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Major Mearns and Sergeant Denny #2
Dread Murder
In the court of King George IV, Major Mearns---an old dog of war and veteran of Willington's army---is the guardian of Windsor Castle. Some would call him a spy; he calls himself a "watcher." Working with his close friend, the resourceful Sergeant Denny, the pair maintain a cool facade behind which they go about their duties quietly and unnoticed.
Unnoticed, that is, until the day Mearns receives a parcel containing a gruesome a pair of severed human legs. The legs belong to a fellow soldier. Casting aside official protocol, Mearns and Denny decide to investigate the murder themselves, also enrolling the help of a precocious young runaway, Charlie. But soon these maverick investigators find themselves up against all manner of obstacles and danger, not the least of which is the Crown Keepers of the Peace---a unit of former soldiers headed by Mearns's nemesis, Felix Ferguson.
With more butchered body parts turning up in parcels and the number of deaths rising, our amateur investigators find themselves up to their necks in corruption and intrigue. Mearns struggles to keep Ferguson at bay, not only during the investigation, but also for the affections of the desirable Mindy, a maidservant in the castle. With the pressure on, can Mearns get to the bottom of the murders and win the heart of his ladylove?
With Dread Murder, Gwendoline Butler delivers a cleverly cunning and old-fashioned mystery that hides a gruesome murder behind its charming facade.
Unnoticed, that is, until the day Mearns receives a parcel containing a gruesome a pair of severed human legs. The legs belong to a fellow soldier. Casting aside official protocol, Mearns and Denny decide to investigate the murder themselves, also enrolling the help of a precocious young runaway, Charlie. But soon these maverick investigators find themselves up against all manner of obstacles and danger, not the least of which is the Crown Keepers of the Peace---a unit of former soldiers headed by Mearns's nemesis, Felix Ferguson.
With more butchered body parts turning up in parcels and the number of deaths rising, our amateur investigators find themselves up to their necks in corruption and intrigue. Mearns struggles to keep Ferguson at bay, not only during the investigation, but also for the affections of the desirable Mindy, a maidservant in the castle. With the pressure on, can Mearns get to the bottom of the murders and win the heart of his ladylove?
With Dread Murder, Gwendoline Butler delivers a cleverly cunning and old-fashioned mystery that hides a gruesome murder behind its charming facade.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published March 23, 2006
9 people want to read
About the author
Gwendoline Butler
89 books19 followersGwendoline Williams Butler (aka Jennie Melville)
Gwendoline Williams was born on 19th August 1922 in South London, England, UK, daughter of Alice (Lee) and Alfred Edward Williams, her younger twin brothers are also authors. Educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read History, and later lectured there. On 16th October 1949, she married Dr Lionel Harry Butler (1923-1981), a professor of medieval history at University of St. Andrews and historian, Fellow of All Souls and Principal of Royal Holloway College. The marriage had a daughter, Lucilla Butler.
In 1956, she started to published John Coffin novels under her married name, Gwendoline Butler. In 1962, she decided used her grandmother's name, Jennie Melville as pseudonym to sign her Charmian Daniels novels. She was credited for inventing the "woman's police procedural". In addition to her mystery series, she also wrote romantic novels. In 1981, her novel The Red Staircase won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Gwendoline Williams was born on 19th August 1922 in South London, England, UK, daughter of Alice (Lee) and Alfred Edward Williams, her younger twin brothers are also authors. Educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read History, and later lectured there. On 16th October 1949, she married Dr Lionel Harry Butler (1923-1981), a professor of medieval history at University of St. Andrews and historian, Fellow of All Souls and Principal of Royal Holloway College. The marriage had a daughter, Lucilla Butler.
In 1956, she started to published John Coffin novels under her married name, Gwendoline Butler. In 1962, she decided used her grandmother's name, Jennie Melville as pseudonym to sign her Charmian Daniels novels. She was credited for inventing the "woman's police procedural". In addition to her mystery series, she also wrote romantic novels. In 1981, her novel The Red Staircase won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 2, 2025
Oh dear, what can I say? Enid Blyton with bloodshed? It doesn't tingle, it certainly doesn't sparkle. There is little atmosphere. We are in King George IV's Windsor in the early nineteenth-century. Apart from the rats and the growing pile of bodies it could be Surbiton in the 1970s. The characters struggle: Major Mearns, a slow-witted Sherlock Holmes who is over fond of the burgundy pilfered from His Majesty's wine cellar, spots the blindingly obvious only when it is pushed under his nose by his side-kick and adult Artful Dodger, Denny, while Mindy, a Windsor Castle seamstress who attracts the attentions of both the Major and Denny, is described thus: "she was their friend for whom they felt a warm affection," and that is about as hot as any sexual shenanigans get. There are a variety of actors and theatricals all with loose morals and one of the men simultaneously likes dressing in drag and cuddling young boys; and there is a villain and his villainous henchman whose aptitude for villainy stands out a mile.
Then there is young Charlie who first appears on page 29 and flutters around through the rest of the plot. The author drops hints regularly as to his identity. He meets Mr. Pickettwick, befriends a maltreated boy called Spike - in Dotheboys Hall he was called Smike - enters a theatrical costumiers' shop owned by Messrs. Dombey and Son, and at one point holds out his hand and says to the Major, "Please sir, I want some more," though, like a sensible lad, he is asking for money rather than gruel. It is as if the author is saying, "You'll never guess who young Charlie really is." Actually we will, from the moment on page 64 when he recalls running away from a blacking factory. But the thing is, it doesn't matter who he will grow up to be. It has no bearing on the plot. He's little more than a space filler.
There are plenty of historical factoids, as one would expect from an author who read History at Oxford, about George IV, Fanny Burney, Mrs. Fitzherbert, Windsor Castle, and so on, but nothing to hold a murder mystery together. It takes more than flowing or congealed blood, a severed head, dismembered limbs, throat cutting and murdered babies thrown in here and there to make a decent crime novel. The detective is dull, the villain couldn't be more obvious if he stood on a street corner twirling his moustache, and Charlie is annoying. And does a happy ever after ending really suit a tale of bloodletting and callous butchery however poorly told?
Then there is young Charlie who first appears on page 29 and flutters around through the rest of the plot. The author drops hints regularly as to his identity. He meets Mr. Pickettwick, befriends a maltreated boy called Spike - in Dotheboys Hall he was called Smike - enters a theatrical costumiers' shop owned by Messrs. Dombey and Son, and at one point holds out his hand and says to the Major, "Please sir, I want some more," though, like a sensible lad, he is asking for money rather than gruel. It is as if the author is saying, "You'll never guess who young Charlie really is." Actually we will, from the moment on page 64 when he recalls running away from a blacking factory. But the thing is, it doesn't matter who he will grow up to be. It has no bearing on the plot. He's little more than a space filler.
There are plenty of historical factoids, as one would expect from an author who read History at Oxford, about George IV, Fanny Burney, Mrs. Fitzherbert, Windsor Castle, and so on, but nothing to hold a murder mystery together. It takes more than flowing or congealed blood, a severed head, dismembered limbs, throat cutting and murdered babies thrown in here and there to make a decent crime novel. The detective is dull, the villain couldn't be more obvious if he stood on a street corner twirling his moustache, and Charlie is annoying. And does a happy ever after ending really suit a tale of bloodletting and callous butchery however poorly told?
March 20, 2021
A great ambience of Windsor Castle where Major Mearns and Sergeant Denny are guardians, or as they call themselves, watchers - who report to Lord Castlereagh.
Unidentified body parts arrive addressed to Major Mearns and this starts a hunt for who the victim is and how he ended up in pieces.
Young Charlie, a wanderer from London, turns up to assist and with a whole host of characters flitting in and out of the pages, the mystery deepens when a murder takes place, followed by two others.
As in all good mysteries, Mearns and Denny eventually unmask the killer and everyone lives happily ever after!
Unidentified body parts arrive addressed to Major Mearns and this starts a hunt for who the victim is and how he ended up in pieces.
Young Charlie, a wanderer from London, turns up to assist and with a whole host of characters flitting in and out of the pages, the mystery deepens when a murder takes place, followed by two others.
As in all good mysteries, Mearns and Denny eventually unmask the killer and everyone lives happily ever after!
October 2, 2023
Even the use of a young Charles Dickens as a character is not enough to keep my interest.
September 22, 2021
This book takes place at Windsor during the reign of British King George IV. There are a series of murders which must be solved but there is competition as to who should be in charge of solving them. Quietly,and with the help of a young boy any lady in waiting and actress the murderer is identified by two “watchers” and the true reason for the original competition revealed.
December 2, 2023
Very light weight, easy read for mystery fans and I know she's been highly successful but I thought it was all over the place with new characters constantly being brought in right up to the end. 'Charlie' was one character that seemed to take over the narrative, she was obviously very taken with this trope, the tongue in cheek references to his later life got a little stale.
May 17, 2017
Got through a couple of chapters - terrifically boring
May 6, 2021
Absolutely charming book. Light-hearted.
May 23, 2021
Meh. No charm. Just boring. Didn't get very far before I quit.
January 9, 2022
A cozy little mystery. Cute, takes place in Windsor. Wraps up at the very end rather quickly. Not an ending the reader can discern before the last chapter. A quick wrap up.
August 1, 2022
A great idea having a child - Charles Dickens- it’s a comfy meandering read.
February 23, 2013
I wanted something lighter to lift my mood after chemotherapy and Gladstone and Disraeli heaviness. I had read this author's Coffin mysteries earlier, so I picked this one up. It's a historical mystery set in Georgian England (18th C), George IV's court, to be exact. It was ok, but not a great read.
April 14, 2012
Takes place in Windsor, England during the reign of King George IV. A fairly decent murder mystery - but not nearly as immersive as Allyn's 'The Cavalier of the Apocalypse'. Interesting twist regarding historic identity of a key character, revealed at the end of the book.
February 21, 2012
Not the most riveting of reads, it was ok
January 20, 2015
Not my style of murder mystery, but the characters do grow on you. It gets better if you keep reading. Sometimes it is painfully cheesy.
February 7, 2016
was a good book
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews