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Midsummer Murder
Witting's second Inspector Charlton mystery, first published in 1937, is set in Paulsfield (clearly a fictional Petersfield in Hampshire).
It is a market day and there is much noise and bustle. A bull decides it is time to liberate itself and goes on the rampage. As this is happening, a cleaner working on the statue in the middle of the square is shot dead, straight through the head. Inspector Charlton has very few leads on this case. There is no obvious motive for the cleaner’s death, and when two further murders are committed within the same day, both taking place in the market square, the mystery has obviously deepened exponentially.
Midsummer Murder is another Clifford Witting that will delight all his fans.
It is a market day and there is much noise and bustle. A bull decides it is time to liberate itself and goes on the rampage. As this is happening, a cleaner working on the statue in the middle of the square is shot dead, straight through the head. Inspector Charlton has very few leads on this case. There is no obvious motive for the cleaner’s death, and when two further murders are committed within the same day, both taking place in the market square, the mystery has obviously deepened exponentially.
Midsummer Murder is another Clifford Witting that will delight all his fans.
262 pages, Paperback
Published August 31, 2022
1 person is currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Clifford Witting
37 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 26, 2023
The second adventure with Inspector Charlton involves what appears to be a random killing in (fictional) Paulsfield - a statue cleaner doing his job mysteriously shot while a bull wreaks havoc elsewhere in the market square. Although there were plenty of people present there are no clues nor a clear cut motive for our hero to investigate/follow - a locked room mystery in the wide open - and of course the “spree” continues before Charlton identifies the culprit.
This one started a little slow, not helped by the 1930s British slang/humor, which eluded this reader in more than a few instances. And the solution may frustrate purists, although it is a harbinger/foreshadowing of current mysteries/police procedurals.
Bottom line - still recommend this book/series/author.
This one started a little slow, not helped by the 1930s British slang/humor, which eluded this reader in more than a few instances. And the solution may frustrate purists, although it is a harbinger/foreshadowing of current mysteries/police procedurals.
Bottom line - still recommend this book/series/author.
August 21, 2022
Enjoyable but kind of with E C Bentley re the plot.
December 13, 2022
Rolling along enjoying this book. Live near the cunningly renamed Paulsfield and enjoyed the local character. But then came the last few pages and it all went downhill. Three stars because I liked the Petersfield descriptions.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews