Gently with the Painters

Chief Superintendent Gently #7

by Alan Hunter

The death of a young artist leaves Gently desperately piecing together the portrait of a murderer. When artist Shirley Johnson is murdered and her body dumped outside a provincial police headquarters, Gently is despatched from London to Northshire to take over the investigation. The prime suspect appears to be the woman's husband, a former bomber pilot with a guilty secret, but the other members of the woman's art group also have strong views about her and her controversial final painting - Dark Destroyer. With so many suspects to consider, Gently must get to the bottom of the mystery before the murderer manages to slip through his fingers.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, British Literature, Audiobook

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Alan Hunter was born at Hoveton, Norfolk and went to school across the River Bure in Wroxham. He left school at 14 and worked on his father's farm near Norwich. He enjoyed dinghy sailing on the Norfolk Broads, wrote natural history notes for the local newspaper, and wrote poetry, some of which was published while he was in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

He married, in 1944, Adelaide Cooper, who survives him with their daughter. After the war he managed the antiquarian books department of Charles Cubitt in Norwich. Four years later, in 1950, he established his own bookshop on Maddermarket in the city.

From 1955 until 1998 he published a Gently detective novel nearly every year. He retired to Brundall in Norfolk where he continued his interests in local history, natural history, and sailing

Reviews

[Alan (the Lone Librarian on film festival hiatus) Teder · Rating 3 out of 5]

A So-So Gently
Review of the Constable Kindle eBook edition (2011) of the Cassell hardcover original (1960).

Here, again, he was making a discovery – he, in his approach to a case, had never drawn up accounts of this kind. They were a compromise with the truth and he had automatically distrusted them; his way was to assemble the facts and to hold them suspended in his mind, where, by a sort of alchemy, they eventually moved into a pattern.

Gently with the Painters is a return to form for the Scotland Yard CID Central Office Inspector, after the previous investigation in Gently in the Sun (Gently #6 - 1959) which I reviewed as Not My Gently.

As usual, Gently is called in to a Norwich provincial investigation where the local authorities can't seem to build a sufficient case against their prime suspect, the husband of a murdered artist. The artist was the sole female member of a local artist's collective and although estranged from her husband, she would not grant him a divorce. Gently sees the case differently and begins to investigate the other artists of the group who each have their eccentricities and secrets to hide.


I could not locate a copy of the dust jacket of the original 1960 hardcover edition from Cassell. This cover from the 1963 Pan Books paperback edition is a suitable macabre substitute. Image sourced from Goodreads.

Trivia and Links
The dedication to Gently with the Painters reads as: “To the Norwich Twenty Group of Painters, who suggested, but are not portrayed as, the Palette Group of the novel.” Read more about the Norwich Twenty Group on Wikipedia here.

The George Gently books were adapted as the TV series Inspector George Gently (2008-2017) with actor Martin Shaw in the title role. Very few of the TV episodes are based on the original books though and the characters are quite different. The timeline for the TV series takes place in the 1960s only. A trailer for the first episode can be seen here.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Gently With the Painters (1960) George Gently has recently been promoted to Superintendent, C.I.D. and he is disappointed to find out how little fieldwork a superintendent gets to do. His days are now mostly filled with shuffling paperwork from Inbox to Outbox. When an interesting case of murder amongst the painting crowd pops up in his native Northshire, he begins avidly following the news and trying to come up with a good reason to contact the local inspector in charge.

The victim is a young painter who was a member of the Palette Group. Shirley Johnson was found stabbed to death in a car park after one of the group's meetings. Ironically, the car park adjoins and sits in full view of the police headquarters. There was a bit of a row during that meeting and rumors emerge that Shirley, though married, may have had few extracurricular activities going on with her fellow artists....beyond artwork.

At first it looks like Inspector Hansom has it all sewn up. Although there are surface points that make the case look interesting, it begins to shape up as your standard husband kills wife scenario. Then there is an angry scene at the group's art exhibit which includes a painting by the dead woman and suddenly the Northshire police decide they need to call in the Yard. Gently's boss is all set to send the young and coming Inspector Stephens to take on the case with Gently giving the young inspector a briefing on his old stomping grounds. Gently wangles his way into the investigation and he and Stephens are off to Northshire.

After working their way from Hansom's theory that Johnson did it (and like a dog with a meaty bone, he refuses to give that theory up for long) and then through all the artistic suspects on the list, they come full circle back to Johnson. It looks especially bad when the ex-RAF pilot gives the man assigned to tail him the slip and leads the police on a marry chase via car, taxi, and plane. But is Johnson running from justice or looking for evidence to prove his innocence? Gently has a few ideas on that score....and, like the rebel he's known to be, those ideas may not make either Hansom or Stephens happy.

For some reason that I can't quite pin down I keep coming back to the Gently novels by Alan Hunter. I keep him on my TBF list (To Be Found) and pick the novels up whenever I see them. It must be Gently himself--because I do like George Gently--and Hunter's way with characterization, because I can't say that any of the books I've read so far have had knock-out mysteries. This one is decent, but definitely not fair play (for reasons that I can't mention without spoiling). The very best part is Gently's interactions with one of the suspects and the book has a very exciting penultimate scene worthy of the best chase movies. Another quibble (beyond the non-fair-play) that keeps this from the higher ranks is the dialogue style. There are many instances where I felt that I was overhearing a coded conversation; that there was much being left unsaid that Gently apparently understood and if I only had the code book I would understand the apparent non sequiturs too. That was a bit annoying. I've a few more Gently mysteries on the TBR pile. I'll keep hoping for a masterpiece. ★★★ for a decent police procedural with good characters, fair mystery, and exciting wrap-up.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[David Highton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favourite Gently book, a weaker plot than some of the earlier books, and the cast of characters from 1958 made this one seem particularly dated

[Mumbler · Rating 4 out of 5]

God, I love these books. The sense of place is great.

Here's what was special about this one: through the course of the series, and especially the last few books, there's been a definite profile of the characters who turn out to be the killer. Maybe later I'll specify it, in a spoiler tag. Before reading this book, the thing on mind was, will we get that same killer, essentially, again? Because it's getting too fixed and repetitive.

Early in Gently With The Painters, we meet a character who fits the profile. And throughout the book this character moved in and out of suspicion. At some big moments, the needle really swings to point to them. And then, they were not the killer. And the ways they seemed important to Gently fit together pretty well.

I was delighted. I don't know if this was true, but it felt as if Hunter was of the same mind that the predictable type and psychology of the murderers was becoming a weakness. It seemed as if he played with that, by not merely varying the personality of the murderer, but by using the familiar type as a red herring. And finding a different, fun, resolution for this character, instead.

Another way to view this is that he continued to be fixated on this type of person, and centered the case on their battle of wills with Gently, but varied the formula so that they were not the killer, but a sympathetic person in the end. Either way, I'm really pleased that Hunter made the change that felt so needed it was weighing on my mind in these books. Even though I'm describing this change as manifestly needed, it's hardly a given to find the creator apparently in agreement.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have watched some of the George Gently on tv but hadn't read any of the books until this one which is quite late in the detective's career as he's just been promoted Superintendent and is working out of London.
I would have thought that a thoroughgoing detective would realise that the Superintendent rank is an administrative one, a sort of dispatcher of personnel and supervising of same. Gently seems to have missed that and frets behind the desk helping to set up a raid that will clear up a set of gangs in Poplar (where the midwives are cycling around, no doubt). There is a murder in Norwich, at an art exhibition put on by the local art society and Gently is just waiting for the decision to be made to "call in the Yard>" They do, but it's given to a brand new inspector. After some eyebrow raising Gently is given the job and told to take C.I. Stephens with him.
The plotting is not bad, the characters are vivid, perhaps a little over vivid (our art society leading lights are certainly not as "arty" as St. John Mallows of the Palette Group) and the gobbledegook uttered by one of the members almost made me feel that I had missed an art lecture somewhere along the line. I liked the bit about the Italian paper, though, and nodded all through that.

[Mayumi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The seventh George Gently novel finds the newly-promoted Superintendent Gently assigned to his former stomping grounds of Norchester to investigate the murder of artist Shirley Johnson. A plethora of suspects abound, including Johnson's estranged husband and a slew of rival painters, one of whom especially ignites Gently's curiosity.

This is one of my favorite of the Gently novels. The dialogue is quick, the characters complicated, and the crime twisty-turny with plenty of pockets for red herrings and derring-do. There's even a rollicking action sequence three-quarters of the way through that we don't typically see from Hunter's pen. The story holds a special place on my shelf by virtue of its supporting cast, notably the entertaining St John Mallows, a charming suspect who matches wits with our Superintendent, and Chief Inspector Hansom, who is a delightfully acerbic foil to Gently's methodical thoughtfulness. I wish Hansom showed up more often through these books, though I suppose not every crime can happen on the Broads of the (fictional) Norchester.

The core murder plot meanders a bit, but the journey to get to the end is a fun ride that always keeps me turning the pages no matter how many times I read it.

[Libraryassistant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d like to read some of the earlier books in this series. Gently was a little crotchety is this one, which I think would seem more natural if one followed the progress of his career to this outcome.
There was also more of his gut feeling leading to badgering a witness than a clear deduction from clues. This may be more realistic, but not the method I prefer, lol.
Nonetheless, I did like the overall feel of the writing and immersive experience as a piece of a particular time and place in England.

[Alonzo Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gently has been promoted and now is bored. He wants a nice juicy case out in the country. Fortunately, one of the murderous population in Northshire obliges by dispatching a sexually cosmopolitan painter with an unhappy marriage and the usual bohemian life of a painter. There are loads of suspects. Can Gently interrogate his way to the villain lurking among Gently and the Painters?

As mysteries go, this is pretty ordinary and the solution is really out of left field. However, this has perhaps the finest interrogation sequence I have encountered in a police procedural. Basically, Gently builds a solid theory of the case while hammering a suspect. Then the suspect takes apart the theory, by showing how other results are indeed possible.

A 3 is elevated to a 4 by the brilliance of the midsection. All the interrogations, however, make this well worth the listen.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hadn't come across this series before, and won't bother with any others. I persevered to the end, but there were large amounts of repetition & extremely tedious dialogue which didn't further the action (such as it was), much. Written in 1958 & definitely showing it's age.

[Mirhanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice Detective Work

Once again our George Gently saves the day with his intuition and intelligence, outshining all of his underlings and coworkers.

[Franziska Self Fisken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever and satisfying plot, but the characters though varied, didn't really live in my imagination.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Certainly not one of his best!

[Linda Munroe · Rating 3 out of 5]

#7 in the series. Like the personality of George Gently. In this book the suspects are fellow painters in the painting group of the woman that was murdered.

[Pauline Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the seventh of the series about the genial pipe-smoking George Gently, now promoted to Superintendent, and chafing rather at his desk-bound life. The author is getting into his stride now, and many of the rather dated quirks which enlivened the earlier books have been dropped - no more peppermint creams, for instance, and the investigation is much more conventional - Gently visits various suspects, asks them questions and mulls over the answers. He even philosophises over his approach, describing it as more art than science. There are still meals, fortunately; I do enjoy Gently’s hearty meals. Grapefruit, followed by liver and bacon for breakfast, then toast and marmalade. Lunch is naturally a multi-course affair - soup, steak, new potatoes and peas, followed by apple turnover and 'custard sauce'. Not quite as vintage as the brown Windsor soup of a previous book, but still entertainingly large.

The other vintage aspect of these books (these early ones were written in the mid to late fifties) is the attitude to women. Female characters are never regarded as being worthy of attention. They may have evidence to impart, like Dolly the barmaid (addressed simply as 'Miss'), or they may be right in the middle of the action, like the girlfriend (addressed respectfully as 'Miss Butters' because her father is someone of importance; the class system is alive and well), but they are otherwise ignored. One woman who takes a car and drives off in it causes a tremor of alarm in the policemen: you mean she was on her own, they cry plaintively. A woman who dislikes her husband is inevitably thought to be a lesbian (even though there's absolutely no evidence of it). Often the women are portrayed as being on the verge of hysteria. The girlfriend would be a prime suspect in any rational story of this type, but it never occurs to anyone to investigate that angle. A woman of that era could probably get away with literal murder because no one would imagine her capable of it.

The actual perpetrator of the crime is not terribly surprising, although there's a lot of obfuscation along the way to avoid revealing the identity too soon. Gently, of course, guesses it early on and then, Poirot-like, spends time circling around in a slightly underhand sort of way. I have to say, though, that the murderer's motivation was not terribly convincing. And for all the comments about how clever he was, it always seems to me to be fairly stupid rushing round after the crime trying to pin it on other people. Nevertheless, this was one of the better books of this series. The attempts at dialect have almost entirely gone (not quite, sadly), the investigation depends less on lucky breaks than before and Gently himself is now a much more believable character. Three stars.

[Alan Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the George Gently detective series and is rather plodding and dull. The characters are too stereotyped to be truely real and, as a consequence, it is difficult to take them seriously. 

A further problem is that the novel is now too dated. Some of the references no longer click and it is difficult to feel the menace of a criminal who is referred to as "chummie".

Product Description

The death of a young artist leaves Gently desperately piecing together the portrait of a murderer. When artist Shirley Johnson is murdered and her body dumped outside a provincial police headquarters, Gently is despatched from London to Northshire to take over the investigation. The prime suspect appears to be the woman's husband, a former bomber pilot with a guilty secret, but the other members of the woman's art group also have strong views about her and her controversial final painting - Dark Destroyer. With so many suspects to consider, Gently must get to the bottom of the mystery before the murderer manages to slip through his fingers. Praise for Alan Hunter's "Gently" books: "It is always a pleasure to look forward to another "Gently" book by Alan Hunter...". ("Police Review").

About the Author

Alan Hunter was born in Hoveton, Norfolk in 1922. He left school at the age of 14 to work on his father's farm, spending his spare time sailing on the Norfolk Broads and writing nature notes for the Eastern Evening News. He also wrote poetry, some of which was published while he was in the RAF during World War II. By 1950, he was running his own book shop in Norwich and in 1955, he wrote the first of 45 George Gently novels. He died in 2005 aged 82.

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I once again found myself returning to George Gently, and I am slightly disappointed.

Although overall entertaining I couldn't help but find myself bored and frustrated at parts with pointless descriptions and a monologue lasting an entire page. It's a shame that this has been done, or was it perhaps the era they were written? Hard to say, but I feel a little part of this story could have been cut. I found myself dozing at one point, Around the middle of the book, and only began to find excitement in the closing chapters.

Whilst I am not expecting adrenalin fuelled gun fights etc, it would be nice to escape from what feels like the same monotony of repeated 'cases'.

Like I say enjoyable, but treat with caution.

[Lucy Barnhouse · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do like Inspector Gently, but this book was a disappointment. Both plot and characterization are thin, and the gift for atmosphere I enjoyed in earlier volumes of the series was not on display. More jarringly, the entire plot was remarkably misogynistic. The murder victim, an intelligent painter, is spoken of in scandalized tones by the men who knew her as a repressed/closeted lesbian. How do they think they know? It's unclear, and this repeated assertion, of unclear relevance to the plot, felt rather prurient.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman (part of a group of artists) is murdered very close to a police station and her husband instantly becomes the main suspect. Gently (newly promoted to Superintendent) becomes involved in the case and starts to cast doubts on the assumptions made.

The characters were believable and the story line and writing were good. Unfortunately the final announcement of the killer didn’t ring true – but still an entertaining way to spend a few hours.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first time for ages I haven't finished a book - by half way through I didn't even care enough to find out the solution. Gently has lost all of his individual mannerisms and spends a lot of time listening to a very boring and self absorbed painter with apparent admiration and approbation. I found the writing slightly turgid and the characterisations lacking in depth and continuity.

[Gloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It is dated in a way, but that, for me, adds to it's charm. I cannot read a George Gently book without picturing Martin Shaw as Gently and that also adds to the pleasure :-)
I look forward to reading the next one in due course.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this a couple of days ago and I seem to have nearly forgotten it already. I'm afraid I was influenced by the awful cover. I have really enjoyed the other Gently books that I've read, but this one was not up to snuff.

[Jenine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Entirely forgettable. Sexist and period in a particular English way. I sort of enjoyed it.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Gently, newly promoted to Superintendent, solves another mystery in Eastern England

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read, but I felt the author cheated with the murderer, having hardly mentioned him and certainly not as a possible suspect through the book.

[Carolyn Hammond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the Gently series, but this is not one of my favorites.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My response to this mystery... Meh.

[Cece · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new old mystery writer!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

another good solid 50/60 era crime novel

[Lynne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very dated and he did not make his characters stand out enough.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Completely unfair! I'm never going to read this author again.