Only A Game

Inspector Peach #14

by J.M. Gregson

Foul play’s afoot at Bruton Rovers Football Club. - Bruton Rovers FC has been promoted to the Premiership, but Jim Capstick’s days as Chairman have made him some enemies in the Lancashire mill town. With the team fighting relegation, the debts are piling high. But when the club is rocked by a murder after Jim makes a surprise announcement, the question’s not who had the motive, but who had the balls to actually do it. ‘Percy’ Peach and DS Lucy Blake have their work cut out for them . . .

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2010

About the author

James Michael Gregson taught for twenty-seven years in schools, colleges and universities before concentrating on full-time writing. He has written books on subjects as diverse as golf and Shakespeare.

Reviews

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim Capstick is a ruthless and very successful business man. He is also the majority shareholder in Brunton Rovers football club which is currently doing very well and beating some big name sides. After one particular success he makes a shocking announcement which will affect the lives of many people currently associated with the club - Robbie Black - the manager and Darren Pearson the club secretary are likely to be especially affected though Edward Lanchester - a former chairman of the club and lifetime supporter is also upset by the news.

But even Jim could not have foreseen one of the effects of his announcement. When murder affects Brunton Rovers, everyone is a suspect and Percy Peach - also a supporter of the club - must unravel the mystery and bring the murderer to justice.

This is a well written mystery with believable characters and dialogue. I had sympathy for all the characters including the murderer. I like all the police characters and the way they interact with each other. Some readers may not believe how stupid Percy's boss can be but I have come across high level managers in other organisations who are very similar and who don't understand when their staff are joking and when they are serious.

I recommend this book and this series to anyone who likes their police procedural novels in the classic mode without too much on the page violence and bad language and with interesting and believable characters and dialogue.

[John Hardy · Rating 2 out of 5]

DCI Peach #14. I think I liked one of the earlier books in this series, but recently I've noticed things I don't like. Sadly, the main characters have become cliched. I really went off Peach in this one, after an extremely abusive disciplinary interview with a constable.
Other things grated on me. The dialogue is laboured, clunky, and unreal - I'm sure nobody talks like this. Putative purchaser - how about prospective buyer?
The death seemed highly unlikely. I fail to see how the surprise was achieved, and the method used seems a bit unlikely for someone who has never done it before. The ending was wrapped up in about two pages, as if the director had said "Cut!".
Careless editing allowed a character named Edward to be called Edmund in one scene.
I didn't mind reading about the issues in managing an English soccer club, not that there was much focus on that.
Early entries in the series are hard to find, so I probably won't bother with any more.
Rating 1.9.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The soccer setting was the main reason for reading this un-exceptional police procedural. Future husband and wife, DCI Peach and DS Blake, investigate the murder, committed half-way through the novel, of Jim Capstick, owner of East Lancashire mill town English Premier League club Brunton Rovers. The dialogue is occasionally most un-convincing and the characters are more often 1950s than 2010, but the football world is credible and the perpetrator well hidden. Readable enough but curiously old-fashioned

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I usually enjoy Gregson's Percy Peach stories, this one--set as it is in an English football (that is, soccer) club--demands a knowledge of the minutest facts about the organization of soccer leagues. The owner of the club startles his employees and various hangers-on with an announcement, and is shortly afterward found murdered. Was it his adulterous wife, the club's manager, his wife, the team secretary? Or was there someone else with reason to hate him?

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent read from J. M. Gregson.

Alas, I missed the clues yet a-bloody-gain!

[Margaret Fast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. Interesting characters with the "villian' being more than one-dimensional. Plot also quite robust.