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Bobby Owen Mysteries #16
The Dark Garden
Late in the afternoon a man, unidentified, had been seen to throw a glove into the Midwych, Wychshire and Southern Canal…
Osman Ford said he would kill the lawyer Mr. Anderson. So when the latter is found dead, with a bullet in the back, the disagreeable Mr. Ford is top suspect. But the lawyer’s office was also a cauldron of repressed feelings, and not all the staff are sorry to see the lawyer’s demise. In particular, Inspector Bobby Owen fears the dark, brooding clerk Anne Earle. Will her quest for justice lead her to a terrible fate of her own, amid family secrets and lies? The novel combines a satisfying whodunit with elements of the fantastic and macabre, and contains some of Punshon’s best set-pieces.
- GenresMysteryCrimeCozy Mystery
205 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1941
31 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
E.R. Punshon
73 books16 followersAka Robertson Halket.
E.R. Punshon (Ernest Robertson Punshon) (1872-1956) was an English novelist and literary critic of the early 20th century. He also wrote under the pseudonym Robertson Halket. Primarily writing on crime and deduction, he enjoyed some literary success in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, he is remembered, in the main, as the creator of Police Constable Bobby Owen, the protagonist of many of Punshon's novels. He reviewed many of Agatha Christie's novels for The Guardian on their first publication.
E.R. Punshon (Ernest Robertson Punshon) (1872-1956) was an English novelist and literary critic of the early 20th century. He also wrote under the pseudonym Robertson Halket. Primarily writing on crime and deduction, he enjoyed some literary success in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, he is remembered, in the main, as the creator of Police Constable Bobby Owen, the protagonist of many of Punshon's novels. He reviewed many of Agatha Christie's novels for The Guardian on their first publication.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 11, 2022
Repeating myself: I'm happy to have found this series and encouraged to continue it. While each book in the series is a stand alone, it is my opinion that they are best read in order. Bobby ages, he gets promotions, he has life changes away from work. While not necessary to the mysteries themselves, I have appreciated seeing him grow as a person and that would be missed if one were to skip around.
It is wartime and Bobby is busy with not only his police duties, but extra duties placed on him due to the war. We aren't privileged to know exactly what these extra duties are, but apparently they are time consuming. In the midst of this, a farmer walks into his office and places an embezzlement charge against the trustee of some of his wife's money. Bobby listens - Bobby is such a good listener - and then tells the farmer that this isn't police business and that he should contact a lawyer. And so we have what appears to be the basis of all that follows.
This is another series where I have read several installments and which I have appreciated reading an Introduction. This was no exception. Curtis Evans tells us something of E.R. Punshon during the war: E.R. Punshon and Sarah Houghton, Punshon’s spouse of nearly four decades standing, never left London during the war, steadfastly remaining in the city even as German bombs rained down around their house on Nimrod Road, putting them in peril of their lives. This is said to let us know that the conditions under which Bobby's staying in London during the war comes with knowledge. Further about Punshon, but having less (actually nothing) to do with Bobby Owens is in 1946 he accepted, after much importuning from Dorothy L. Sayers, the office of Treasurer of the Detection Club. Apparently Punshon had to become somewhat of a detective himself to discover the whereabouts of the monies in that group's treasury.
So this mystery itself was good. I knew all along, of course, who was the perpetrator. Of course I did! Haha! It was no one of the sort. The ending became sort of thrillerish which worked for this mystery but I hope it isn't often repeated. I do like thrillers, but I'm not a fan of having golden age police procedurals become thrillers. But, like I say, it worked for this one. The mystery was a good one and I'm not ashamed to give this 4-stars, although I admit it might be toward the bottom of that group.
It is wartime and Bobby is busy with not only his police duties, but extra duties placed on him due to the war. We aren't privileged to know exactly what these extra duties are, but apparently they are time consuming. In the midst of this, a farmer walks into his office and places an embezzlement charge against the trustee of some of his wife's money. Bobby listens - Bobby is such a good listener - and then tells the farmer that this isn't police business and that he should contact a lawyer. And so we have what appears to be the basis of all that follows.
This is another series where I have read several installments and which I have appreciated reading an Introduction. This was no exception. Curtis Evans tells us something of E.R. Punshon during the war: E.R. Punshon and Sarah Houghton, Punshon’s spouse of nearly four decades standing, never left London during the war, steadfastly remaining in the city even as German bombs rained down around their house on Nimrod Road, putting them in peril of their lives. This is said to let us know that the conditions under which Bobby's staying in London during the war comes with knowledge. Further about Punshon, but having less (actually nothing) to do with Bobby Owens is in 1946 he accepted, after much importuning from Dorothy L. Sayers, the office of Treasurer of the Detection Club. Apparently Punshon had to become somewhat of a detective himself to discover the whereabouts of the monies in that group's treasury.
So this mystery itself was good. I knew all along, of course, who was the perpetrator. Of course I did! Haha! It was no one of the sort. The ending became sort of thrillerish which worked for this mystery but I hope it isn't often repeated. I do like thrillers, but I'm not a fan of having golden age police procedurals become thrillers. But, like I say, it worked for this one. The mystery was a good one and I'm not ashamed to give this 4-stars, although I admit it might be toward the bottom of that group.
December 19, 2022
Bobby Owen is visited by a local farmer, Osman Ford, who claims his wife’s inheritance has been embezzled by Mr Anderson, partner in a local solicitor’s firm. Bobby is busy with wartime preparations and covering for his boss who is ill with pleurisy, and so advises Ford to consult another solicitor. However, Ford is heard making threats towards Anderson and then the solicitor disappears, and Bobby finds himself caught up in a web of long kept secrets.
This was a very intense and melodramatic mystery with a Gothic feel, and Bobby initially finds himself uneasy and disturbed without having any hard evidence to back up his suspicions. He persists in his usual determined way, and his investigations lead to a dramatic conclusion in a chase across the fields through the pitch black night, with a criminal with a gun somewhere in the offing.
Punshon is a very clever writer, and he adds a layer of darkness and intrigue to a plot which hinges on some very mundane human weaknesses. Although the final outcome is rather over the top, the actions of the characters are not unrealistic and there is a very human tragedy underneath the melodrama. This is a very enjoyable series which improves as it goes on.
This was a very intense and melodramatic mystery with a Gothic feel, and Bobby initially finds himself uneasy and disturbed without having any hard evidence to back up his suspicions. He persists in his usual determined way, and his investigations lead to a dramatic conclusion in a chase across the fields through the pitch black night, with a criminal with a gun somewhere in the offing.
Punshon is a very clever writer, and he adds a layer of darkness and intrigue to a plot which hinges on some very mundane human weaknesses. Although the final outcome is rather over the top, the actions of the characters are not unrealistic and there is a very human tragedy underneath the melodrama. This is a very enjoyable series which improves as it goes on.
January 16, 2018
This fellow Punshon must have had a really fertile imagination. Time after time he comes up with good interesting plots. This one is no exception. Really well drawn characters especially the women. He ratchets up the tension really well and kept me wondering. Thoroughly enjoyable.
May 6, 2020
What an intriguing, twisty mystery!
December 16, 2022
This book certainly follows the previous books, as it is another completely different to those that went before. In this Major Glynch (?) Bobby's superior, is being treated for pleurisy, leaving Bobby in charge. This being this set at the beginning of the war, means Bobby is caught up in the various arrangements that should be administered by the police. A local prosperous farmer goes to see Bobby about an embezzlement charge he would like to make against a local trustee of his wife's money. Bobby has to inform the farmer that the police can do nothing in this respect and the farmer should take it up with a lawyer, much to the farmer's annoyance. We are then taken through the investigation that ensues, which leads inevitably to a murder being committed. There are numerous suspects, mostly connected to the company of the trustee that the farmer has his trouble with. Bobby is literally taken down the garden path by the various suspects, and I admit I was also left doubting the word of all of them. The end of this is really quite dramatic, and was well worth the wait.
November 5, 2023
This instalment has a very gothic feel to it and the countryside contributing to a very sinister novel. A lawyer is found dead and Bobby has to determine what role, if any, the other partners in the law firm or his mistress have in the death. Set during the early part of the Second World War, the details of daily life during the period provides interesting background. These mysteries are some of my favourites, Bobby remains a lovely, uncomplicated character and the plots are always intricate.
March 22, 2018
Scotland Yard Inspector Bobby Owen is working with the Wychshire county police force in the early days of World War II. The case begins with what seems to be a simple complaint from a farmer against a local law firm. But soon the head of that law firm is found in a canal with a bullet in his back. And someone witnesses a man throw a glove into the canal. Why would anyone do that? Inspector Owen has suspects--just way too many of them. The law firm is simply teeming with suspects, and Owen could make a case against any of them easily enough. But which one actually did it?
This is part of a rather long series, and I'm reading them completely out of order. I find these golden-age stories to be just the ticket to escape from the world these days--calm, orderly, and logical. If I found the denouement in a dark garden to be a bit fantastical (everyone, simply EVERYone, was stumbling around in the dark at once) is was still very entertaining.
This is part of a rather long series, and I'm reading them completely out of order. I find these golden-age stories to be just the ticket to escape from the world these days--calm, orderly, and logical. If I found the denouement in a dark garden to be a bit fantastical (everyone, simply EVERYone, was stumbling around in the dark at once) is was still very entertaining.
December 2, 2016
Unlike the two other Bobby Owen mysteries I've read and rated three stars (no. 17 The Diabolic Candlelabra and no. 18 The Conqueror Inn), this felt tedious and it didn't hold my interest as much.
I was kept wondering just *who* was the culprit, and had a gut feeling who it was (it was), but because the book dragged on for far too long this time, and my interest kept flagging (come to think of it, none of the characters under investigation were exactly likeable, so no one to root for or feel surprised by if they turned out to be the culprit), I have to rate this as one star. I'll still read more of this series, though, as the other two were much better reads.
I was kept wondering just *who* was the culprit, and had a gut feeling who it was (it was), but because the book dragged on for far too long this time, and my interest kept flagging (come to think of it, none of the characters under investigation were exactly likeable, so no one to root for or feel surprised by if they turned out to be the culprit), I have to rate this as one star. I'll still read more of this series, though, as the other two were much better reads.
November 27, 2020
Sublime Punshon
Gives a insight of police force working during the days of the war. Always states the law and never bends it. Nice reading.
Gives a insight of police force working during the days of the war. Always states the law and never bends it. Nice reading.
November 16, 2021
Darkly brooding atmosphere; although it was written, and situated, in the early years of the war these developments play only a minor role in the plot.
February 1, 2017
Most engrossing as always..
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews