Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our August/September 25 buddy read of Brought to Light . Book 32 in the Bobby Owen series was first published in 1954.

The stage was set, Bobby thought, the actors in position; but how the drama would develop, that he could not even guess.

The churchyard at Hillings-under-Moor is the final resting place of Janet Merton - buried, so everyone believes, along with celebrated poet Stephen Asprey's unpublished verses and love letters. The potential value of the poems has posed a constant danger of grave-robbing, but the Duke of Blegborough has a new cause for alarm. He has heard that there is an official move to open the grave, and its contents may shed a most unwelcome light on his dead wife.

Bobby Owen of the Yard also discovers the former rector of the church, Rev. Thorne, had gone for an evening stroll two years earlier - and disappeared into thin air. Whether his disappearance was in connection with the contents of Janet Merton's grave is something Bobby will come to find out, with the help of Edward Pyle, of the Morning Daily, Janet Merton's formidable niece Christabel, John Hagen (church sexton and self-taught classical scholar) and a man named Item Sims.

Brought to Light is the thirty-second novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1954. This new edition features a bonus Bobby Owen short story, and an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

Not my favorite. I had to review the first third of the book to get the characters straight and there aren't that many of them. Also, Olive only makes sandwiches off stage. I did like Bobby's reasoning at the end.

I liked this one, although I did miss Olive’s contributions. I’d worked out the fate of the disappearing rector, but not what happened with the letters or the involvement of the London gang. Item Sims is a great name for a character too.

I've been meaning to say that I quite enjoyed this one, and thought it was an interesting story, but thought some of the twists were too heavily signalled and the motivation of the villain wasn't very convincing.

I also think it's a bit of a cheat when the detective makes a list of possible suspects and just happens to miss somebody off - it's a fair bet that the character who has been missed out is the vilain! I do agree with you, Pamela, about Item Sims having a good name.