Miss
Tither is the busybody of the village of Hilary Magna (not to be confused with Hilary Parva). She hears things, and repeats them, and has no
compunction about confronting fellow villagers about their sin. She specializes
in information about infidelity and other related activities, but no kind of
gossip and knowledge is beyond her reach.
And then
someone kills her. Her body is found floating in what was once called a
cesspool but we would more recognize today as a septic stank or household waste
recycling system. The suspects may be endless; the motives certainly are.
The local
police call in Inspector Thomas Littlejohn of Scotland Yard. As Littlejohn and
the other police investigate, the case only gets murkier, and the possibilities
for who the killer might be only grow.
Death
of a Busybody
by George Bellairs (1902-1982)is
another entry in the British Library’s British
Crime Classics series, and it help bring to the fore one of the best-known
British writers in the mystery genre.
George Bellairs
is actually the pseudonym for Harold Blundell, a banker and philanthropist who
became extraordinarily well known for his Inspector Littlejohn mysteries. He began
writing the Littlejohn mysteries in 1941 (Death of a Busybody was the third and
published in 1942) and kept writing them until shortly before his death – more
than 50 in all. He also wrote four mysteries under the name of Hilary Langdon.
 |
| George Bellairs |
Bellairs/Blundell
was actively involved in several charities in the Manchester, England, area. He
began writing his mysteries during spare moments while he served as an area air
warden during World War II (Death of a
Busybody is set during the war and contains several references to village
life in wartime). He also wrote comedy for the radio, was a columnist for the
Manchester Guardian, and was an active freelance writer.
In Death of a Busybody, Littlejohn will
eventually get his murderer, and it doesn’t give anything away to say that
fanatical religion plays a large part in the story – but not so much in it solution.
The story is full of twists and turns, and what often appears obvious becomes
less so as the plot unfolds. The book is definitely deserving of being included
in the British Library series.
Related: My reviews of
other British Library Crime Classics
Top photograph by Olivier Collet via Unsplash. Used with
permission.
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