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Inspector Guy Northeast #1
They Rang up the Police
There’s a new detective on the scene…
When murder strikes in the quiet English countryside only Inspector Guy Northeast of Scotland Yard sees the vital clue.
When Delia Cathcart and Major Willoughby disappear from their quiet English village one Saturday morning in July 1937, it looks like a simple case of a frustrated spinster running off for a bit of fun with a straying husband. But as the hours turn into days, Inspector Guy Northeast begins to suspect that she may have been the victim of foul play.
On the surface, Delia appeared to be a quite ordinary middle-aged Englishwoman content to spend her evenings with her sisters and mother and her days with her beloved horses. But Delia led a secret life — and Guy turns up more than one person who would like to see Delia dead.
Except Delia wasn’t the only person with a secret…
When murder strikes in the quiet English countryside only Inspector Guy Northeast of Scotland Yard sees the vital clue.
When Delia Cathcart and Major Willoughby disappear from their quiet English village one Saturday morning in July 1937, it looks like a simple case of a frustrated spinster running off for a bit of fun with a straying husband. But as the hours turn into days, Inspector Guy Northeast begins to suspect that she may have been the victim of foul play.
On the surface, Delia appeared to be a quite ordinary middle-aged Englishwoman content to spend her evenings with her sisters and mother and her days with her beloved horses. But Delia led a secret life — and Guy turns up more than one person who would like to see Delia dead.
Except Delia wasn’t the only person with a secret…
164 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1939
229 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
About the author
Joanna Cannan
47 books10 followersBorn in 1898, Joanna Cannan was the youngest daughter of Oxford don Charles Cannan, and his wife Mary Wedderburn. Part of a family of authors, Joanna Cannan was cousin to novelist and playwright Gilbert Cannan, sister to poet May Wedderburn Cannan, mother to fellow pony-book authors Josephine Pullein-Thompson, Diana Pullein-Thompson and Christine Pullein-Thompson, as well as to screenwriter and playwright Denis Cannan, and grandmother to cookbook author Charlotte Popescu.
Cannan worked as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse during WWI, meeting her her future husband, Captain Harold J. "Cappy" Pullein-Thompson, in Oxford, during the course of that work. They were married in 1918, and Cannan (who never published under her married name) became the primary breadwinner for the family, after he was severely injured during the war, publishing approximately one book per year. Most of her pony books for children were written before and during WWII, at which point she began turning to detective novels for adults. Cannan suffered from ill health in the 1950s, and eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis. She died in 1961.
Cannan worked as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse during WWI, meeting her her future husband, Captain Harold J. "Cappy" Pullein-Thompson, in Oxford, during the course of that work. They were married in 1918, and Cannan (who never published under her married name) became the primary breadwinner for the family, after he was severely injured during the war, publishing approximately one book per year. Most of her pony books for children were written before and during WWII, at which point she began turning to detective novels for adults. Cannan suffered from ill health in the 1950s, and eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis. She died in 1961.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
May 7, 2019
There were only two Guy Northeast mysteries and I have read them out of order. This is the first. and although I enjoyed
, I think this is the superior book.
Cannan was a childhood friend of Georgette Heyer & the two of them, along with nonfiction writer Carola Oman used to critique each other's work. I do wonder if this is how Cannan and GH honed their strong characterisation skills. In this novel I didn't have any trouble remembering the different characters and until a lengthy (and boring) exposition at the end, I was totally entertained. So entertained I forgot that I should be trying to solve the mystery of the vanished Cathcart sister!
I felt one clue maybe was a little late being introduced, but other than that the author played fair.
Recommended.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
, I think this is the superior book.Cannan was a childhood friend of Georgette Heyer & the two of them, along with nonfiction writer Carola Oman used to critique each other's work. I do wonder if this is how Cannan and GH honed their strong characterisation skills. In this novel I didn't have any trouble remembering the different characters and until a lengthy (and boring) exposition at the end, I was totally entertained. So entertained I forgot that I should be trying to solve the mystery of the vanished Cathcart sister!
I felt one clue maybe was a little late being introduced, but other than that the author played fair.
Recommended.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
June 25, 2015
Written in 1939, They Rang Up the Police by Joanna Cannan is quite frankly, unlike any other mystery novel from this period I've read so far in my long mystery/crime-fiction reading career. It has a psychological aspect to it that is just downright chilling, but one which I can't explore by writing about it since basically it would give away the entire show all at once. It's a book where I ended up with nothing but total sympathy for the murderer, something that rarely happens and as I noted on the crime page of my online reading journal, just felt right to me. There is a lot of craziness in this novel that masks what ultimately turns out to be a downright heartbreaking story where justice just might have been served in its own way.
This book is #3 in my ongoing quest to read obscure crime-fiction novels written by unknown or forgotten women authors, and so far, I've had extremely good luck. They Rang Up the Police is not just another English country house mystery, and it's my favorite of the three so far. Trust me. Even if you think you've read them all, there are still some surprises to be found in this genre. It also ain't Agatha Christie by any stretch of the imagination.
Recommended.
Okay - the more I think about this, the more it's getting to me.
This book is #3 in my ongoing quest to read obscure crime-fiction novels written by unknown or forgotten women authors, and so far, I've had extremely good luck. They Rang Up the Police is not just another English country house mystery, and it's my favorite of the three so far. Trust me. Even if you think you've read them all, there are still some surprises to be found in this genre. It also ain't Agatha Christie by any stretch of the imagination.
Recommended.
Okay - the more I think about this, the more it's getting to me.
April 21, 2019
Really 3 1/2 stars, rounded up, as I found this very readable and witty, but had a couple of issues with it, impossible to discuss without giving a lot of the plot away, which I've put in spoiler tags at the end of this review. I enjoyed Inspector Guy Northeast (who is fed up with colleagues saying "I'd rather have South-West") and the whole claustrophobic village atmosphere is very well done.
The story revolves around the mysterious disappearance of one of three unmarried middle-aged sisters living with their mother. Where did she go, and has she really run off with a local husband who has also disappeared?
Nobody is safe from the sarcastic wit of the author - just when you're thinking a character is sympathetic, you realise that the author is mocking some aspect of their personality. The mystery also unfolds in a very satisfying way and kept me guessing for a long time. I will definitely try the second in the series, which I also picked up as a freebie a while back.
The story revolves around the mysterious disappearance of one of three unmarried middle-aged sisters living with their mother. Where did she go, and has she really run off with a local husband who has also disappeared?
Nobody is safe from the sarcastic wit of the author - just when you're thinking a character is sympathetic, you realise that the author is mocking some aspect of their personality. The mystery also unfolds in a very satisfying way and kept me guessing for a long time. I will definitely try the second in the series, which I also picked up as a freebie a while back.
April 22, 2019
This was a pleasant surprise and something a little different from many Golden Age mysteries. We begin with an elderly mother and her three, middle aged, spinster sisters, living at Marley Grange. Horse loving, domineering, Delia, disappears the next morning, as does married Captain Willoughby. Local gossip, of course, suggests that the pair have run away together, but not everyone is convinced and Delia’s mother, Mrs Cathcart, is on the phone to everyone she can think of, until a representative of Scotland Yard is sent to investigate, and hopefully keep her quiet.
Inspector Guy Northeast is a farmer’s son, whose last case went wrong. Out of favour, he is the obvious candidate to look into the case that most feel is not a case. However, despite appearances being against him, Northeast is determined to work out what happened and sets about doing just that.
I enjoyed Cannan’s rather caustic, sharp, writing style. She was witty and observant, fleshing out minor characters and using the servants well, as well as village gossip. Sadly, there is only one more book in this series, but the author wrote another series, later in her career, and I look forward to reading more of her work.
Inspector Guy Northeast is a farmer’s son, whose last case went wrong. Out of favour, he is the obvious candidate to look into the case that most feel is not a case. However, despite appearances being against him, Northeast is determined to work out what happened and sets about doing just that.
I enjoyed Cannan’s rather caustic, sharp, writing style. She was witty and observant, fleshing out minor characters and using the servants well, as well as village gossip. Sadly, there is only one more book in this series, but the author wrote another series, later in her career, and I look forward to reading more of her work.
April 27, 2019
Joanna Cannan's Golden Age mysteries are little known, especially in the United States. That's a pity, for if this book is any indication, she was a talented voice.
Published in 1939, They Rang up the Police dives right in with the family soon to be bereaved. The Cathcarts, mother and three spinster daughters in their thirties and forties, emerge as a group of temperamentally disparate but seemingly close women, though this reader at least found their unity incomprehensible when their tastes and preferences were so divergent. Cannan has a gift for sketching vivid characters, and all the women and their servants are immediately recognizable. I never had any question, as I often do with British mysteries of the period, who was who. But we focus primarily on Delia, the second but most dominant daughter, up to the moment she disappears.
The next day, when her disappearance is discovered, Mrs. Cathcart calls the police but they don't take her seriously. They suspect the missing daughter is off on a toot with a gentleman friend. Mrs. Cathcart is persistent, however, and at last, to appease her, a young and not-very-successful Scotland Yard detective is sent down from London to investigate. Guy Northeast is an unusual detective for the era--a younger son of a farmer, large, bumbling (one character refers to him as the Guernsey Cow), dismissed as negligible by colleagues and suspects alike. But he plods humbly along and through patient fact-collecting and logic figures out the perpetrator over the course of a few days. He even displays hints of a reprehensible sense of humor along the way. He makes for a likable companion for the reader, and his deductive skills are impressive.
I was fooled all along and surprised by the perpetrator--and what more could one wish for in a period mystery? The method of revealing the motive was a bit hackneyed;
The author was a bestie of Georgette Heyer and I would have loved to have lunched with such a pair of clever, articulate women. What a pity that Cannan's work is so obscure and that she wrote only two Guy Northeast mysteries!
Published in 1939, They Rang up the Police dives right in with the family soon to be bereaved. The Cathcarts, mother and three spinster daughters in their thirties and forties, emerge as a group of temperamentally disparate but seemingly close women, though this reader at least found their unity incomprehensible when their tastes and preferences were so divergent. Cannan has a gift for sketching vivid characters, and all the women and their servants are immediately recognizable. I never had any question, as I often do with British mysteries of the period, who was who. But we focus primarily on Delia, the second but most dominant daughter, up to the moment she disappears.
The next day, when her disappearance is discovered, Mrs. Cathcart calls the police but they don't take her seriously. They suspect the missing daughter is off on a toot with a gentleman friend. Mrs. Cathcart is persistent, however, and at last, to appease her, a young and not-very-successful Scotland Yard detective is sent down from London to investigate. Guy Northeast is an unusual detective for the era--a younger son of a farmer, large, bumbling (one character refers to him as the Guernsey Cow), dismissed as negligible by colleagues and suspects alike. But he plods humbly along and through patient fact-collecting and logic figures out the perpetrator over the course of a few days. He even displays hints of a reprehensible sense of humor along the way. He makes for a likable companion for the reader, and his deductive skills are impressive.
I was fooled all along and surprised by the perpetrator--and what more could one wish for in a period mystery? The method of revealing the motive was a bit hackneyed;
The author was a bestie of Georgette Heyer and I would have loved to have lunched with such a pair of clever, articulate women. What a pity that Cannan's work is so obscure and that she wrote only two Guy Northeast mysteries!
April 29, 2019
Interesting. At first I thought it seemed pretty sappy. The way they called each other "darling" practically every time they opened their mouth.
Story of an old lady living with three middle-aged daughters, the youngest being 38. One of them is sleeping outside. And one day she disappears. Has she run off with a secret lover or has she bumped into misadventure?
It is a Golden Age mystery so it is misadventure (hope that's not a spoiler). Scotland Yard sends out a young inspector who bungled his last case. So he really needs to make this one stick.
I think I may have figured this one out just a step or so behind our intrepid inspector.
Story of an old lady living with three middle-aged daughters, the youngest being 38. One of them is sleeping outside. And one day she disappears. Has she run off with a secret lover or has she bumped into misadventure?
It is a Golden Age mystery so it is misadventure (hope that's not a spoiler). Scotland Yard sends out a young inspector who bungled his last case. So he really needs to make this one stick.
I think I may have figured this one out just a step or so behind our intrepid inspector.
May 8, 2019
Enjoyable mystery
Three middle-aged sisters with very different personalities, live with their mother, but when one of them goes missing, the family have to call in the police.
The first of the Guy Northeast mysteries. (Sadly, there are only two). Entertaining and kept me guessing.
Three middle-aged sisters with very different personalities, live with their mother, but when one of them goes missing, the family have to call in the police.
The first of the Guy Northeast mysteries. (Sadly, there are only two). Entertaining and kept me guessing.
March 14, 2013
A vintage 1930s mystery reissued by the small press, Rue Morgue. It's a quick read, rather shallow, rather snide about unmarried women in their 40s, but fun in its way. Cannan can be amusingly self-referential about detective fiction: "Coming through the hall [Inspector Northeast] had heard what sounded like classical music, and hoped this wasn't going to be the sort of case you read about in novels, where the detective knows the victim couldn't have been in the music room at the time stated, because so great a musician would never have played Puccini."
wish-list
December 19, 2014to look into/hunt down
September 28, 2017
Thank you to Endeavour Press for the free copy. At the time of reviewing this is free on Amazon UK.
This comes with the excellent introduction from the Rue Morgue edition (1999)
Surprisingly good police procedural. Rather a shame that the author abandoned Inspector Northeast after only a couple of outings, as he comes across as one of the most likeable and realistic of GA detectives.
The writing makes this easy to read and the plotting is good. The author has a clear-headed view of the world of certain types of upper-middle class English people on the eve of WW2, a world which that war would shatter. Unusually, the servants and other working class people are not caricatured.
I enjoyed the book very much and found the solution a little unexpected although the major indicators are there.
This comes with the excellent introduction from the Rue Morgue edition (1999)
Surprisingly good police procedural. Rather a shame that the author abandoned Inspector Northeast after only a couple of outings, as he comes across as one of the most likeable and realistic of GA detectives.
The writing makes this easy to read and the plotting is good. The author has a clear-headed view of the world of certain types of upper-middle class English people on the eve of WW2, a world which that war would shatter. Unusually, the servants and other working class people are not caricatured.
I enjoyed the book very much and found the solution a little unexpected although the major indicators are there.
July 29, 2020
Two and a half stars. Very slow, but okay evening read. The cover calls it "literate and amusing." Literate? How so? You'll find more literary references in Catherine Aird's books. Amusing? Only in the sense of a divertissement. Funny? No.
Very Christie, presenting us with a whole slew of characters before anything much actually happens. And the ending was a bit too The Murder of Roger Ackroyd for me. I won't use the word "derivative" even though Christie did it first.
ETA: Another female author whose characters blithely ascribe any percieved oddness in women of a certain age to "sexual repression" (aka "hysteria"). One would think a female would know better.
Very Christie, presenting us with a whole slew of characters before anything much actually happens. And the ending was a bit too The Murder of Roger Ackroyd for me. I won't use the word "derivative" even though Christie did it first.
ETA: Another female author whose characters blithely ascribe any percieved oddness in women of a certain age to "sexual repression" (aka "hysteria"). One would think a female would know better.
April 21, 2019
I've given this 4 stars but really think it is somewhere between 3 and 4. The family featured is so syrupy that I was thinking of giving up on it, but then things picked up with the murder. The local police proved to be incapable of solving the crime so we meet Inspector Northeast ,who is obviously ridiculed for his name, and needs to prove himself, and it was him that lifted the story. There are several suspects involved, which did keep me guessing.
There is a following book about this policeman and I will at sometime read that.
There is a following book about this policeman and I will at sometime read that.
January 17, 2022
I read the second book in the series a few years ago after its re-release and always meant to go back and read the first book. With a theme of British Cozy Mysteries for book bingo this year, I knew the time was right to dive in. There were only 2 books in the Inspector Guy Northeast series, which is a shame, I would've liked to know more about Inspector Guy Northeast; a likeable guy, part Beaton's Hamish and part Poirot, he's portrayed as being smarter and more savvy than his superiors, and yet is frequently ridiculed and admonished as not being up to the task, which he takes in stride as he works to close the case.
This was a banger of a plot though; Delia Cathcart is a spinster living with her mother and spinster sisters at Marley Grange and tending to her beloved horses. After her family realizes she's gone missing, they raise the alarm. Upon investigating, it turns out that a local resident also went missing at the same time. Did they run off together? Or did something more sinister occur?
This was rather like peeling an onion, where the layers slip off one by one until you're left with the root and Northeast does a great job of paring down to the heart of the matter. This was written in the same time period it was set, so while contemporary at the time of publication, it now reads as a quaint, almost civilized murder mystery, and that was a lot of its charm for me and I found it easy to time travel back to England in the 1930s.
If you love classic mysteries, don't miss this gem of a series!
This was a banger of a plot though; Delia Cathcart is a spinster living with her mother and spinster sisters at Marley Grange and tending to her beloved horses. After her family realizes she's gone missing, they raise the alarm. Upon investigating, it turns out that a local resident also went missing at the same time. Did they run off together? Or did something more sinister occur?
This was rather like peeling an onion, where the layers slip off one by one until you're left with the root and Northeast does a great job of paring down to the heart of the matter. This was written in the same time period it was set, so while contemporary at the time of publication, it now reads as a quaint, almost civilized murder mystery, and that was a lot of its charm for me and I found it easy to time travel back to England in the 1930s.
If you love classic mysteries, don't miss this gem of a series!
October 29, 2019
A well written mystery. Great characters and I especially liked Inspector Guy Northeast. He battled on regardless of ignorance by others.
We could do with more of this type of story. No frills and fancies, just good old fashioned detective work.
We could do with more of this type of story. No frills and fancies, just good old fashioned detective work.
December 30, 2022
This is another of those books which is difficult to review without giving the game away. An elderly widow lives with her three (supposedly) maiden daughters. All very different in character. One of them suddenly disappears and as the mother is a friend of The Chief Constable she persuades him to call in Scotland Yard. Enter Inspector Guy Northeast in the first of only two novels in which he features which is (I think) a shame as he is quite likeable.
Not bad at all.
Not bad at all.
March 5, 2012
"When Delia Cathcart and Major Wiloughby disappear from their quiet English village one Saturday morning in July 1937, it looks like a simple case of a frustrated spinster running off for a bit of fun with a straying husband.
"But as the hours turn into days, Inspector Guy Northeast begins to suspect that she may have been the victim of foul play. On the surface, Delia appeared to be a quite ordinary middle-aged Englishwoman content to spend her evenings with her sisters and mother and her days with her beloved horses. But Delia led a secret life -- and Guy turns up more than one person who would like to see Delia dead. Except Delia wasn't the only person with a secret ..."
~~back cover
A Ruth Rendell sort of mystery, but lighter and more amusing in its stereotypes and class distinctions. The author keeps us guessing until the very end -- always the mark of a top notch mystery writer.
"But as the hours turn into days, Inspector Guy Northeast begins to suspect that she may have been the victim of foul play. On the surface, Delia appeared to be a quite ordinary middle-aged Englishwoman content to spend her evenings with her sisters and mother and her days with her beloved horses. But Delia led a secret life -- and Guy turns up more than one person who would like to see Delia dead. Except Delia wasn't the only person with a secret ..."
~~back cover
A Ruth Rendell sort of mystery, but lighter and more amusing in its stereotypes and class distinctions. The author keeps us guessing until the very end -- always the mark of a top notch mystery writer.
October 18, 2017
A fairly interesting story featuring three sisters. It is Delia who ends up being the victim, and I'm only surprised that she wasn't done in long ago. Inspector Northeast comes to investigate in a slow, methodical way, which irritates his superiors, but he is up to the task. There are some quirky points to the story that I found entertaining so I would recommend this story, however, these three sisters and their mother give families a bad name.
There is one particular line in the book, which resonated with me, to the effect that spoiling someone's life is worse than killing someone. I think the author has a point.
There is one particular line in the book, which resonated with me, to the effect that spoiling someone's life is worse than killing someone. I think the author has a point.
July 18, 2013
I love the 'Golden Age" mysteries but I had never heard of Joanna Cannan. She only wrote 9 mysteries and most of them in the 50s but this on about Inspector Guy Northeast was published in 1939 and is really very good. I love the writing, the characters and twists. I'm looking forward to finding the other 8 books.
June 14, 2019
Tiresome.
October 13, 2019
This is a 1939 police procedural book by the British author Joanna Cannan and is one of two of her books featuring Inspector Guy Northeast of Scotland Yard. IN the 1950s she created another detective series with Detective Inspector Ronald Price. The version I read has a very good introduction about her and her books.
The story is about a missing spinster Delia Cathcart, who disappeared on the same day as her married friend Major Willoughby. She is one of three unmarried daughters who all live with their mother Mrs. Cathcart in a upper middle class lifestyle in a town called Melchester. What initially looks as two people running away from their lives soon turn into a murder investigation of Delia.
Inspector Guy Northeast is quite different from the normal Golden Age detective, who are mostly from the upper class or educated professional class of society. Guy is from the working class, not very well educated and big and slow moving. However, he is very observant, dogged in his pursuit, logical in his thinking and asks good questions.
The book is also interesting in how it sheds light on prejudices of the British upper middle class and their snobbishness. In the book, the higher ups in the police force all have the mindset that the crime must be committed by a person with low social standing and wanted Guy to focus there. It turns out the murderess was one of Delia’s own sisters, Nancy. Delia is a very domineering and controlling person and has for years dictated Nancy’s life. Nancy also blamed Delia’s interferences for her still being single. Finally Nancy could take it no more and devised a pretty clever plan to kill Delia. It involved her murdering Nancy and hiding her body one night. Then, Nancy packed Delia’s suitcase with Delia’s clothes to look like she is running away. Nancy then, when pretending to look for Delia the next day, drive to the train station wearing clothes that look like one that Delia has, let the ticket collector think it is Nancy getting on the London train, and leave the suitcase in a London bound train for it to be discovered later. Guy’s solution was very smart. He realized that the clothes packed in the suitcase do not match in colors and they actually do not look well together and suspect it is not packed by Delia but by somebody who is color blind. By following up with Nancy’s oculist, he was able to confirm that Nancy is indeed color blind. The end also came in a very old school British way. Before going out to the Cathcart estate to arrest Nancy, Guy reported his conclusion to the Chief Constable of Melchester, who happens to be a family friend of the Cathcarts. Instead of seeing Nancy hang, the Chief Constable called Nancy and warned her so she can commit suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills before Guy arrived. The book ended with excepts from Nancy’s diary to explain her reason for killing Delia.
The story is about a missing spinster Delia Cathcart, who disappeared on the same day as her married friend Major Willoughby. She is one of three unmarried daughters who all live with their mother Mrs. Cathcart in a upper middle class lifestyle in a town called Melchester. What initially looks as two people running away from their lives soon turn into a murder investigation of Delia.
Inspector Guy Northeast is quite different from the normal Golden Age detective, who are mostly from the upper class or educated professional class of society. Guy is from the working class, not very well educated and big and slow moving. However, he is very observant, dogged in his pursuit, logical in his thinking and asks good questions.
The book is also interesting in how it sheds light on prejudices of the British upper middle class and their snobbishness. In the book, the higher ups in the police force all have the mindset that the crime must be committed by a person with low social standing and wanted Guy to focus there. It turns out the murderess was one of Delia’s own sisters, Nancy. Delia is a very domineering and controlling person and has for years dictated Nancy’s life. Nancy also blamed Delia’s interferences for her still being single. Finally Nancy could take it no more and devised a pretty clever plan to kill Delia. It involved her murdering Nancy and hiding her body one night. Then, Nancy packed Delia’s suitcase with Delia’s clothes to look like she is running away. Nancy then, when pretending to look for Delia the next day, drive to the train station wearing clothes that look like one that Delia has, let the ticket collector think it is Nancy getting on the London train, and leave the suitcase in a London bound train for it to be discovered later. Guy’s solution was very smart. He realized that the clothes packed in the suitcase do not match in colors and they actually do not look well together and suspect it is not packed by Delia but by somebody who is color blind. By following up with Nancy’s oculist, he was able to confirm that Nancy is indeed color blind. The end also came in a very old school British way. Before going out to the Cathcart estate to arrest Nancy, Guy reported his conclusion to the Chief Constable of Melchester, who happens to be a family friend of the Cathcarts. Instead of seeing Nancy hang, the Chief Constable called Nancy and warned her so she can commit suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills before Guy arrived. The book ended with excepts from Nancy’s diary to explain her reason for killing Delia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2019
This was the first book I have read from this author. The three forty-something unmarried Cathcart 'girls' live with their widowed mother on a comfortable farm, managed competently by Delia Cathcart, in a quiet, tight-knit village in rural England. At home, all of the women glory in the wonderful harmony of living in a loving family with nothing to spoil the happy timbre of their days (especially since the death of their crusty father a few years before, removed him and his uncouth male contamination from their lives). Now all is acceptance, sweetness and love. Except that there is a slight over-sweetness to the whole scenario: it seems too good to be true and proves to be so when their contentment is destroyed by the disappearance of their beloved Delia. Is it true as the police believe and that their darling Delia has run away with a Man? Could it be the local Major Willoughby who is responsible for her disappearance as he too went missing on the same night. Or could something more sinister be afoot?
