Smallbone Deceased

In which, a partner in the firm of Horniman, Birley & Crane is found dead in a locked deed box in the solicitors' office. Grisly. There's a lot of inter-office shenanigans and one-up-manship, the secretaries withstood a ridiculous amount of sexism, bullying and inappropriate overture from various men......more

I've read a couple of other books by Michael Gilbert and have enjoyed them all so far. Smallbone Deceased ranks up there with Petrella at Q as my favorites of his. Smallbone is a perfect little mystery. It's billed as an Inspector Hazelrigg mystery and, indeed, the good Inspector does play a promine......more

The noble London legal firm of Horniman, Birley and Craine is in mourning in the wake of the death of their venerable founder, Abel Horniman. In addition to grieving his loss, the firm must go through his work to assess its status and reassign it to the other members. Fortunately, Horniman has made......more

This is my first reading of this author. Previously published in 1950, this edition is enhanced by informative introduction from Martin Edwards allowing us learn a bit about Michael Gilbert's writing career. This book was included in the CWA's "hundred best list" of crime fiction. Apparently Gilbert......more

Wry & enjoyable 1950s classic detective story. The four stars are for the writing, rather than the plot which was neat right up to the end when--huh? Not convinced by the murderer's motivation. Still, 98% of this was pretty damn good.......more