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Chief Superintendent Gently #24
Gently Instrumental
The unflappable Inspector George Gently has become a household name through the hit BBC TV series starring Martin Shaw. These are the original books on which the TV series was based, although the George Gently in Alan Hunter's whodunits is somewhat different to his TV counterpart. He is more calculating, more analytical, and his investigations are even more enthralling.
In this
Following the death of a young musician, George Gently is assigned to the case, mainly because his boss is such a fan of the composer, Walter Hozeley. Things look bad for Hozeley when details emerge of a vicious argument between the composer and the murdered clarinetist, Terence Virtue, who was also Hozeley’s lover.
The other musicians who were present at the rehearsal where the quarrel took place soon fall under suspicion when Gently begins to realise that Hozeley may not have been the only one who wanted Virtue dead. As the musicians prepare for a special performance, Gently’s investigation builds to a crescendo and the killer is set to take his final bow.
In this
Following the death of a young musician, George Gently is assigned to the case, mainly because his boss is such a fan of the composer, Walter Hozeley. Things look bad for Hozeley when details emerge of a vicious argument between the composer and the murdered clarinetist, Terence Virtue, who was also Hozeley’s lover.
The other musicians who were present at the rehearsal where the quarrel took place soon fall under suspicion when Gently begins to realise that Hozeley may not have been the only one who wanted Virtue dead. As the musicians prepare for a special performance, Gently’s investigation builds to a crescendo and the killer is set to take his final bow.
- GenresMystery
175 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 1977
About the author
Alan Hunter
107 books69 followersAlan Hunter was born at Hoveton, Norfolk and went to school across the River Bure in Wroxham. He left school at 14 and worked on his father's farm near Norwich. He enjoyed dinghy sailing on the Norfolk Broads, wrote natural history notes for the local newspaper, and wrote poetry, some of which was published while he was in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
He married, in 1944, Adelaide Cooper, who survives him with their daughter. After the war he managed the antiquarian books department of Charles Cubitt in Norwich. Four years later, in 1950, he established his own bookshop on Maddermarket in the city.
From 1955 until 1998 he published a Gently detective novel nearly every year. He retired to Brundall in Norfolk where he continued his interests in local history, natural history, and sailing
He married, in 1944, Adelaide Cooper, who survives him with their daughter. After the war he managed the antiquarian books department of Charles Cubitt in Norwich. Four years later, in 1950, he established his own bookshop on Maddermarket in the city.
From 1955 until 1998 he published a Gently detective novel nearly every year. He retired to Brundall in Norfolk where he continued his interests in local history, natural history, and sailing
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 22, 2023
Gently and the Musicians
Review of the Constable Kindle eBook edition (2014) of the Cassell hardcover original (1977).
The fun in Gently Instrumental was in looking for the parallels between its fictional music festival town of Shinglebourne with the real-life Aldeburgh and its association with composer Benjamin Britten and its Aldeburgh Festival. These were primarily that it was a coastal fishing village with an annual music festival associated with a local composer and the coincidences of having a concert hall converted from an earlier malting building, a Martello tower, a tourist beach, etc. In the case of the plot there is also that fictional composer Walter Hozeley is homosexual and the murder victim was his then partner. There is of course no such fatal drama associated with Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears.
The fictional plot has composer Hozeley working with a local clarinet quintet in preparation for a premiere at the upcoming music festival. The featured clarinetist disrupts the rehearsal and puts the performance in jeopardy. Later in the day, he is found murdered and Gently is called in to assist the local authorities. It gradually turns out that the composer and the 4 members of the associated string quartet may each have had a motive for the murder. Gently solves it all of course.
The dust cover of the original UK hardcover published by Cassell in 1977. Image sourced from Goodreads.
Flash forward trivia: Gently returns to Shinglebourne in a later book Gently Between Tides (Gently #29 - 1982) when another local case requires his assistance. The later book is a somewhat spoiler for the earlier one as some of the suspects return and are obviously in the clear. [I'm several books ahead in my reading over my reviewing of the Gently series.]
Soundtrack
Benjamin Britten didn't compose a clarinet quintet so I had no contemporary example to use for my soundtrack. One of the most famous (and earliest) clarinet quintets though is Mozart's Clarinet quintet K581 in A major (1789), which you can see and hear performed by Sabine Meyer and the Armida Quartet here.
Trivia and Link
Gently Instrumental was not adapted for the Inspector George Gently TV series (2007-2017). Very few of the TV episodes are based on the original books and the characters are quite different, e.g. Sgt Bacchus does not appear in the books. The timeline for the TV series takes place in the 1960s only.
Review of the Constable Kindle eBook edition (2014) of the Cassell hardcover original (1977).
‘It’s the performance that’s always mattered . . . isn’t it?’
‘Didn’t I tell you that from the start?’ Capel hitched forward eagerly and brandished his empty glass at Gently. ‘When the chips are down we’re all expendable – Virtue, Craggy, even Walt. We have our entrances and exits but music is for ever. Music is life, and sanity. My goodness, we need it in our world. Music is hope. While we keep creating it civilization has a chance.’
The fun in Gently Instrumental was in looking for the parallels between its fictional music festival town of Shinglebourne with the real-life Aldeburgh and its association with composer Benjamin Britten and its Aldeburgh Festival. These were primarily that it was a coastal fishing village with an annual music festival associated with a local composer and the coincidences of having a concert hall converted from an earlier malting building, a Martello tower, a tourist beach, etc. In the case of the plot there is also that fictional composer Walter Hozeley is homosexual and the murder victim was his then partner. There is of course no such fatal drama associated with Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears.
The fictional plot has composer Hozeley working with a local clarinet quintet in preparation for a premiere at the upcoming music festival. The featured clarinetist disrupts the rehearsal and puts the performance in jeopardy. Later in the day, he is found murdered and Gently is called in to assist the local authorities. It gradually turns out that the composer and the 4 members of the associated string quartet may each have had a motive for the murder. Gently solves it all of course.
The dust cover of the original UK hardcover published by Cassell in 1977. Image sourced from Goodreads.
Flash forward trivia: Gently returns to Shinglebourne in a later book Gently Between Tides (Gently #29 - 1982) when another local case requires his assistance. The later book is a somewhat spoiler for the earlier one as some of the suspects return and are obviously in the clear. [I'm several books ahead in my reading over my reviewing of the Gently series.]
Soundtrack
Benjamin Britten didn't compose a clarinet quintet so I had no contemporary example to use for my soundtrack. One of the most famous (and earliest) clarinet quintets though is Mozart's Clarinet quintet K581 in A major (1789), which you can see and hear performed by Sabine Meyer and the Armida Quartet here.
Trivia and Link
Gently Instrumental was not adapted for the Inspector George Gently TV series (2007-2017). Very few of the TV episodes are based on the original books and the characters are quite different, e.g. Sgt Bacchus does not appear in the books. The timeline for the TV series takes place in the 1960s only.
May 12, 2017
This instalment in the George Gently detective series, dealing with the death of a talented but highly strung clarinet player, was... all right. It was one of those books that's entertaining and certainly doesn't have any glaring faults but doesn't have anything particularly interesting about it to make it stand out from the crowd either.
Much like this review, so I shall bid you adieu...
Much like this review, so I shall bid you adieu...
January 1, 2022
Another police procedural set in the East Anglian seaside
January 10, 2017
Two and a half stars.
Having, unusually, just read two Gently novels one after the other, I notice a pattern that I hadn't noticed before. Basically, they're all the same. The formula is that the local plods either can't or don't want to handle their murder so Gently is sent up from London to deal with it. The locals want to charge the obvious suspect, annoyingly known as "chummie" most of the time. However, Gently won't have any of this and sets about finding the real killer monosyllabically grunting and shrugging a lot.
Having said all this, that doesn't make them all that bad. Just better not read consecutively.
Having, unusually, just read two Gently novels one after the other, I notice a pattern that I hadn't noticed before. Basically, they're all the same. The formula is that the local plods either can't or don't want to handle their murder so Gently is sent up from London to deal with it. The locals want to charge the obvious suspect, annoyingly known as "chummie" most of the time. However, Gently won't have any of this and sets about finding the real killer monosyllabically grunting and shrugging a lot.
Having said all this, that doesn't make them all that bad. Just better not read consecutively.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews