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Wycliffe #1
Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy
The peace of the village of Kergwyns has been shattered by a bizarre murder. A young woman has been shot. The only thing taken from a scene is the shoe and stocking from her left leg...exposing her deformed foot. Wycliffe uncovers evidence of an unhappy woman who routinely manipulated the men in her life. As half the men in the village have been known to visit her, and most have reason to lie about it, finding the murderer will not be easy. Wycliffe's task is complicated by the discovery of some clues in the form of crossword puzzles left by the victim herself. If Pussy Welles knew she was going to die, why did she make no effort to save herself?
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
63 people are currently reading
236 people want to read
About the author
W.J. Burley
44 books25 followersBurley was born in Falmouth, Cornwall. Before he began writing, he was employed in senior management with various gas companies, before giving it up after the Second World War when he obtained a scholarship to study zoology at Balliol College, Oxford. After obtaining an honours degree he became a teacher. Appointed head of biology, first at Richmond & East Sheen County Grammar School in 1953, then at Newquay Grammar School in 1955, he was well established as a writer by the time he retired at the age of 60 in 1974. He died at his home in Holywell, Cornwall, on 15 August 2002.
John Burley had his first novel published when he was in his early fifties. His second published novel, two years later, saw the appearance of Superintendent Charles Wycliffe.
Over the next 25 years Burley produced another seventeen Wycliffe books and five other books.
Then, late in 1993, one of Burley's Wycliffe stories appeared on television in a pilot starring Jack Shepherd.
The pilot was followed by 37 episodes broadcast over a five year period.
By 1995 the author was, for the first time in his life, financially comfortable. He was over eighty.
But the success of the television series meant that John Burley found himself overshadowed by his creations. To the public, the name Wycliffe brought to mind the unsmiling face of Jack Shepherd, the actor. Even in the bookshops it was Shepherd's face that dominated the covers of Burley's paperbacks.
John Burley, however, continued to write and produced a further four Wycliffe titles. He was working on his 23rd Wycliffe novel, Wycliffe's Last Lap, when he died in 2002.
Recently a wish to restore the balance has emerged from amongst his readers. There is a feeling that we are neglecting a writer of quality, one who deserves to stand beside Simenon, the creator of Inspector Maigret.
Reading through John Burley's books in publication sequence, one notices how the author's voice gets stronger and his views more certain. And how his writing skills grow until, in the later books, a few words are all that it takes to pin down an image. These are the signs of a writer confident in his craft.
John Burley had his first novel published when he was in his early fifties. His second published novel, two years later, saw the appearance of Superintendent Charles Wycliffe.
Over the next 25 years Burley produced another seventeen Wycliffe books and five other books.
Then, late in 1993, one of Burley's Wycliffe stories appeared on television in a pilot starring Jack Shepherd.
The pilot was followed by 37 episodes broadcast over a five year period.
By 1995 the author was, for the first time in his life, financially comfortable. He was over eighty.
But the success of the television series meant that John Burley found himself overshadowed by his creations. To the public, the name Wycliffe brought to mind the unsmiling face of Jack Shepherd, the actor. Even in the bookshops it was Shepherd's face that dominated the covers of Burley's paperbacks.
John Burley, however, continued to write and produced a further four Wycliffe titles. He was working on his 23rd Wycliffe novel, Wycliffe's Last Lap, when he died in 2002.
Recently a wish to restore the balance has emerged from amongst his readers. There is a feeling that we are neglecting a writer of quality, one who deserves to stand beside Simenon, the creator of Inspector Maigret.
Reading through John Burley's books in publication sequence, one notices how the author's voice gets stronger and his views more certain. And how his writing skills grow until, in the later books, a few words are all that it takes to pin down an image. These are the signs of a writer confident in his craft.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
December 6, 2018
I've read and enjoyed five or six of W.J. Burley's Inspector Wycliffe mysteries and finally got a copy of the 1st book, Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy. Once again, I enjoyed the story and mystery. Wycliffe is working a case in Kergwyns, on the Cornish coast, having been sent from his home base of Essex. A woman, Pussy Welles is dead, murdered by a gunshot to the chest. One of her stockings has been torn off, revealing that her left foot has only three toes (hence the title).
Wycliffe is not your typical police inspector. He lets the forensics crew and other experts do their work, but tends to eschew their results. He prefers to wander about, talking to people, even that seems somewhat grudging, and let his intuition solve the crime. He even finds himself grumpy when forced to listen to theories from his investigators.
Kergwyns is a small coastal town and Pussy held court with a small group of acquaintances. She had relations with all of the men, married or not, and used the power to gain advantage. Basically, she wasn't necessarily a popular person, especially so to the wives of the men affected. Most were not sad to see her gone.
Wycliffe investigates, thinks, talks to suspects and thinks some more. There have been other deaths and close calls related to Pussy's past. Were these related to her murder?
The story isn't so much about figuring out the crime; the ultimate solution seems somewhat to come of left field (there are clues of course). It's more about Wycliffe's interactions and feelings. I do like the Wycliffe stories. They move along nicely and offer a good perspective on Wycliffe's personality. This was an excellent introduction. (3.5 stars)
Wycliffe is not your typical police inspector. He lets the forensics crew and other experts do their work, but tends to eschew their results. He prefers to wander about, talking to people, even that seems somewhat grudging, and let his intuition solve the crime. He even finds himself grumpy when forced to listen to theories from his investigators.
Kergwyns is a small coastal town and Pussy held court with a small group of acquaintances. She had relations with all of the men, married or not, and used the power to gain advantage. Basically, she wasn't necessarily a popular person, especially so to the wives of the men affected. Most were not sad to see her gone.
Wycliffe investigates, thinks, talks to suspects and thinks some more. There have been other deaths and close calls related to Pussy's past. Were these related to her murder?
The story isn't so much about figuring out the crime; the ultimate solution seems somewhat to come of left field (there are clues of course). It's more about Wycliffe's interactions and feelings. I do like the Wycliffe stories. They move along nicely and offer a good perspective on Wycliffe's personality. This was an excellent introduction. (3.5 stars)
March 26, 2017
The writing was fine, I'm just tired of stories about beautiful-but-evil women who turn out not only to have 'dunnit' but to have masterminded an improbably elaborate and unnecessary campaign of malicious destruction that unfolds after they are dead or in jail.
April 30, 2012
This book was written in the 60s, and is a product of its time in many ways. It is set in a fictional small English village, so the lack of technology is not particularly jarring. However, some of the cultural pieces were annoying to me. There is a gay couple in the mix, and there are a fair number of homophobic comments, which do nothing to advance the plot. The woman who is killed to start is a strong, if manipulative, woman. The author seems to be playing with an approach that brands a strong woman as unacceptable. That said, the location is very well written, and I did find myself caring how the mystery turned out. I'll read the next in the series before I decide if the author is just too homophobic and misogynistic to continue reading.
June 30, 2023
Been watching the tv series and thought I'd try the books. Liked the first one well enough that I'll try the next, because I feel like the author was just getting going. Interesting setup. Good characters and unique mystery.
December 31, 2022
I had to remind myself that this book was first published in 1968, that it’s vintage crime. And yet it seems dated even for the 1960s. I was an 18-19 year old Scot when this book first appeared. The world was alive for me. I marched through the streets of London carrying a Vietnamese flag, protesting the American war. There was optimism, we could change the world, young people around the globe were demanding change – social change, sexual change, political change.
And here’s Wycliffe appearing in 1968 in a very middle class tale. Conceived by a Cornish writer, set in Cornwall, yet this first outing for Wycliffe is more English than Cornish.
And here’s the victim, characterised by her promiscuity, maybe sentenced by her promiscuity – that’s the theme behind the mystery, the mystery behind the theme – so it’s a bit more risqué than the average English ‘cosy’ of the 1930s. Burley doesn’t really moralise about her sex life (there might be just a hint of ‘nudge nudge’), but his description of the sexual behaviours of the males in the story remains a tad coy – it’s a whodunnit with just a hint more sex than your average cosy … nudge, nudge.
And yet it’s the 1960s, and this is cosy and circumspect? It’s nearly a decade after the obscenity trial of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”, four years after Christine Keeler and Many Rice-Davies were front-page news, three years after Bob Guccione made ‘Penthouse’ an acceptable addition to coffee tables the length and breadth of England. Oh, this is coy – it won’t scare the horses, it might even bring a smile to the faces of the servants.
Around the world, police and military were shooting civilians, using watercannon, baton rounds, gas and live ammunition, and yet we’re still getting pipe-smoking, avuncular detectives intent on solving mysteries! When the English cosies were first making their mark, Fascism was on the march … and a lot of the people who wrote cosies or provided a market for them were cosying up to Hitler, Franco, Mosley and the Blackshirts.
So, a salacious murder in a tiny Cornish village (which, like a 1930s storyline, narrows down the dramatis personae of possible killers to a precious few), but we’ve no political reference – without looking at its publication date you’d struggle to confirm the era in which it’s set.
Now, I’d decided to read this because I enjoyed the Wycliffe TV series with Jack Shepherd in the title role, a fine supporting cast, and Cornwall very definitely portrayed as a character in the various plots. More particularly, many of the stories featured crimes which were ‘ordinary’ – you could see real people ending up in real messes like these rather than the fantastically choreographed plots and elaborate puzzles which feature in so many books and films.
And yet I found it very ordinary and a touch disappointing. It’s formulaic in the sense that it echoes the pattern of the English cosy – a body, a tight circle of possibles, a very middle class English setting, a detective with problem solving skills who happens to be a decent, kindly, moral individual (he’s not carrying a riot shield, he doesn’t have a cosh and a cannister of CS gas in his coat pocket), and the working classes clearly know their places.
There’s an element of the writer finding his feet here – there’s something salacious about the sex, but the sex is spectral rather than prurient, there’s nothing explicit or real about it … a writer imagining situations and scenes but being careful what he’ll allow his imagination to spill onto the page. He’s imagining the visuals, even the tactile experience, he just can’t get the psychology right. The psychology remains simplistic, constrained when it needs to be sophisticated and profound, when it needs depth and enough complexity to intrigue without confusing.
So it remains dated in its attitudes – perhaps consciously non-sexist, but decidedly pre-feminist, written before the term ‘gay’ became familiar, and, while it appreciates the role of alcohol in contemporary England, it’s naïve and innocent in its understanding of narcotics.
And formulaic – the detective assembles the cast of suspects together for that final denouement, almost like a cast waiting to hear, “And the Oscar for best actor …”. There’s just something mechanistic about this.
And I’m left wondering whether it’s worth persevering, worth reading the next Wycliffe. Great title, though. Love the title.
And here’s Wycliffe appearing in 1968 in a very middle class tale. Conceived by a Cornish writer, set in Cornwall, yet this first outing for Wycliffe is more English than Cornish.
And here’s the victim, characterised by her promiscuity, maybe sentenced by her promiscuity – that’s the theme behind the mystery, the mystery behind the theme – so it’s a bit more risqué than the average English ‘cosy’ of the 1930s. Burley doesn’t really moralise about her sex life (there might be just a hint of ‘nudge nudge’), but his description of the sexual behaviours of the males in the story remains a tad coy – it’s a whodunnit with just a hint more sex than your average cosy … nudge, nudge.
And yet it’s the 1960s, and this is cosy and circumspect? It’s nearly a decade after the obscenity trial of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”, four years after Christine Keeler and Many Rice-Davies were front-page news, three years after Bob Guccione made ‘Penthouse’ an acceptable addition to coffee tables the length and breadth of England. Oh, this is coy – it won’t scare the horses, it might even bring a smile to the faces of the servants.
Around the world, police and military were shooting civilians, using watercannon, baton rounds, gas and live ammunition, and yet we’re still getting pipe-smoking, avuncular detectives intent on solving mysteries! When the English cosies were first making their mark, Fascism was on the march … and a lot of the people who wrote cosies or provided a market for them were cosying up to Hitler, Franco, Mosley and the Blackshirts.
So, a salacious murder in a tiny Cornish village (which, like a 1930s storyline, narrows down the dramatis personae of possible killers to a precious few), but we’ve no political reference – without looking at its publication date you’d struggle to confirm the era in which it’s set.
Now, I’d decided to read this because I enjoyed the Wycliffe TV series with Jack Shepherd in the title role, a fine supporting cast, and Cornwall very definitely portrayed as a character in the various plots. More particularly, many of the stories featured crimes which were ‘ordinary’ – you could see real people ending up in real messes like these rather than the fantastically choreographed plots and elaborate puzzles which feature in so many books and films.
And yet I found it very ordinary and a touch disappointing. It’s formulaic in the sense that it echoes the pattern of the English cosy – a body, a tight circle of possibles, a very middle class English setting, a detective with problem solving skills who happens to be a decent, kindly, moral individual (he’s not carrying a riot shield, he doesn’t have a cosh and a cannister of CS gas in his coat pocket), and the working classes clearly know their places.
There’s an element of the writer finding his feet here – there’s something salacious about the sex, but the sex is spectral rather than prurient, there’s nothing explicit or real about it … a writer imagining situations and scenes but being careful what he’ll allow his imagination to spill onto the page. He’s imagining the visuals, even the tactile experience, he just can’t get the psychology right. The psychology remains simplistic, constrained when it needs to be sophisticated and profound, when it needs depth and enough complexity to intrigue without confusing.
So it remains dated in its attitudes – perhaps consciously non-sexist, but decidedly pre-feminist, written before the term ‘gay’ became familiar, and, while it appreciates the role of alcohol in contemporary England, it’s naïve and innocent in its understanding of narcotics.
And formulaic – the detective assembles the cast of suspects together for that final denouement, almost like a cast waiting to hear, “And the Oscar for best actor …”. There’s just something mechanistic about this.
And I’m left wondering whether it’s worth persevering, worth reading the next Wycliffe. Great title, though. Love the title.
November 8, 2019
This is the first in the Wycliffe series. A woman is discovered shot to death in a cottage in a small village on the north Cornish coast. What makes the scene more puzzling is that she has had one shoe and stocking removed, exposing her deformed (only three toes!) foot. As is common in small-village mysteries, the townspeople all seem to know each other, and in fact small nucleus of them get together socially on a regular basis, although it appears they really don't much like each other. Since the shooting victim was known as a sexual adventurer who had relations of one type or another with the men in the small social group, and their wives all appeared to hate the victim, there is no shortage of suspects. Of course, as the investigation continues it becomes murkier, involving more than the simple murder of the victim. Wycliffe finally sorts it all out, resolving the various mysteries that have emerged.
May 1, 2021
I fell in love with Wycliffe through the TV series. I liked the character and I adore anything set in Cornwall. As with a lot of adaptions, I was inspired to know more about the original roots of the detective so I decided to start reading the books. This is one that was never adapted (less than ten of the books were and in the first series only, after which they reverted to their own stories) and I think there's a reason for that. It's a bit weird. Slightly tame and the mystery doesn't make sense. There's still a big "why?" at the end. I think it's dated. There are no really likeable characters. It was the first book though so maybe W.J.B was just finding his feet. It was OK as a mystery and quite honestly, if I'd had the time and wasn't falling asleep, I'm sure I'd have read this within a very short time. I also shouldn't have read this at the same time as watching reruns of the TV series because I got my wires crossed. But I will be reading more to see how Wycliffe develops, how W.J.B developed as a writer.
February 20, 2022
Opera prima dell’autore e quindi sembra una frase fatta ma, per me, che ho cominciato a caso a leggere questo autore, la scrittura mi è sembrata un po’ acerba. Penso pure che faccia tanto anche la traduzione invecchiata decisamente male.
Ho la prova che negli anni 60, fine anni 60, nelle traduzioni in italiano non esisteva il politicamente corretto oppure era corretto lo scorretto, insomma una coppia di omosessuali viene chiamata ripetutamente “i froci”, una donna con due dita dei piedi in meno, “deforme”, le donne sono animali irrazionali e così via. Ci sono poi vocaboli da me mai sentiti come “ghirba”, “zinale ” e “ubbìe”!
Nel complesso il giallo funziona ma è un po’ troppo celebrale e: la protagonista?
Proprio non la sopporto
Ho la prova che negli anni 60, fine anni 60, nelle traduzioni in italiano non esisteva il politicamente corretto oppure era corretto lo scorretto, insomma una coppia di omosessuali viene chiamata ripetutamente “i froci”, una donna con due dita dei piedi in meno, “deforme”, le donne sono animali irrazionali e così via. Ci sono poi vocaboli da me mai sentiti come “ghirba”, “zinale ” e “ubbìe”!
Nel complesso il giallo funziona ma è un po’ troppo celebrale e: la protagonista?
Proprio non la sopporto
March 29, 2023
Disappointed
As a fan of the genre and the tv show I looked forward to this, but shouldn't have. The text drones on endlessly and needlessly about the mental spaghetti junction of all the characters, Hurley seems to delight in using opaque words and references for no point, and Wycliffe is a cold soulless and distant character it is impossible to empathise with. The course of the story is random and doesn't flow. As for the plot itself, I will just use the word ludicrous and leave it at that. Unusually, the tv shows are a big improvement on the style of the book and quite simply, that's where my loyalty will be in future, I will NOT be buying any more of this series, I read it to the end as an obligation, not for pleasure, because I didn't enjoy this book at all.
As a fan of the genre and the tv show I looked forward to this, but shouldn't have. The text drones on endlessly and needlessly about the mental spaghetti junction of all the characters, Hurley seems to delight in using opaque words and references for no point, and Wycliffe is a cold soulless and distant character it is impossible to empathise with. The course of the story is random and doesn't flow. As for the plot itself, I will just use the word ludicrous and leave it at that. Unusually, the tv shows are a big improvement on the style of the book and quite simply, that's where my loyalty will be in future, I will NOT be buying any more of this series, I read it to the end as an obligation, not for pleasure, because I didn't enjoy this book at all.
October 15, 2024
🍷
Really enjoyed this, it’s in the category of “cerebral” mystery - much of it is interior rumination on people and actions, but in a thoughtful and thought-provoking way, at least in my humble opinion. This is the first in the series (1968) and I’d already read #2; I do see a fair bit of developmental improvement in just those two books, and look forward to the next.
It does appear these will be stories set in the smaller cities and towns, not the metro areas/big cities, sort of a village mystery setting without the “village mystery” atmosphere. As such, they’re certainly less cloying…fingers crossed for good reactions going forward.
Really enjoyed this, it’s in the category of “cerebral” mystery - much of it is interior rumination on people and actions, but in a thoughtful and thought-provoking way, at least in my humble opinion. This is the first in the series (1968) and I’d already read #2; I do see a fair bit of developmental improvement in just those two books, and look forward to the next.
It does appear these will be stories set in the smaller cities and towns, not the metro areas/big cities, sort of a village mystery setting without the “village mystery” atmosphere. As such, they’re certainly less cloying…fingers crossed for good reactions going forward.
September 3, 2023
The title is, umm, rather suggestive -- perhaps because it's the first in a series and the author thought it would grab attention? That aside, I enjoyed the story.
Wycliffe is a quiet and thoughtful man; very different from many of the fictional detectives who have poor tempers, abuse drugs or alcohol, or are given to violence too easily. None of that here with Detective Superintendent Wycliffe.
Written in the 1960s, the story has some of the prejudices/ideas of the time, but I didn't find that to detract from the story.
Wycliffe is a quiet and thoughtful man; very different from many of the fictional detectives who have poor tempers, abuse drugs or alcohol, or are given to violence too easily. None of that here with Detective Superintendent Wycliffe.
Written in the 1960s, the story has some of the prejudices/ideas of the time, but I didn't find that to detract from the story.
May 26, 2021
Plucked this from my shelves for a train journey to London, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The book Wycliffe is slightly different from the TV version (which I also enjoy), and it's set further back in time, but it was close enough to make me appreciate what a good job the TV dramatists did.
Very well written, I would say. And kept me guessing!
Very well written, I would say. And kept me guessing!
January 22, 2024
There are some things you can forgive when a book is from 1968. Yes, there is a fair amount of mysogini and the double entendre in the title is a bit odd. However, there are other aspects which are more worrying.
I was hoping for a story similar to Morse or Frost; fairly improbable story lines with neatly twisted plots. It was a bit like that with the single minded Wycliffe wandering round the village trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. So far so good.
What's my problem then? There are two worrying aspects even for 1968. The gay couple are described as a weak limbded effeminate rather sad couple. Still just about OK. What hit a nerve was Wycliffe's clear dislike and prejudice against them. Was this Burley's own prejudice against "queers".
The other line is two characters with a form of disability; one from an accident and one a deformity from birth, the "hunchback". Both are ashamed of their disability. The hunchback only comes out at night!
"Another pint, Lewes. Your round I think"
I was hoping for a story similar to Morse or Frost; fairly improbable story lines with neatly twisted plots. It was a bit like that with the single minded Wycliffe wandering round the village trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. So far so good.
What's my problem then? There are two worrying aspects even for 1968. The gay couple are described as a weak limbded effeminate rather sad couple. Still just about OK. What hit a nerve was Wycliffe's clear dislike and prejudice against them. Was this Burley's own prejudice against "queers".
The other line is two characters with a form of disability; one from an accident and one a deformity from birth, the "hunchback". Both are ashamed of their disability. The hunchback only comes out at night!
"Another pint, Lewes. Your round I think"
October 6, 2025
Quite an intricate story …
Many intricate relationships among characters …
I found it both riveting and confusing.
Why must all the mystery novels have scene where all the suspects are in one room, details of all their many relationships to the victim are exposed, and the killer confesses. I always wonder if this ever actually happens!
Many intricate relationships among characters …
I found it both riveting and confusing.
Why must all the mystery novels have scene where all the suspects are in one room, details of all their many relationships to the victim are exposed, and the killer confesses. I always wonder if this ever actually happens!
October 17, 2025
Ho trovato alcuni aspetti culturali datati e fastidiosi: la presenza di commenti omofobi e una visione negativa delle donne forti non aggiungono nulla alla storia (cosa che comunque mi aspettavo dato l'anno di pubblicazione). Nonostante ciò, la scrittura è efficace e il mistero ben costruito. Resto curiosa di leggere altri volumi di casi dell'ispettore Wycliffe.
July 10, 2018
Old series still a decent read.
The peace of the village of Kergwyns has been shattered by a bizarre murder. A young woman has been shot. The only thing taken from a scene is the shoe and stocking from her left leg…exposing her deformed foot.
The peace of the village of Kergwyns has been shattered by a bizarre murder. A young woman has been shot. The only thing taken from a scene is the shoe and stocking from her left leg…exposing her deformed foot.
April 10, 2019
A rather good read, finding out who Wycliffe was in the mind of the writer as opposed to the series. I enjoyed both but so far he is different in the book. However I will see how it pans out in the next books. In the book he reminds me a bit of Maigret.
January 10, 2020
Great read. Couldn’t put it down. By looking up some words so I could be sure I had the most fitting definition breathtakingly gave life to this story. It was easy to see, taste, smell, and feel every situation. I looking forward to more “Wycliffe”.
September 22, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. Nicely written with good characters and a great plot.
I certainly read more books from this author.
I certainly read more books from this author.
August 22, 2020
A proper British mystery. One village, scenic location, small group of characters and one gentleman detective. Not to mention a crisp plot which never slows down.
January 28, 2021
I think I read this before. It's familiar, but not overly.
This book feels dated, more than I might have guessed. The story is nuanced but not enough to override the tone.
This book feels dated, more than I might have guessed. The story is nuanced but not enough to override the tone.
May 1, 2021
A good plot, in which nearly everyone stands accused of the murder.
Very classical whodunnit, but quite good.
Very classical whodunnit, but quite good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2021
Terrible title, of course, but it was written long ago. I like the Wycliffe series and decided to try to find the first one.
June 25, 2024
Almost
Almost perfect; just a tad too drawn out and cumbersome. Still, well worth the read. Five more words required, really ?
Almost perfect; just a tad too drawn out and cumbersome. Still, well worth the read. Five more words required, really ?
July 7, 2025
A good story line and a complex but intriguing plot. It does come across as dated so has to be read as a piece set in the 60s, not today or even in the 90s when the series was televised.
August 10, 2025
KINDLE
March 14, 2015
In Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy, by W.J. Burley, readers are introduced to John Wycliffe, police superintendent working in Cornwall in Great Britain's southwest. He is called to handle the case of Pussy Welles, a young woman who has been shot to death in a small village; all that has been taken from the scene of the crime is one shoe and one stocking, the removal of which reveal her to have a foot deformity. As he begins to delve into the woman's past, Wycliffe learns that there is no lack of suspects, as it seems that she has been involved with a large number of the leading men in the village and the women, well, none of them are exactly sad to see her dead.... Published in 1968, this book begins a police series of some 22 novels; it contains the sort of casual sexism one would expect of that time (for example, when discussing the victim's lust for power, Wycliffe notes that such lust is rare among women but more dangerous than when men have the same desire because "women have a pragmatic approach to morality and they are capable of showing scant respect for taboos which might restrain a man") and all of the characters, of course, are white. Interestingly, though, the secondary characters include a gay couple who are most definitely not closeted, and those men are entirely accepted within the village community, even if many other villagers disapprove of their sexual orientation; I found the fact that these characters even exist in a fictional police procedural written in the mid-1960s to be quite surprising. Evidently this series became a long-running television show in Britain, and one can see why, as Wycliffe is an engaging character given to solving cases by willing himself into the "life" of the victim through portraits provided by the victim's family, friends and enemies, and by taking the occasional intuitive leap. An interesting mix; I shall look forward to reading more Wycliffe stories!
August 19, 2022
I was first introduced to Wycliffe via the television series and from there discovered the books. This is the first in the series and was not one of the handful adapted as an episode of the series. This one involves the murder of a young woman; named Pussy, of questionable morals who was both highly manipulative and very intelligent. She also has a deformed foot which the killer has taken the trouble to expose. I did not enjoy this one as much as I have others in the series. Wycliffe himself is an interesting character and does not seem to be the prototypical police detective. His assistant in this novel, who does not appear in the television show, is his complete opposite. This is demonstrated when Wycliffe refuses to end their investigation after they have made an arrest. Of course the reader knows they have the wrong person because there is still too much of the book left. At the end we do find out who was responsible for her death and I do admit it was an interesting solution. One nice touch was that it turns out there was a set of clues staring Wycliffe in the face but he never really noticed them. At the end of the book his wife points them out to him. All in all a decent enough book and not a bad beginning to the series.
November 15, 2014
I'm sure WJ Burley would have considered himself and his detective as being sensitive and right minded. Yet their attitude to women, homosexuals and human relationships show just how far we have moved since the sixties. Three cheers for feminism and three more for campaigners for gay rights. The world we live in at present may be far from perfect but I wouldn't wish to sink back into the accepted prejudices and hatreds of more ignorant times.
Reading this novel is of great interest to the sociologist in each of us.
Underneath the slough of dodgy attitudes and stances is a reasonable detective story. I believe that Wycliffe makes a journey during the book. He certainly develops a more acceptable attitude in later books. I don't think I'd want to read too many more of these early ones; the misogyny and homophobia are too dominant.
Reading this novel is of great interest to the sociologist in each of us.
Underneath the slough of dodgy attitudes and stances is a reasonable detective story. I believe that Wycliffe makes a journey during the book. He certainly develops a more acceptable attitude in later books. I don't think I'd want to read too many more of these early ones; the misogyny and homophobia are too dominant.
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