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Dead on Time
The scene is The Blue Boar in the High Street, Lulverton. The the stag party planned to celebrate Sergeant Bert Martin’s retirement after thirty years’ service.
“It was good while it lasted,” said Bert, putting down his empty tankard with a reflective sigh. “Bein’ in the Force, I mean. Lookin’ back over the long vista of the years…” But Bert had still until midnight before Bradfield was due to step into his shoes.
At nine twenty-five Jimmy Hooker was still very much alive, if a little the worse for wear, when he barged in on the party in the upstairs room. At closing time he was dead in the saloon. “And I don’t think,” said ‘Pop’ Collins, licensee of the Blue Boar, “that it was in the way of nature.”
“It was good while it lasted,” said Bert, putting down his empty tankard with a reflective sigh. “Bein’ in the Force, I mean. Lookin’ back over the long vista of the years…” But Bert had still until midnight before Bradfield was due to step into his shoes.
At nine twenty-five Jimmy Hooker was still very much alive, if a little the worse for wear, when he barged in on the party in the upstairs room. At closing time he was dead in the saloon. “And I don’t think,” said ‘Pop’ Collins, licensee of the Blue Boar, “that it was in the way of nature.”
250 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2022
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About the author
Clifford Witting
39 books15 followersClifford Witting (1907-68) was an English writer who was educated at Eltham College, London, between 1916 and 1924.
During World War II he served as a bombardier in the Royal Artillery, 1942-44, and as a Warrant Officer in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 1944-46.
He married Ellen Marjorie Steward in 1934 and they had one daughter. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a clerk in Lloyds bank from 1924 to 1942. He was Honorary Editor of The Old Elthamian magazine, London. from 1947 up to his death.
His first novel 'Murder in Blue' was published in 1937 and his series characters were Sergeant (later Inspector) Peter Bradford and Inspector Harry Charlton. Unusually, he didn’t join The Detection Club until 1958 by which time he had written 12 detective novels.
In their 'A Catalogue of Crime', Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor stated, 'Witting started feebly, improved to a point of high competence, and has since shown a marked capacity for character and situation, with uneven success in keeping up the detective interest.'
On the gadetection website it reports, 'Why is Witting so obscure? His detection is genuinely engrossing, and his style is witty, if occasionally facetious. He could do setting very well—Army life in Subject: Murder. His books have the genuine whodunit pull. He can brilliantly misdirect the reader (Midsummer Murder) or invent a genuinely clever and simple murder method (Dead on Time).
'He experimented with form: the surprise victim (whowillbedunin?) of Measure for Murder, or, weak as it is otherwise is, the riff on the inverted detective story in Michaelmas Goose. In short, he always has something to offer the reader, and found original ideas within the conventions of the formal detective story.
'And yet he’s barely known—no entry in 20th Crime and Mystery Writers, and only a passing reference in the Oxford guide. Only treated in detail in Cooper and Pike, and in Barzun.'
During World War II he served as a bombardier in the Royal Artillery, 1942-44, and as a Warrant Officer in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 1944-46.
He married Ellen Marjorie Steward in 1934 and they had one daughter. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a clerk in Lloyds bank from 1924 to 1942. He was Honorary Editor of The Old Elthamian magazine, London. from 1947 up to his death.
His first novel 'Murder in Blue' was published in 1937 and his series characters were Sergeant (later Inspector) Peter Bradford and Inspector Harry Charlton. Unusually, he didn’t join The Detection Club until 1958 by which time he had written 12 detective novels.
In their 'A Catalogue of Crime', Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor stated, 'Witting started feebly, improved to a point of high competence, and has since shown a marked capacity for character and situation, with uneven success in keeping up the detective interest.'
On the gadetection website it reports, 'Why is Witting so obscure? His detection is genuinely engrossing, and his style is witty, if occasionally facetious. He could do setting very well—Army life in Subject: Murder. His books have the genuine whodunit pull. He can brilliantly misdirect the reader (Midsummer Murder) or invent a genuinely clever and simple murder method (Dead on Time).
'He experimented with form: the surprise victim (whowillbedunin?) of Measure for Murder, or, weak as it is otherwise is, the riff on the inverted detective story in Michaelmas Goose. In short, he always has something to offer the reader, and found original ideas within the conventions of the formal detective story.
'And yet he’s barely known—no entry in 20th Crime and Mystery Writers, and only a passing reference in the Oxford guide. Only treated in detail in Cooper and Pike, and in Barzun.'
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 7, 2022
The Blue Boar in Lulverton is the setting for DS Martin's retiral "do" as well as the scene of a skillfully-executed killing by poison. Complete with a fun diagram- including a "Messieurs" but no "Dames"- this novel combines two plot strands, murder and robbery, and is partly-inverted.
Although the murder investigation is a beautifully intricate affair, with a dramatic denouement and a well-concealed perpetrator, the gang/robbery element, while essential, is less satisfying.
Charlton and Bradfield make an attractive and complementary detective team and the characters are well-realised although the Italian-Jewish cafe owner is a bit caricatured as are the criminous Quentins.
Most enjoyable and recommended. Galileo Publishers are to be thanked for making yet another Witting book readily available.
Although the murder investigation is a beautifully intricate affair, with a dramatic denouement and a well-concealed perpetrator, the gang/robbery element, while essential, is less satisfying.
Charlton and Bradfield make an attractive and complementary detective team and the characters are well-realised although the Italian-Jewish cafe owner is a bit caricatured as are the criminous Quentins.
Most enjoyable and recommended. Galileo Publishers are to be thanked for making yet another Witting book readily available.
Displaying 1 of 1 review