Postman's Knock

Inspector Pitt #1

by J.F. Straker

Grange Road is a lovely place to live — u ntil a sudden disappearance triggers blackmail and murder.

On a wretched afternoon in December, the residents of Grange Road impatiently await the arrival of the postman. But none of them are destined to receive the day’s mail. For halfway through his round, he disappears without a trace.

Detective Inspector Pitt is enjoying a rare day of leave when he gets the call. Reluctantly, he meets his sergeant at the post office, where Pitt starts to unravel the mystery.

The Grange Road residents are unwilling to help Pitt as they’ve all got something to hide. Then the mystery takes a lethal turn when one of them is found with a bullet through his head.

Can Inspector Pitt untangle the secrets of Grange Road before anyone else dies?

Postman’s Knock is a 1950s village murder mystery. A good old-fashioned whodunnit, perfect for fans of golden age detectives.

Genres: Mystery

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[Andria Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me. 3 ⭐.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a bit to get into this one: too many characters au debut, many of them unpleasant, Inspector Pitt was slow to impress, and the plot is [overly] complicated. However, I stuck with it, and it turned out to be a good enough read.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with one of the other reviewers that the large number of protagonists at the beginning of the book makes it difficult to remember who is who. Other than that it is a reasonable police procedural with a decent plot but nothing special. Inspector Pitt is bit bland though. I may try another of the series.

[Belinda Earl Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where Is the Postman?

It’s a rainy December evening in December on Grange Road. Miss Plant has just arrived for tea at Mrs. Gill’s house, No. 24. Her friend is sitting in the window watching the neighborhood as she often does.
The ladies have tea and talk together. Mrs. Gill observes that the postman is late, perhaps the rain has delayed him. Miss Plant says that she saw him pass her house, but left nothing for her.
She adds that it wasn’t their regular postman, Mr. Gofer, but a much shorter man unknown to her. The ladies go on to have a good time, talking about their neighbors and looking for the postman, but he never come.
The next day the postman is reported as missing! His boss describes him as a taciturn, odd, but extremely reliable and punctual person.
Now the local police are looking for him diligently! Where is the postman?
One of the police officers called to investigate is Detective Sergeant Dick Ponsford. His brother-in-law Richard Aloysius Pitt is on leave visiting Dick and Wendy, his wife, and Pitt’s sister. When asked if he’d like to join him when first called out, Pitt responds with a definite no. Then he’s called back off leave to aid in the investigation.
Read Postman’s Knock to find out where the postman is!
❤️✝️✡️❤️

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although on holiday Inspector Pitt is called in to investigate the disappearance of a postman when doing his rounds. Disappearing while working on Grange Road with his delivery. Has he absconded, being kidnapped or killed.
Originally written in 1954 this is an enjoyable, well-written mystery. A good start to the series.

[robert cummins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn good read!

This was a particularly interesting story, as I am a retired Postal worker, American but still we have similar issues to deal with, was glad of the twists and turns in the story and didn't work out who the guilty party was. Very entertaining!

[Jarvis J. Kerr]

Twist and turn

Enjoyable read with a clutch of distinct characters. A parody mirroring a typical neighborhood . Followed by the hidden outcome. Alert for more Striker's work.

[Lindsey Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really hoping for a "golden age" type story. This was a basic telling of a story with little characterisation and no real trail of clues to follow. Passed a few rainy hours but could see no real merit in it.

[Judy Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a dark and stormy night. Haven't you always wanted to start a review with that sentence? Well, in Grange Road in this small English village it wasn't necessarily stormy but the rain was teeming down and everybody who could be was sitting in front of their fire anticipating a hot cup of tea and light refreshment to hold them until dinner. What comes next should be the postman knocking on the door to signal the afternoon mail has arrived. Some residents of Grange Road heard the postman and got their letters, others could only wonder what was making him so late. Finally the postmaster at Tanmouth calls in the police when the postman hasn't turned up by 6 pm. That's when Detective Inspector Richard Aloysius Pitt (called Loy by his friends and family) reluctantly teams up with his brother-in-law Detective Sergeant Dick Ponsford to try to find where the postman and his bag of mail have gotten off to. After all, Loy is supposed to be enjoying a few quiet days of leave before Christmas sitting by the fire at his sister's home. However, the Superintendent's direct order can't be ignored so off goes Loy out into the rainy evening. The investigation turns up plenty of secrets lurking behind the front doors of the cottages on Grange Road, but nobody knows where the postman is.

Previously published in 2005, this novel is one of the many being digitized by Endeavour Press for the enjoyment of those of us who #1- love mystery novels, and #2 - love to read on our electronic devices. Endeavour Press is making it so much easier for me to find these old fashioned feeling mysteries. In this one Loy and Dick are part of a novel which very much has the feeling of something written during the 1920, 1930 time periods and that is exactly what I was looking for. Plus, I had added atmosphere because it was cold and pouring rain outside my own home as I read this story. I lost count of the number of cups of tea I drank. Author J F Straker set the atmosphere with a large enough group of neighbors with aspects of their private lives varied enough to keep the criminal well concealed. There is no technology here, just policemen who understand human nature and who are very good at uncovering secrets others want concealed. This was a pleasurable reading experience for me and I will definitely be searching out more digitized versions of the work of this author.

[Em Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in 1954, this book has all the charm of being written at that time. It does have a large cast though--you will need to take care when reading about the residents of Grange Road at the start in order to remember who's who! But, this is a thoroughly entertaining read for fans of the good old-fashioned 'whodunnit', with plenty of red herrings thrown in throughout to keep you guessing; even if, like me, you thought you had the killer sussed, the big reveal is a good one.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, a bit Miss Marpleish so a bit slow and tame for me.