The Case of the Demented Spiv

The Case of the Demented Spiv, 1949. Our case begins when a “spiv” - or as my grandfather would have said - a “two bit hoodlum” - stumbles into Broadfield’s local - the Oddfellow’s Arms - exclaiming he had nothing to do with “it”. It turning out to be a dead body at the local mill - said corpse soon......more

Ambrose Barrow, secretary at the family-owned Fennings’ Mills, turns up dead at the mill’s warehouse, made up in clown greasepaint and sporting a fake mustache. Which picture of Barrow is correct? That of an incorruptible kind man, presented by his beautiful widow, his fellow church-goers and some o......more

The manager of a textiles factory in a small provincial town is murdered, and his body is discovered by the spiv of the novel's title -- who hangs himself in his prison cell about three pages later, so the title's really a misnomer. There's an oddity about the corpse, too: his face has been made up......more

Mystery most complex Littlejohn is a rather mild mannered detective able to sort through the most complex of mysteries. However, I personally found this one slightly too disjointed to follow.......more

A Dark, Rainy Night! It’s a dark, rainy night, but the Oddfellows’ Arms pub is warm and cheerful, full of music and jollity. The constable keeping watch and getting wet outside wishes that he were inside, warm and dry. At the church a crowd is awaiting the start of the revivalist rally. Everyone is w......more