"A Malignant Death" by Charlie Garrett

Former police detective James Givens and his wife Rachel are back in Birmingham, England, after what they thought was to be a life-changing move to Brittany. It was that, but Givens almost lost his life while helping solve a mystery and then Germany invaded Poland, precipitating World War II.  

It’s now the summer of 1940. Givens is working in his father’s clothing business, but the tension between them is almost unbearable. His father resents Givens having changed his Jewish name to an English one, and the two have never gotten along since Givens was a teenager. 

 

He takes a few days off to visit his former police superintendent, who’s now retired and living a short 30-minute train ride away. Something seems off, but the man insists all is well. His wife is more forthcoming; someone has been committing acts of vandalism against their house and garden. Then the man disappears, and his wife calls givens and asks him to search for her husband. With military recruiting, the police are seriously understaffed. Because of a leg injury from his police days, Givens can’t enlist.

 

Charlie Garratt

Over his wife Rachel’s objections, he undertakes a search – and finds the missing man’s body. And his determination to do right by his former boss threatens his marriage and what little of a relationship is left with his father. 

 

A Malignant Death by Charlie Garratt is the fifth mystery novel in the Inspector Givens series. It combines a traditional mystery and a traditional police procedural with the overlay of war, which is now getting closer and closer to home. The reader knows what the characters don’t, that the bombing will be starting, and Birmingham will not be spared. It adds a tautness and tension to what is already a thoroughly enjoyable mystery.

 

Garratt is the author of four Inspector Given mysteries, including A Shadowed Livery, A Pretty Folly, A Patient Man, and Where Every Man. He also published several community participation guides, until he retired and began writing short stories. One of those stories led to his first novel, A Shadowed Livery. Garratt has also published the novel A Handkerchief for Maria. He lives in Shropshire in England.

 

Related:

 

Where Every Man by Charlie Garratt.

 

A Shadowed Livery by Charlie Garratt. 

 

A Pretty Folly by Charlie Garratt.

 

A Patient Man by Charlie Garratt.

“A Pretty Folly” by Charlie Garratt

It is one strange case that Inspector James Givens of the Warwickshire Constabulary finds himself in charge of. The body of what looks like a young girl is found in the crypt of the chapel of the local school. The chapel is hundreds of years older than the school itself, and the crypt may be older still. The girl’s body is posed, her hands tied around a crucifix. There’s a hammer lying nearby.  

Because of the conditions of the crypt, the body is essentially mummified. The medical examiner can say when she died or how she died. The only thing that suggests foul play is the posing of the body. And there’s nothing to identify who she is. Givens discovers he’s looking for a needle in a haystack.

 

His professional life is also complicated by another case he’s looking into – growing vandalism against Jewish businesses. It’s 1938 Britain; Hitler’s making moves on Czechoslovakia on the continent and Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists is demonstrating that Britain is no stranger to hostility to Jews. Givens himself is Jewish, having Anglicized his name for professional purposes. He’s run into hostility and prejudice, right there among his own police colleagues.

 

And the Sicilian Demme brothers are lurking in the background, possibly connected to the vandalism which soon turns to arson. Givens has old scores to settle with them, unless they get to him first. 

 

Charlie Garratt

A Pretty Folly by British author Charlie Garratt is the second in the Inspector James Givens series. It’s an mystery filled with disguised or mistaken identities, a multitude of suspects, and a problem of figuring out how the victim actually died. 

 

Garratt is the author of four Inspector Given mysteries, including A Shadowed Livery, A Pretty Folly, A Patient Man, and Where Every Man. He also published several community participation guides, until he retired and began writing short stories. One of those stories led to his first novel, A Shadowed Livery. He lives in Shropshire in England.

 

A Pretty Folly is rich with actual historical detail – the rise the Nazis, the plight of the Jews in Europe, Oswald Mosley and his thugs in Britain – coupled with one unusual murder story. It’s a highly entertaining read.

 

Related:

 

Where Every Man by Charlie Garratt.

 

A Shadowed Livery by Charlie Garratt.