A Necessary End

Inspector Peach #18

by J.M. Gregson

Alfred Norbury is a learned man. He is never afraid to display his erudition, but he is generous in his encouragement of younger people. The people who assemble around him to form a reading club are also learned. Some of them are simply well-read, whilst others have formal qualifications which rival those of Norbury.

But learning is no protection against violence. Murder arrives suddenly, brutally and unexpectedly. The investigation led by Detective Chief Inspector Percy Peach and Detective Sergeant Northcott reveals several people with good reason to hate the victim. They range from the young man who was his latest protégé to the two women forty years older whose lives were radically damaged by him a decade earlier. Peach tackles the case, and the people involved in it, with his normal ebullience. The solution when he arrives at it is both unexpected and moving.

Genres: Mystery, British Literature

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2015

About the author

James Michael Gregson taught for twenty-seven years in schools, colleges and universities before concentrating on full-time writing. He has written books on subjects as diverse as golf and Shakespeare.

Reviews

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enid Frott attends the funeral of her former boss who was also her lover for many years. She finds herself in a potentially difficult situation talking to Frank's widow at the social event after the funeral. On the spur of the moment she mentions that she is thinking of starting a book club and wonders whether Sharon would like to be part of it. Enid is astounded at her onw behaviour but decides that the past is the past and in different circumstances she could have been friends with Sharon anyway.

The idea might have dissolved into the mists if Sharon hadn't taken her up on it and they decide to invite a few well chosen people to start the ball rolling including Alfred Norbury - someone they both know. Alfred can be controversial and both women feel he will help to keep discussions moving.

This is a bit different from the normal Percy Peach mystery in that it concentrates almost exclusively on the members of the books club and the reader sees very little of the police work apart from the interviews with the five remaining members of the book club after Norbury is murdered.

I found the book fascinating and entertaining reading and while I did work out who the murderer was I hadn't fully worked out why the murder was committed. I must say the victim did seem to be the ideal candidate for murder as he was thoroughly dislikeable. This is a well written and well plotted crime story and I recommend it to anyone who likes crime novels without too much violence or bad language and with interesting characters and plots.

[John Hardy · Rating 2 out of 5]

DCI Peach #18. I have read this before I joined GR, and have also read others in the series. Perhaps I have become more critical but I didn't like this one. I didn't remember the ending, but twigged from the actions of one of the suspects. These are limited to the members of the initial meeting of a book club. The first half of the book deals with these characters, and I found the dialogue to be a little too sharp for reality. Guessing and second-guessing, double and triple thinking, all seemed contrived. When the character we have learned to hate is killed, DCI Peach and DS Northcott start boring in on the members. I just found the interrogations to be mainly bullying and overbearing, maybe not the best way to get at the facts. They seemed to be more interested in the suspects' opinions. Oh well, there have to be red herrings in a mystery.
I think the series has become tired, and I won't look for any later ones.
Rating 2.2.

[NIGEL HAYES · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring boring boring

I purchased this book to read about Inspector Peach but found he didn't appear until almost the last half of the book . The first half centred around the book club characters who were the suspects. I know we need to know the suspects but does it really need half a book to describe them. If you can't do better than this Mr Gregson go back to writing Lambert and Hook books they are a far better partnership than Peach and Clyde. You spoiled it by Peach getting married. Clyde doesn't work for me.

[Pkd · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like any of the stiff characters. Plot went nowhere. Tried skipping ahead to see if it picked up. Still lifeless.

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The actual mystery doesn't even start until around page 50. There are way too many point of view shifts. I found it difficult to care much about any of the characters including the lead inspector. The ending was also rather unsatisfying.

I gave it a two instead of one, because it did give a lot of detail into the minds of a couple of the characters. I didn't like them much, but I knew them pretty well by the end of the book.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A waspish literary dilettante is killed shortly after joining a book club. Detective Chief Inspector Percy Peach targets the other members of the club. It's fairly clear, I think, what the surprise ending will be. The mildly amusing police procedurals featuring Peach are usually a reliably enjoyable read. For some reason, I found this one rather flat.

[Margaret]

Couldn't get into this one. Too much scene setting and not enough crime.

The baiting of Bulstrode is also starting to become distinctly unfunny.