The Empty House

by Michael Gilbert

Dr. Alexander Wolfe, a top genetic scientist involved in biological warfare research for the British army, recently had his life insured for 100,000. One night he drives over a Devon cliff in what at first appears to be a suicide. But neither his body nor the car is ever recovered.

Peter Manciple, an insurance adjuster for the cautious firm of Phelps, King & Troyte, is one of the people called down to Exmoor to investigate...the accident? But the army shows up, too. And so do a number of ruthless Israelis, and some equally ruthless Palestinians.

Genres: Mystery, Espionage

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Born in Lincolnshire in 1912, Michael Francis Gilbert was educated in Sussex before entering the University of London where he gained an LLB with honours in 1937. Gilbert was a founding member of the British Crime Writers Association, and in 1988 he was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America - an achievement many thought long overdue. He won the Life Achievement Anthony Award at the 1990 Boucheron in London, and in 1980 he was knighted as a Commander in the Order of the British Empire. Gilbert made his debut in 1947 with Close Quarters, and since then has become recognized as one of our most versatile British mystery writers.

He was the father of Harriett Gilbert.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I ran across this author and that he's written over 20 books, so there's more good reading to come. This one was written in the late 1970s. The characters were good and the story was interesting. An insurance adjuster is trying to determine that the insured was indeed dead, and whether drowning was part of the death (a higher insurance payoff). The dead man was a British army biological research scientist being stalked by both the Israelis and Palestinians, which of course the adjuster found out gradually. The adjuster has a mother who may or may not be "off her rocker"--a wonderful minor character.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A military scientist drives his car over a cliff into the sea, at exactly a spot where recovery of a body is highly unlikely. Because the gentleman had taken out an insurance policy that specifically included coverage for drowning and no body being recovered, the insurers are suspicious. They dispatch a young man with a gift for spotting fraud--Peter Manciple. He shortly arrives at the conclusion that the missing man is still alive, and faked his death? But why? and Where has he gone?
Peter soon stirs up a hornets nest of interested parties, all of whom want to find the scientist as much as Peter, but for more villainous reasons. Can Peter outwit his pursuers and stay a jump ahead of the villains? And will he be able to resolve the ethical quandaries of exposing the scientist to danger, or doing something that borders on treason?
Gilbert masterfully mingles spies, secretive army spooks and femme fatales with murder and mayhem, and a dastardly closing twist.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Michael Gilbert novel—sort of mystery, sort of adventure, sort of spy thriller—which takes so many odd turns that the reader and the protagonist both have to work hard to figure out where it’s going. The great things are: a) Gilbert knows where it’s going; b) it actually goes somewhere. Made me look up Lorna Doone. And wish for a map and color photographs of the West Country.

[Jason]

This was a nice little crime novel by Michael Gilbert. One of the worlds top genetic scientists goes missing from a government research facility in rural England. His car has plunged over a cliff and the vehicle and body are unrecoverable. Peter Manciple, an insurance investigator, is sent down from the city to investigate because a large insurance policy was recently taken out.

Manciple comes across the requisite cast of eccentric characters who lead him to believe that all may not be as it looks. There is even a bit of a love story thrown into the mix. His dogged perseverance eventually nets a nice tidy solution to the investigation.

This wasn't a great book but was still pleasantly interesting and fun to read.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very complicated, not always believable plot, especially when the setting is a small town where everyone's business is known. And the ending, well, it was more like the author saying, "I'm done writing, got these loose ends to tie up, so let's just kill off these characters and be done with it." So, not my favorite of Gilbert's mysteries.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and well plotted, with a number of clever twists. The main character, Peter Manciple, is both very interesting and very likable. As far as I know, Michael Gilbert never used him again in any subsequent books, which is too bad. I have yet to read a book by Gilbert that is not either very good or excellent.

[Jocelie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written, with all loose ends carefully tied. However, jumped the shark repeatedly.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

An unbelievable plot and a main character whose motives are the real mystery.

[Ilia Epifanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid mystery story! Not super visual and a not always clear (lots of names get introduced pretty often and don't always stick in your memory). A cool plot and a fun main char.