I was not highly enamoured with this author's work. Although I enjoyed the humour inherent in the Cathcart menage and the insider's glimpse of the local police's social bigotry, overall I found the descriptive tone too unrelentingly sarcastic for my personal taste. Of course, for another reader, what I found to be a fault, may well be a feature, and is not a reflection on the author's ability to write a well plotted murder mystery. I have two further criticisms. I found the character of Inspector Northeast to be a little difficult to enjoy and I'm not quite sure why. He was clever and persistent, but his constant inner concerns of whether he would make the grade and feeling constantly sorry for himself wearied me a little. I also found the boring and extremely long exposition at the end of the book to be yawn worthy. I finished the book, but it was certainly not a story that I found difficult to put down or easy to pick up.
I was not highly enamoured with this author's work. Although I enjoyed the humour inherent in the Cathcart menage and the insider's glimpse of the local police's social bigotry, overall I found the descriptive tone too unrelentingly sarcastic for my personal taste. Of course, for another reader, what I found to be a fault, may well be a feature, and is not a reflection on the author's ability to write a well plotted murder mystery. I have two further criticisms. I found the character of Inspector Northeast to be a little difficult to enjoy and I'm not quite sure why. He was clever and persistent, but his constant inner concerns of whether he would make the grade and feeling constantly sorry for himself wearied me a little. I also found the boring and extremely long exposition at the end of the book to be yawn worthy. I finished the book, but it was certainly not a story that I found difficult to put down or easy to pick up.
November 13, 2019
An idiosyncratic detective novel, written in the 1930's in the Agatha Christie mode but much more risque.There are many sexual references which one rarely finds in detective novels of this period.
The plot is simple. One of three sisters goes missing in a village near London. Scotland Yard in the person of Guy Northeast is called in to investigate. He is anything but your typical detective, being large and having the appearance of a dull witted bumpkin. He of course turns out to be anything but, solving the crime despite the interference of his self important and incompetent colleagues in the village. The story starts slowly and improves markedly when Northeast arrives. Lots of tongue in cheek humor and plenty of sarcasm directed at village life. This may not be for all readers, especially because there are some jokes and allusions that are simply too obscure or in my case, too British, to be understood. Nevertheless, a refreshing departure from detective novels of that era. There is only one additional novel in this series which I plan to read mostly because Northeast is such an engaging character.
The plot is simple. One of three sisters goes missing in a village near London. Scotland Yard in the person of Guy Northeast is called in to investigate. He is anything but your typical detective, being large and having the appearance of a dull witted bumpkin. He of course turns out to be anything but, solving the crime despite the interference of his self important and incompetent colleagues in the village. The story starts slowly and improves markedly when Northeast arrives. Lots of tongue in cheek humor and plenty of sarcasm directed at village life. This may not be for all readers, especially because there are some jokes and allusions that are simply too obscure or in my case, too British, to be understood. Nevertheless, a refreshing departure from detective novels of that era. There is only one additional novel in this series which I plan to read mostly because Northeast is such an engaging character.
September 10, 2022
I wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me. I know the book was originally published in 1939, but ugh, the four female MCs were just... too much. If you cut out all the times they called one another "Darling," you would probably lose a third of the book! Their attitudes, about so many things, had me shaking my head the entire time.
The one redeeming character in this book was the police inspector. He kept at the investigation, despite the lack of cooperation from the people in the village and even his own superiors. I had an idea about the killer's identity, but wasn't sure until the clues began to fall into place near the end of the (blessedly short) book.
Even though there's only one other book in this series, I don't intend to read it. There are too many other choices out there.
The one redeeming character in this book was the police inspector. He kept at the investigation, despite the lack of cooperation from the people in the village and even his own superiors. I had an idea about the killer's identity, but wasn't sure until the clues began to fall into place near the end of the (blessedly short) book.
Even though there's only one other book in this series, I don't intend to read it. There are too many other choices out there.
September 30, 2018
This is the second book by this Author I have read ..
Written in the late 1930's, the way the family address each other is very dated and there was too much of this conversation at the start .. My only other criticism would be that we didn't get to the murder until half-way through ..
That being said, the second half of the book, covering the Police Investigation, was rather good .. being written in a time when a car was a luxury and not every household had a telephone etc., was quite refreshing .. The clues and twists were very clever and I just managed to narrow down my suspect pool before the big reveal ..
It was good to read the murderers reasons at the end ..
Written in the late 1930's, the way the family address each other is very dated and there was too much of this conversation at the start .. My only other criticism would be that we didn't get to the murder until half-way through ..
That being said, the second half of the book, covering the Police Investigation, was rather good .. being written in a time when a car was a luxury and not every household had a telephone etc., was quite refreshing .. The clues and twists were very clever and I just managed to narrow down my suspect pool before the big reveal ..
It was good to read the murderers reasons at the end ..
September 20, 2019
3 1/2 stars. In America, at least, Cannan is a little known Golden Age writer. She has talent. Her books, at least this one, are more realistic than many. There is a psychological depth that is not found in many book of this time. Her detective is of the yeoman class and is methodical in arriving at his solution. He is not slow-witted and not the sidekick as his type often are. There is office politics going on and some resentment on Northeast's side toward his superiors.
I liked the book. I didn't guess the ending. My only problem was that I didn't connect with the character. Otherwise, a worthwhile read.
I liked the book. I didn't guess the ending. My only problem was that I didn't connect with the character. Otherwise, a worthwhile read.
December 8, 2019
Excellent
This is the second Joanna Cannan book featuring Detective Inspector Guy Northeast that I have read and I found it to be excellent. The novel begins with a fairly well to do family consisting of a widowed mother and her three elderly spinster daughters, then one night whilst Delia one of the daughters is sleeping outside she goes missing. The local police are called and they are convinced that she has eloped with a male admirer as one of her horse riding male friends has also disappeared. When her suitcase is located at Waterloo station unclaimed the local police call in Scotland Yard and Inspector Guy Northeast is sent to investigate.
This is the second Joanna Cannan book featuring Detective Inspector Guy Northeast that I have read and I found it to be excellent. The novel begins with a fairly well to do family consisting of a widowed mother and her three elderly spinster daughters, then one night whilst Delia one of the daughters is sleeping outside she goes missing. The local police are called and they are convinced that she has eloped with a male admirer as one of her horse riding male friends has also disappeared. When her suitcase is located at Waterloo station unclaimed the local police call in Scotland Yard and Inspector Guy Northeast is sent to investigate.
July 15, 2023
This English procedural covers the disappearance of a middle aged spinster which eventually turns into the discovery of her body and a murder investigation. A young Scotland Yard investigator arrives to aid the local ineffective Superintendent and the Chief Constable who was a friend of the deceased's family. The investigation is mostly seen through the CID Northeast's POV, but occasional witnesses and the victim have a say. There is a short introduction on the author and the place of her work in the detective genre of the time (written in 1939). I thought it was well done and look forward to reading the other book she wrote about Northeast.
June 16, 2022
Three and a half stars: Nicely written and an ok, not spectacular, example of the British cozy mystery. The detective is a good guy and plods along while people think he doesn't know what he's doing. The opening chapter introduces us to a houseful of women, mother and three spinster daughters, and they are so annoyingly sweet in their conversations that I understood the motive right away. But the majority of the book follows the police investigation and happily not too much more of the family is featured.
January 31, 2024
Hard Beginning but Amazing End
I almost quit reading by the first third of this book, because of the griping and complaining, and negative talk about absolutely everyone. But, glad I kept plowing through. Whew! Even though most everyone was nasty - including the police, the neighbors, the work - the unending details and reasoning was finally successful in finding the guilty party. You'll not know until the very end.
Many morals in this story, though sad; be aware and choose to be encouraging, supporting, and full of gratitude.
I almost quit reading by the first third of this book, because of the griping and complaining, and negative talk about absolutely everyone. But, glad I kept plowing through. Whew! Even though most everyone was nasty - including the police, the neighbors, the work - the unending details and reasoning was finally successful in finding the guilty party. You'll not know until the very end.
Many morals in this story, though sad; be aware and choose to be encouraging, supporting, and full of gratitude.
October 4, 2019
Odd domestic murder.
It’s a book of its time with all the snobbery, gross and petty, well described. The characters are somewhat made of cardboard and I can see why the author dropped her Scotland Yard detective. Nice but not over bright would be a fair summary of him. Otherwise, pretty well everyone is unpleasant and or unsympathetic in most ways. Having said that, I did quite enjoy the book which I wished to finish.
It’s a book of its time with all the snobbery, gross and petty, well described. The characters are somewhat made of cardboard and I can see why the author dropped her Scotland Yard detective. Nice but not over bright would be a fair summary of him. Otherwise, pretty well everyone is unpleasant and or unsympathetic in most ways. Having said that, I did quite enjoy the book which I wished to finish.
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