The Case of the Seven Whistlers

Chief Inspector Littlejohn #6

by George Bellairs

A body in a trunk draws Thomas Littlejohn of Scotland Yard to a peculiar English village

On a cobblestoned street almost too quaint to be believed, two antique dealers named Grossman and Small have set up shop. Grossman is short and meek, while Small is large and brutish, but their partnership seems happy enough until the day when old Miss Adlestrop purchases the large oak chest in the window and finds Mr. Grossman stuffed inside it—stone dead.

The cozy English hamlet is thrown into an uproar, overwhelming the local constabulary and requiring the services of Detective-Inspector Thomas Littlejohn. Cool-headed and never in a hurry, Littlejohn has solved his fair share of village murder cases. But when the key to the fatal chest goes missing, Littlejohn discovers the community to be so infested with jealousies and secrets that he begins to envy the dead man.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, British Literature, Golden Age Mystery, 20th Century

382 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

AKA Hilary Landon
George Bellairs is the nom de plume of Harold Blundell, a crime writer and bank manager born in Heywood, near Rochdale, Lancashire, who settled in the Isle of Man on retirement. He wrote more than 50 books, most featuring the series' detective Inspector Littlejohn. He also wrote four novels under the alternative pseudonym Hilary Landon.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just re-read, my original review as below still stands-

Inspector Littlejohn is called in to investigate the death of the proprietor of an antique shop, whose body arrives at the home of a customer in an old, oaken chest.

Bellairs in his usual inimitable witty way describes all the characters so well that you feel you know them.

For example -

The Coroner, Mr Emmanuel Querk, was tall, thin and had a peculiar head. It was only a little broader than his long neck and ended in a point from which a fringe of downy grey hair spread like a curtain over his neck and ears. He wore old fashioned spring pince-nez and looked very obstinate, which he was.

or-

Small was an enormous man with a huge paunch which hung between his knees when he was sitting. He had solid limbs like the branches of an old tree and a round florid face. His head was shaped like an orange and was topped by a brown ill-fitting wig. His thick, sloppy lips, large roman nose and ill-fitting clothes finished off an appearance more like that of a shady broker's man than an expert in old furniture and prints.

or-

"Deelighted to meet you.....Deelighted" said Mr Troyte. He had a pug dog's teeth, as well, and his voice came from straight behind them, a sort of wuffing noise, thick and unctuous. Like one of Walt Disney's large benevolent animals. It gave you a queer sort of feeling when he gave tongue. As though a pet dog suddenly started to articulate.

Brilliant stuff!!

Most enjoyable and thoroughly recommended!!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do enjoy the comic descriptions of the characters in many of the Bellairs books, and this one fits into that category of finding the strangest people in strange places where Inspector Littlejohn is called in to discover the truth. The beginning is brilliantly imagined with a gathering of women in a home where a very special delivery is to be made. The older woman of the house had purchased a new piece of furniture, and it was delivered in the middle of the circle of women with a very special added feature - that of a dead body.
This one has a long list of colorful potential evil doers and Littlejohn comes close to his own end when he discovers who engineered the murder and why.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs. Adlestrop gleefully purchased a decorative box at the antique store, The Seven Whisters. Mrs. Adlestrop took the only key with her expecting delivery of the box which was to come by a local train the next day. When it was delivered, the man who sold her the box was found dead inside. The local police are befuddled and Littlejohn is called in from Scotland Yard. This seems to be a takeoff on a locked room mystery scenario.

This is definitely Golden Age Mystery. Do only the most dedicated of that period know of George Bellairs? I suggest he should be better known. It's been almost a year to the day since I last read a title in this series. Too long! As far as I can tell, the series does not have to be read in order. I do have another planned in the next few weeks, but it's possible others than I'm anxious to read will take it's place. If so, I'll keep slotting them in my quarterly plan. I'm happy to give this one 4-stars.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange mixture

It’s a very odd book. It’s readable but very dated with the casual racism of its time. The theme is dark with post war depression and poverty. In addition, the book starts with a very complex set of unpleasant characters many of whom are irrelevant to the story which results in the 3 star rating. However the denouement is tautly written and suspenseful. A strange mix indeed.

[EuroHackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chief Inspector Littlejohn worked this case alone, and seemed to spend most of this slim novel chasing his own tail. He developed a deep distaste for the entire situation, and so did I. It's never fun when the answer is that the investigating police superintendent is the murderer. Littlejohn feels especially stupid because he'd shared all of the details of his thoughts about the case with the murderer and didn't catch on until the end. In this case, it also didn't make sense because the superintendent did it because he was having an affair with a much younger woman, and he himself is described as basically being a walking cadaver - so thanks a lot (not!) to the author for putting that image in my head.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brit wit

It started out with me highlighting laugh-out-loud sections and ended up sort of sad for Littlejohn. I enjoy reading about the relationship between he and his wife. They seem to actually like one another, which is pleasant.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mysteries where characters count.

Reading Bellairs' wonderful mysteries, I wonder why he never became a famous name in the genre. His books were steady-sellers, but never as popular as Christie, Mitchell, Sayers, or Allingham. Was it that he started writing during WWII, when paper was scarce and publishers were limited in the publicity they could give a new author? Was it because English readers were accustomed to female names on mysteries? Did they expect a male author to write "hard-boiled" mysteries or spy thrillers?

For his time, Bellairs had an unusual approach to mystery writing. At first, it seems that he's gossiping about his eccentric characters instead of getting down the task of solving the mystery. That he places humor above detective skills. As I read more of his books, I see a definite pattern. His emphasis on his characters and their personal lives wasn't an excuse to take cheap shots at them. Rather, the answer to the mystery is revealed as we come to know more about the characters.

Instead of furnishing us with stock characters, a mathematically-plotted puzzle, alibis to be broken, and a lot of red herrings (Christie's specialty), Bellairs takes us inside the characters' lives until we know enough about them to decide the likelihood of their involvement in murder. An alibi can be faked, but motives come from the details of a person's life that can't be concealed during a thorough investigation. Isn't that how police solve most crimes? Not from brilliant deductions, but from patient investigation?

In this case, a vacationing woman buys a wooden chest at an antique shop in Fetling-on-the-Sea and has it shipped to her home. When the chest is opened, there's a nasty surprise inside.

Fetling is a self-consciously quaint village designed to charm tourists out of their money. Miss Adelstrope is a regular visitor and likes to shop at "The Sign of the Seven Whistlers" where the cultured owner Mr. Grossman is both knowledgeable and a damned good salesman. He's elegantly dressed, beautifully mannered, and pleased with himself.

The local authorities are happy to turn the matter over to Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Littlejohn. It's a complicated case. The victim disappeared from his home in Fetling and reappeared (dead) in the small village of Hartsbury. To further complicate matters, it looks like he was killed on the train between the two places. Most puzzling, his body was put into a locked chest, which was then re-locked, while the only known key never left Miss Adelstrop's purse.

England is just emerging from WWII and society is in chaos. Men are being "demobbed" from the army and returning to their civilian occupations. Some were criminals before the war and not likely to have reformed. The county police are busy investigating a rash of jewel thefts and Littlejohn is welcome to the murder investigation.

No one had any of the usual motives for murdering Mr. Grossman, so the Inspector has to dig deeply into his life, which was more complicated than his neighbors suspected. His foul-tempered partner is a natural suspect, but seems unlikely to be able to run the store profitably on his own. Besides, he has one of those air-tight alibis.

How about the partner's niece, who works in the shop? An unlikable woman - sullen, slovenly, and on-the-make. She has a husband in the background, but it doesn't slow her down. Her alibi is as shaky as her morals. Does she have a secret?

As always, Littlejohn patiently goes about his task, interviewing people in both Fetling and Hartsbury, as well as the railroad employees. When he learns Mr. Grossman was a frequent visitor to London, Sergeant Cromwell must stare down the haughty staff at the up-scale hotel where the antique dealer stayed while in the capital.

Like his boss, Cromwell talks to everyone and an interview with a hotel maid yields a valuable piece of information - Mr. Grossman had a love life! Furthermore, his lady-love had more than one BF on the string. Love letters can be dangerous, especially when written by a married man.

Littlejohn and Superintendent GIllespie work well together in spite of the local man's oddities. Littlejohn is invited to visit the Gillespie home to meet the formidable Mrs. Gillespie. Happily married himself, the Inspector is sorry for the hen-pecked husband, but he's not there as a marriage counselor.

He interviews a banker and learns one of the people involved has made unexplained deposits recently. Extortion? Selling illegal goods? Receiving stolen property? Could this be a clue to the murder motive and was more than one person involved?

I kept changing my mind about the guilty party, which was obviously the author's intention and shows his skill. When all the clues point to one person, I was as sorry as Littlejohn himself. Bellairs was a man with a strong moral compass which is reflected in his books. He knew even decent people can commit terrible crimes. He was a subtle, thoughtful writer and I'm glad to have discovered his books. They're faithful, entertaining depictions of small town English life in the post-WWII period.

[Roddy Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had discovered George Bellairs sooner. This is marvellous vintage stuff.
Miss Adlestrop buys a large wooden trunk at The Seven Whistlers, a curiously named antiques shop in Fetling-on-Sea, owned and run by a mismatched pair of individuals called Small and Grossman.
The trunk is duly packed up, but when it arrives with the buyer during an 'At Home' morning for the Hartsbury Women's Guild there is a lot of fainting, screaming and face-slapping when the trunk is unlocked to reveal the lifeless body of Mr Grossman.
Inspector Littlejohn is assigned to the investigation.
I should explain that when I read novels from the Thirties to the Sixties I tend to read them in my head as black and white movies, cast with stars of the day. Inspector Littlejohn almost immediately was portrayed by Alec Guinness, wearing a long raincoat and a trilby. That worked remarkably well.
Bellairs, much like R Austin Freeman, but employing the technique far more extensively and to greater effect, paints wonderful vignettes of minor characters. Bellair has a very acute ear for speech patterns and mannerisms. These sometimes almost superfluous asides - such as Littlejohn's interview with a maid at her lodgings which includes the background conversation of her officious landlady arguing with another tenant about taking female visitors up to his room - lift and enrich this novel enormously.
There is an interview at the police station with a Mr and Mrs Hollis which is sheer joy to read, with the diminutive but fearful Mrs Hollis talking incessantly without seemingly have to pause while her enormous hulking husband says only 'Yusss!' and bangs his fist on the table during the rare breaks in her tirade. Some of the characters may be caricatures but they are superbly crafted caricatures with a whiff of actual reality to them.
The plot is dealt with just as efficiently and I only worked out who murdered Grossman and why at the same time Littlejohn did, which is very near the end.
I think Belllairs may well become an obsession.

[Vivienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Great Story from the Pen of George Bellairs – 4.5 rounded up to 5

This is the second book by George Bellairs I have read. I have to skip some because they are too pricey but as I don’t intend to read the whole series, it makes little difference as each book is a stand-alone novel. As the blurb says, Messrs Small and Grossman are antique dealers, assisted by Mrs Doakes who is Small’s niece. Mr Grossman is a small, dainty man, while Mr Small is gross, morbidly obese in today’s terms, and this playing with his characters’ names is continued by the author with the name of the antique shop. I will leave that for readers to discover for themselves (although I doubt it would be written today).

It is when we get to the finding of Mr Grossman, complete with P.C. Donald Puddiphatt and the ladies of Hartsbury Women’s Guild at little Miss Adlestrop’s ‘At Home’, that I laughed ‘til I cried. It is not very long until Scotland Yard is called in and Detective-Inspector Littlejohn travels to Fetling-on-Sea, the county headquarters. The characterisations are superb and the scene with Mrs and Mr Hollis and Inspector Littlejohn in chapter 9 is priceless. The police know how Mr Grossman died, and when, but they are completely stumped when it comes to motive. After some time, Littlejohn begins to see where there might be a motive - and then another body turns up, and Inspector Littlejohn begins to see an inkling of the truth.

Bellairs had that fine, understated, dry sense of humour, combined with a biting wit that is so characteristic of the British, and was an acute observer of human foibles. The pacing is reasonable and the writing is excellent. I really enjoyed this book and the ending comes as a partial surprise. Just to mention, I didn’t really see that the jealousy and secret-infested community in the blurb really comes into the story.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Seven Whistlers is neither a singing group nor a pub; instead, it is a junk shop with antique-shop aspirations. The shop is run by two partners — the diminutive, persnickety, dapper Isadore Grossman and his hard-drinking, large brother-in-law Mr. Small. Shortly after selling a chest to spinster Selina Adlestrop, Grossman turns up dead in that very chest.

Summoned to assist, Detective-Inspector Thomas Littlejohn realizes that Grossman must have been murdered on the train when he was on the way to London and the chest was on the way to Miss Adlestrop’s cottage.

George Bellairs’ mysteries usually have plenty of twists, but The Case of the Seven Whistlers has more than most. I was gripped by the novel to the very end. I cannot wait to plunge into the rest of the series!

[Andréa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect that ending...

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I should have done my research first, since I do not usually start with #6 in a series.
I also gather from other readers that this one is not among Bellairs' best. It certainly fell a bit short for me in all respects. It's an okay read, I guess, but in the British genre of Scotland Yard stories, this one would fall way down on the list.

The plot is only moderately interesting, and moves very slowly. A central question is how a corpse got into a box for which there is only a single key. That, like the classic locker room plots, could have been interesting. But there are too many issues along with this one, and this is not the kind of mystery a reader can solve; it just unfolds with new data every few chapters.

Detective Inspector Littlejohn is pretty colorless. His only defining characteristic is doggedness, which hardly makes him stand out among other British senior policemen. I also can't think of a single character in the story that I liked in human terms. My reactions ranged from neutral to, more often. negative.

Bellairs does stand out among writers of this kind of story in his consistent efforts at humor, though much of it fell a bit flat for me. He is a precise describer of his characters, almost all of whom are physically unattractive, and we are told why, warts and all.

The story is more dated than, say, British mysteries even from the 1930's which achieve a kind of timelessness. I also was uncomfortable with a kind of latent anti-Semitism, though in that respect
I suppose the author was only reflecting his culture and social class.

Now I have to decide if I try another in this series, since other readers feel they are stronger.

[Scilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best George Bellairs books I've read. It is a very clever plot; there are moments of sly humor; and I love his descriptions of the people. Bellairs is called to a small English town called Fetling-on-Sea to help solve a recent murder. An antiques dealer, Grossman (who is very small and skinny, whereas his partner Mr. Small is very large and overweight) is found in an antique box delivered to the buyer of the box. Her cleaning lady cleans the box before the police can test for prints. The box was shipped by train; the conductor saw Mr. Grossman when he collected his ticket, and all involved claim there was only one key to the box which the new owner was given at the time of her purchase.

Inspecter Littlejohn from Scotland Yard has his work cut out. Mr. Small and Mrs. Deakes at the antiques store are very uncooperative as well as being unattractive characters. Mr. Grossman appeared to have a woman friend, Barbara, the daughter of the dead man who had owned the box. Little-John gets most of his help from Gillespie Superintendent of Police for Fetling-on-Sea, the town of the antique store. Mr. Grossman's bank account indicates that he is probably fencing stolen goods. Littlejohn finds out from Gillespie that diamond jewelry had been stolen from the richest family in town shortly before the murder. Littlejohn finally finds out there was another key, and then suddenly realized he was looking in the wrong places at the wrong people. He finds the killer, but is almost killed himself!

[John Frankham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve only read a few of these George Bellairs, quirky, witty, Golden Age whodunnits, with Scotland Yard’s Inspector Littlejohn. This is a peach. Broadly-drawn but believable characters in a complex plot with a satisfying dénouement.

The GR blurb:

‘ A body in a trunk draws Thomas Littlejohn of Scotland Yard to a peculiar English village

On a cobblestoned street almost too quaint to be believed, two antique dealers named Grossman and Small have set up shop. Grossman is short and meek, while Small is large and brutish, but their partnership seems happy enough until the day when old Miss Adlestrop purchases the large oak chest in the window and finds Mr. Grossman stuffed inside it—stone dead.

The English hamlet is thrown into an uproar, overwhelming the local constabulary and requiring the services of Detective-Inspector Thomas Littlejohn. Cool-headed and never in a hurry, Littlejohn has solved his fair share of village murder cases. But when the key to the fatal chest goes missing, Littlejohn discovers the community to be so infested with jealousies and secrets that he begins to envy the dead man.’

[Brian Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scotland Yard Inspector Littlejohn is dispatched to the English coastal village of Fetting-on-Sea to investigate a bizarre discovery. The body of an antique dealer is found in a locked ornate trunk sold delivered to one of his customers. The new owner had the only key and the dealer was alive when she left his shop. Littlejohn is called in by the local Chief Constable when Lord Trotwoode, chairman of the local railroad company, loses patience when the local police cannot sort out the mystery. When Trotwoode berates him in public, the chief constable calls for backup from Scotland Yard. Pursuing his inquiries without the on-site assistance of his sergeant Cromwell, the inspector interviews a cast of quirky characters before finally identifying the killer closer to home.

It's an early Littlejohn story and not as polished as some of the later ones. Despite that the plot is solid, backed up by a range of interesting suspects. The English countryside and society of the late 1940's (when the book was written) provides local colour and context. The small role assigned to Sergeant Cromwell disappoints.

An entertaining police procedural novel from postwar England.

[Gail Gassen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wild ending!

I've been giving all these books with inspector Littlejohn in them 5 stars. They are written well, & aren't just a nice cozy mystery. The characters are well written also, like Littlejohn, & his wife. Although his wife is only mentioned as passing in most, how much he loves her what will happen to her if he's killed, which he almost is a few times. Then there is Cromwell, he's quite a character. Later he's married & that changes him a lot. He's a perfectionist, & when he overlooks something he's really upset at himself. He isn't in this book as much as some of the others tho. This one has a twist, as most of them do, that will not seem tone coming. Good ending, Littlejohn gets his man, but does his man get him first?

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Seven Whistlers is an antique shop, run by two men and the niece of one of them. When a woman buys a box from them and has it shipped to her, it arrives with a body inside, totally disrupting her tea party! Inspector Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is called in to help local Superintendent Gillespie with the case. As he tries to come up with some answers, he spends a lot of time going down blind alleys. I started to become suspicious of one of the criminals, but wasn't really sure until the reveal. This started out a bit slow, but got more and more interesting as it went along, until it reached the read-all-night stage to get to the end.

[Barry Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Another difficult case for Detective Inspector Littlejohn to investigate, a relatively wealthy antique dealer is found dead in a locked trunk when it is delivered to an address. The local police are getting nowhere so Scotland Yard are called in. Enter DI Littlejohn who is also struggling with it and following leads which go nowhere, he even tries a bit of breaking in to get some results but that also fails or so he thinks. Another great old fashioned police procedural from George Bellairs.

[Larry V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new fan of a somewhat older mystery master!

Oh my goodness! What is not to love about this book! The mystery is good ; the ending startling ; the characters well drawn. But what sets this novel apart is the absolute humor found almost throughout this book! I laughed out loud several times; Mr. Bellaire's keen observations on human frailty are Twainesque in their intelligence and are absolutely priceless in wit!
I cannot wait to read more!

[Betty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neither Thomas Littlejohn nor George Bellairs at their best. I think if I had read this novel first, I might not have followed through on the rest of Bellairs' books.

Littlejohn seems rather at a loss here and the story drags down in the middle. Although the ending is fairly interesting and may make reading it to the finish worthwhile.

[Kelvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like George Bellairs' books. They are beautifully written and always tell a good story. This is however, not as good as the other Littlejohn mysteries I have read. The story moves slow and aimlessly through most of the book. It is not until the last quarter that Littlejohn finally gets his act together to do some real detecting. The ending is surprising.

[Betty Torma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent mystery with last minute finish

This is an excellent read. The characters are well thought out. The mystery is very real. There is one page on the book that gives away the murderer. But you probably won't find it until the end of the book. I like these books from that time period, and this is one that I'll read again.

[Richard Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blackmail, love, pride and death

Bellairs has very interesting plots, great timing in when the next big event happens. His descriptions of people are awesome and there is a subtle humor in his tales. If you like his stories you’re in for a treat as there are 50 stories for littlejohn

[JJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting case for Inspector Littlejohn. Once again he is called to a small English town full of the usual grotesques.
A body is found in the newly bought trunk delivered to a lady of the parish causing much fluttering and fainting and reviving with Sal volatile Unfortunately, unlike the trunk, this is not an open and shut case 😄 for our Inspector. Littlejohn has not got much to go on, no motive or real suspects and worse he feels he is being led by the nose. This is not a good case for Littlejohn and though he resolves this he gets into harms way and the resolution leaves a nasty taste. (Thank goodness for Mrs Littlejohn.)

[Kacper Nedza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever, ironic, and often very funny. If you're looking for an airtight Christie-esque plot, this isn't it at all, but it's a very fun read even if virtually all the characters (and there's a lot of them) are fairly awful people. Bellairs has a gift for vivid characters, all the way down to walk-on parts.

[David C Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This starts off as an intriguing variant of a locked room mystery - how did the body get in the antique chest? - but swerves into domestic melodrama with Bellairs going a little too strong on his penchant for sordid and unpleasant characters. Did people really talk back that much to the English police??

[Craftyhj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vintage cosy mystery, rich with humour

I really enjoy the writing of George Bellairs. The characters are filled with life and spring from the page. He captures accents and foibles very well in his writing, painting vivd word pictures.

This one is light and fun to the very last page when it switches to a dramatic and serious ending.

A very satisfying read.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs. Adlestrop gets more than she bargained for when she opens up an antique chest she bought. She finds one of the antique dealers dead inside. Littlejohn and his team unravel the clues to find the killer.

Well-written mystery.

[Mirachil27 · Rating 5 out of 5]

What fun!

This book is a wonderful example of classic British mystery with a twist of humor. Bellairs has a way with words that had me laughing out loud throughout the book. I highly recommend it for anyone needing a light romp.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bellaire always rewards!

I did not figure it out at all. Never suspected and I often do. Well written, always the writer, not just for the mystery but for style, great grammar (not always the case with these latter day writers!), and great characters. I love Bellairs!