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    The Body in the Dumb River: A Yorkshire Mystery
    The Body in the Dumb River: A Yorkshire Mystery
    The Body in the Dumb River: A Yorkshire Mystery
    Ebook228 pages3 hours

    The Body in the Dumb River: A Yorkshire Mystery

    By George Bellairs

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Discover the captivating treasures buried in the British Library's archives. Largely inaccessible to the public until now, these enduring British classics were written in the golden age of detective fiction.

    "A decent, hardworking chap, with not an enemy anywhere. People were surprised that anybody should want to kill Jim."

    But Jim has been found stabbed in the back near Ely, miles from his Yorkshire home. His body, clearly dumped in the usually silent ('dumb') river, has been discovered before the killer intended?disturbed by a torrential flood in the night.

    Roused from a comfortable night's sleep, Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is soon at the scene. With any clues to the culprit's identity swept away with the surging water, Bellairs' veteran sleuth boards a train heading north to dredge up the truth of the real Jim Teasdale and to trace the mystery of this unassuming victim's murder to its source.

    The Body in the Dumb River, like all of Bellairs' crime books, delves into the complex inner-workings of an insulated country community. With all the wittiness and suspense of classic British mysteries, this is a story that explores the long-buried secrets of a small town?and the disastrous events that take place when they finally come to light.

    Also in the British Library Crime Classics:

    Smallbone Deceased

    Continental Crimes

    Blood on the Tracks

    Surfeit of Suspects

    Death Has Deep Roots

    Checkmate to Murder

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateDec 1, 2019
    ISBN9781492699576
    The Body in the Dumb River: A Yorkshire Mystery
    Author

    George Bellairs

    George Bellairs was the pseudonym of Harold Blundell (1902–1985), an English crime author best known for the creation of Detective-Inspector Thomas Littlejohn. Born in Heywood, near Lancashire, Blundell introduced his famous detective in his first novel, Littlejohn on Leave (1941). A low-key Scotland Yard investigator whose adventures were told in the Golden Age style of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, Littlejohn went on to appear in more than fifty novels, including The Crime at Halfpenny Bridge (1946), Outrage on Gallows Hill (1949), and The Case of the Headless Jesuit (1950). In the 1950s Bellairs relocated to the Isle of Man, a remote island in the Irish Sea, and began writing full time. He continued writing Thomas Littlejohn novels for the rest of his life, taking occasional breaks to write standalone novels, concluding the series with An Old Man Dies (1980).

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    Reviews for The Body in the Dumb River

    3.5/5

    32 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      While staying overnight in east Anglia Superintendent Tom Littlejoihn is called out in the middle of the night to a crime scene. A body has been discovered in the River Dumb, stabbed not drowned. A man who seems to have two identities. Is his lifestyle the clue to the motive but who would want to kill such an inoffensive man.
      Quite a basic plot but still an enjoyable well-written read.
      Originally published in 1961
      A NetGalley Book
    • 4/5
      This is an easy-to-read and unchallenging whodunnit police procedural novel set in the 1960's English countryside. James Teasdale is last seen on a Sunday evening as he leaves to drive to another village where he works during the week. He never arrives there alive and his body is found the next day in the rain and flood swollen Dumb (as in silent, not stupid) River, a victim of murder. Scotland Yard Superintendent Littlejohn who is in the area working on another case agrees to investigate the Teasdale murder. The local police are fully-occupied with the problems caused by severe flooding so they gladly accept his help. Littlejohn and his trusted sidekick, Sergeant Cromwell, undertake their usual dogged investigation by questioning everyone connected to the dead man. Littlejohn gradually wears down his recalcitrant interview subjects, until they break down. In this case, the Scotland Yard detectives are confronted by a surly lot of suspects; the dead man's in-laws are an unpleasant crew of misanthropic snobs headed by a particularly obnoxious ex-military man. With a few exceptions, there are no attractive characters in the story. Cromwell mostly missing from the narrative, which is a disappointment to this reader. The English country towns in the story are quintessential but portrayed as being unglamorous and dull. The characters are mostly pompous middle-class people, with no landed gentry in sight. The plot is uncomplicated, bordering on being boring; there's no interesting red herrings. The story sputters along to a slightly exciting conclusion, that includes an attack on Littlejohn. This is one of the later additions (#35) to the author's Littlejohn series. It will likely appeal to Bellairs fans, although it's not a good introductory read for readers new to Bellairs or the Littlejohn series. There's better ones to introduce the series to a newcomer. It can be read however as a standalone, lthe speech is not particularly outdated or slangy. As with all the British Library Crime Classics, there is a fine Introduction written by Martin Edwards which provides helpful background on the author and the story. It is a mistake to skip over it.All in all, a qualified recommendation.I received an advance reader's copy of this book from Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley. The comments are my own.
    • 3/5
      With flooding in the area, the local police find themselves stretched to the limit. Since Inspector Littlejohn of Scotland Yard wrapped up a case in the area, they call on him to investigate. The victim James Teasdale, aka Jim Lane, suffers the misfortune of being married to a woman from a snobbish family. He owned a carnival game attraction and spent most of the time on the road. His income helped maintain his wife's standard of living, but she nor her family knew how he really earned the income. While on the road, he lived with another woman to save money. Although the author includes several red herrings, the perpetrator seemed obvious. The writing style did not really grab me. I received an advance electronic copy from the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review.
    • 5/5
      cosy-mystery, procedural, British-detective, law-enforcement Shall we call the Scotland Yard man Superintendent Plod? Better at due diligence than most in spite of nasty weather and even nastier relatives of the deceased. Everybody who knew the man, except for the family, was flabbergasted that the nice man had been murdered (thought his wife and father in law were more likely prospects). But Littlejohn kept on and kept nudging until the truth came out. I loved the atmosphere, detailed descriptions, and insights into the past. Now I need to read more by the author! I requested and received a free ebook copy from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

    Book preview

    The Body in the Dumb River - George Bellairs

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