his own way?
This a fast moving and enjoyable book that can be read over several days. The book does show its age, with some quaint dialogue, and occasional wordy passages, but overall it's very well written.
Maybe not quite as good (IMO) as his previous crime book PAYMENT DEFFERED, but still recommended.
Forester's other crime book, the long-lost THE PURSUED, was very good as well.
Worth checking out
February 2, 2023
This is my second pre-Hornblower crime novel by C.S. Forester. Deferred Payment was the first (and The Pursued comes next) and it was just as good. I don't know how to describe what CSF does. We get the inside of the killer's mind, a sociopath for sure. And the insides of a lot of minds. Am reminded of Highsmith as she also plumbs the depths of madness. The narrator was good--he did all kinds of English and Scottish accents. Late 1920's England. Men with hope and ambition joined firms where they might rise and their pay might rise. 6 pounds 1 shilling was enough to get by; 7 p. 1 s. was a significant difference. As far as I can do the math, that one pound raise was equal to about $106.
April 16, 2019
The 2nd of a trio of crime fiction by this author. It changed the style of crime fiction to writing about the ordinary man or person(s) commiting crimes from the usual scenario of the upper classes gathering at a house party with servants and police officers knowing their place.
'Plain Murder' is a pyschological thriller rather than a police procedural. We know the perpetrators - it's just a question of motive and where do events take the protagonists.
Forester has a dry and somewhat distant narrative in places but his description where action and confrontation are exciting and realistic. The pace picks up as the story gets darker. The reader will certainly want to keep reading.
'Plain Murder' is a pyschological thriller rather than a police procedural. We know the perpetrators - it's just a question of motive and where do events take the protagonists.
Forester has a dry and somewhat distant narrative in places but his description where action and confrontation are exciting and realistic. The pace picks up as the story gets darker. The reader will certainly want to keep reading.
June 9, 2021
Charlie Morris is one of those evil, amoral, charismatic and strangely erotic characters who were later epitomised in Highsmith's Ripley.
His desire for money leads him and two co-worker into some doubtful business practices and to murder. Ironically, almost at the same time, he achieves great success in the advertising agency where he works.
The plot is well-constructed and the atmosphere tense throughout.
I do have two issues. Why is Morris explicitly Jewish? Nothing in the plot necessitates this. Secondly, why is Mary Morris made to appear as so unremittingly awful?
Interesting and recommendable portrayal of criminality.
3.75 stars.
His desire for money leads him and two co-worker into some doubtful business practices and to murder. Ironically, almost at the same time, he achieves great success in the advertising agency where he works.
The plot is well-constructed and the atmosphere tense throughout.
I do have two issues. Why is Morris explicitly Jewish? Nothing in the plot necessitates this. Secondly, why is Mary Morris made to appear as so unremittingly awful?
Interesting and recommendable portrayal of criminality.
3.75 stars.
Did Not Finish
August 6, 2026I brought home a Hornblower novel once, but couldn't get into it. I really want to like this author, but I think my time to read him is long past. I don't know why I never read any of the Hornblower ones when I was young. Oh well.
This book shows the author's skill with words - he captures the thinking of the characters, using the slang of the period, much of which I am familiar with. Unfortunately, the characters are odious, and there is no-one to like. I skipped through some passages, but have to call this dnf, so no rating.
I really have to have a character to like, there is no getting around that.
This book shows the author's skill with words - he captures the thinking of the characters, using the slang of the period, much of which I am familiar with. Unfortunately, the characters are odious, and there is no-one to like. I skipped through some passages, but have to call this dnf, so no rating.
I really have to have a character to like, there is no getting around that.
December 10, 2020
A whydunit rather than a whodunit, this is (unintentionally) a fascinating look at 1930s British middle-class fears and anxieties. And it's definitely stuck in my mind long after I read it! (14+)
*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*
*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*
April 4, 2021
This is a good novel and well written but I wondered whether it was aimed more at younger readers. The plot is concerned with office intrigue and murder. Morris, the main protagonist, is an evil cunning plotter who tries to do away with anyone who threatens his ambitions. One somehow knows that it will all end badly for him but the ending came as a surprise.
October 29, 2022
I'm glad Forester moved on from this type of story and concentrated on military history. This was ok, just good enough to finish. It did reminded me of the old Michael Caine movie A Shock to the System. The plots are similar, a businessman tries to get ahead at his company by killing his coworkers.
April 1, 2024
This was an interesting story which I quite enjoyed. I usually don't mind reading stories written in the early to mid 20th Century as I enjoy seeing how the language idioms have changed. However this story constantly referred to wages, and it jarred a bit to read that a rise of £1 per week was sufficient to bring about a lifestyle change for a family of four.
March 14, 2019
Decent little suspense thriller featuring a nasty little toe-rag. Probably a bit ahead of its time in it's (admittedly crude) venture into it's psychological exploration of a "bad man". Worth a look if you're after a quick distraction.
November 9, 2019
Beaucoup plus qu'un roman d'Agatha Christie ou qu'une émission de Midsomer Murders, ce livre nous plonge dans la tête d'un meurtrier qui cherche à éliminer les pistes qui pourraient l'amener à l'échafaud. Sans contredit, C.S. Forester est l'un de mes auteurs préférés.
October 15, 2025
Solid entry in the Golden Age of Murder Mysteries. Not a mystery as such but a crime novel about an odious murderer who has to keep committing more crimes to cover his trail, the tension being what will he do next and will he get caught. Well written in the tight newspaper style of the day.
May 13, 2017
Interesting writing style, good character portrayal
May 16, 2017
C.S Forester does not disappoint again with this novel, which engaged me throughout. Easy and suspenseful and happy to have read a trilogy of his crime works that are lesser known....
January 20, 2018
Slow to start, and a little heavy on editorial comment in the early reaches, but a good psychological thriller.
June 10, 2019
First Forester book that I’ve read. A quick read, it’s a good psychological thriller, more on the uncanny adventure of the murderer itself, frightening and gripping until the last page.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews