When Kenny Thorpe, a contestant on Expose TV's Big Blubber, the hot new celebrity weight-loss show, is murdered on live television in front of 3 million viewers, the case seems pretty watertight. But Cherry Hinton knows there's more to this than meets the eye.
Mr Finchley takes a fancy to a horse-drawn caravan and sets out to explore the countryside. He encounters a band of eccentrics and it gradually emerges that the caravan contains a secret, and Mr Finchley finds himself in real trouble.
An ebullient Mr Finchley is about to propose to a lady he rescued from mishap when he is sent to Paris by his firm. This gentle comedy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal.
Mr Edgar Finchley, unmarried solicitor's clerk, aged 45, is told to take a holiday for the first time in his life. He decides to go to Margate. But Fate has other plans in store... This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today.
When players in Stockwell Park Orchestra fear they may be getting out of touch with their local community, they invite schoolchildren to join them for a season. Supercilious Oakdean College pupils have never mixed with the rough Sunbridge Academy kids, and when things go missing and rumours spread, the situation threatens to turn ugly.
Sir Humphrey is playing Father Christmas at the local hospital, but he won't be able to buy toys for the children. Meanwhile, a plan to attract paying guests to the Hall descends into chaos when actors playing a resident ghost spend too long in the pub. Events somehow work themselves out - in the most unexpected manner...
It's a year since the Battlestar Suburbia broke free from Earth and the human rebellion is hiding out in the asteroid belt. Their leader, Admiral Janice, has given Darren a critical mission, to open up a path back to Earth by bombing the Martian Gap Services. But when it goes wrong, Janice has only one hope left, back on Earth.
With old-world charm and a military air, Mortimer Rothermere makes a most convincing conman. But even Mortimer's habitual sang-froid deserts him in the face of ruthless villainy and actual murder. Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson's tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.
"I am in great danger..."This letter is received by three eminent citizens of Flaxborough, including the Chief Constable. So when one of the town's charity workers is found the wrong way up in her pond, a connection seems likely. Witty and wicked, Colin Watson's tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast and laugh-out-loud wordplay.
Whatever can have happened to Lil?When Lilian Bannister vanishes, a link is traced to a local lonely hearts agency. Flaxborough'sD.I. Purbrightand Sergeant Sid Love follow the trail to a rendezvous with Daisy Teatime... Witty and wicked, Colin Watson's tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.
The gripping sight of four burly policemen manhandling a bath down the front path of a respectable villa isn't one the residents of Flaxborough see every day.Net curtains twitch furiously, and neighbours have observations to make to Chief Inspector Purbright and Sergeant Love about the inhabitants of 14, Beatrice Avenue. Nice Gordon Periam, the mild-mannered tobacconist, and his rather less nice (in fact a bit of a bounder) lodger Brian Hopjoy had apparently shared the house amicably.But now neither man is to be found and something very disagreeable seems to be lurking in the drains... Then a couple of government spooks turn up, one with an eye for the ladies - the drama is acquiring overtones of a Bond movie!Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson's tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.What people are saying about the Flaxborough series: "Colin Watson wrote the best English detective stories ever. They work beautifully as whodunnits but it's really the world he creates and populates ... and the quality of the writing which makes these stories utterly superior.""The Flaxborough Chronicles are satires on the underbelly of English provincial life, very well observed, very funny and witty, written with an apt turn of phrase ... A complete delight.""If you have never read Colin Watson - start now. And savour the whole series.""Light-hearted, well written, wickedly observed and very funny - the Flaxborough books are a joy. Highly recommended.""How English can you get? Watson's wry humour, dotty characters, baddies who are never too bad, plots that make a sort of sense. Should I end up on a desert island Colin Watson's books are the ones I'd want with me.""A classic of English fiction... Yes, it is a crime novel, but it is so much more. Wonderful use of language, wry yet sharp humour and a delight from beginning to end.""Re-reading it now, I am struck by just how many laugh-out-loud moments it contains. A beautifully written book.""As always, hypocricy and skulduggery are rife, and the good do not necessarily emerge triumphant. Set aside plenty of time to read this book - you won't want to put it down once you've started it!""Colin Watson writes in such an understated, humorous way that I follow Inspector Purbright's investigation with a smile on my face from start to finish.""If you enjoy classic mysteries with no graphic violence and marvellously well drawn characters then give the Flaxborough series a try - you will not be disappointed."Editorial reviews: "Watson has an unforgivably sharp eye for the ridiculous." New York Times"Flaxborough is Colin Watson's quiet English town whose outward respectability masks a seething pottage of greed, crime and vice ... Mr Watson wields a delightfully witty pen dripped in acid." Daily Telegraph"Arguably the best of comic crime writers, delicately treading the line between wit and farce ... Funny, stylish and good mysteries to boot." Time Out"A great lark, full of preposterous situations and pokerfaced wit." Cecil Day-Lewis"One of the best. As always with Watson, the writing is sharp and stylish and wickedly funny!" Literary Review"Flaxborough, that olde-worlde town with Dada trimmings." Sunday Times
Tuesday nights have suddenly turned quite ridiculously noisy in the country town of Chalmsbury, where the good folk are outraged at having their rest disturbed.It begins with a drinking fountain being blown to smithereens - next the statue of a local worthy loses his head, and the following week a giant glass eye is exploded. Despite the soft-soled sleuthing of cub reporter Len Leaper, the crime spate grows alarming.Sheer vandalism is bad enough, but when a life is lost the amiable Inspector Purbright, called in from nearby Flaxborough to assist in enquiries, finds he must delve deep into the seamier side of this quiet town's goings on.Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson's tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.What people are saying about the Flaxborough series: "Colin Watson wrote the best English detective stories ever. They work beautifully as whodunnits but it's really the world he creates and populates ... and the quality of the writing which makes these stories utterly superior.""The Flaxborough Chronicles are satires on the underbelly of English provincial life, very well observed, very funny and witty, written with an apt turn of phrase ... A complete delight.""If you have never read Colin Watson - start now. And savour the whole series.""Light-hearted, well written, wickedly observed and very funny - the Flaxborough books are a joy. Highly recommended.""How English can you get? Watson's wry humour, dotty characters, baddies who are never too bad, plots that make a sort of sense. Should I end up on a desert island Colin Watson's books are the ones I'd want with me.""A classic of English fiction... Yes, it is a crime novel, but it is so much more. Wonderful use of language, wry yet sharp humour and a delight from beginning to end.""Colin Watson threads some serious commentary and not a little sadness and tragedy within his usual excellent satire on small town morality and eccentricities.""Re-reading it now, I am struck by just how many laugh-out-loud moments it contains. A beautifully written book.""As always, hypocricy and skulduggery are rife, and the good do not necessarily emerge triumphant. Set aside plenty of time to read this book - you won't want to put it down once you've started it!""If you enjoy classic mysteries with no graphic violence and marvellously well drawn characters then give the Flaxborough series a try - you will not be disappointed."Editorial reviews: "Watson has an unforgivably sharp eye for the ridiculous." New York Times"Flaxborough is Colin Watson's quiet English town whose outward respectability masks a seething pottage of greed, crime and vice ... Mr Watson wields a delightfully witty pen dripped in acid." Daily Telegraph"Arguably the best of comic crime writers, delicately treading the line between wit and farce ... Funny, stylish and good mysteries to boot." Time Out"A great lark, full of preposterous situations and pokerfaced wit." Cecil Day-Lewis"One of the best. As always with Watson, the writing is sharp and stylish and wickedly funny!" Literary Review"The rarest of comic crime writers, one with the gift of originality." Julian Symons"Flaxborough, that olde-worlde town with Dada trimmings." Sunday Times
In the respectable seaside town of Flaxborough, the equally respectable councillor Harold Carobleat is laid to rest. Cause of death: pneumonia.But he is scarcely cold in his coffin before Detective Inspector Purbright, affable and annoyingly polite, must turn out again to examine the death of Carobleat's neighbour, Marcus Gwill, former prop. of the local rag, the Citizen. This time it looks like foul play, unless a surfeit of marshmallows had led the late and rather unlamented Mr Gwill to commit suicide by electrocution. ('Power without responsibility', murmurs Purbright.)How were the dead men connected, both to each other and to a small but select band of other town worthies? Purbright becomes intrigued by a stream of advertisements Gwill was putting in the Citizen, for some very oddly named antique items...Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson's tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.What people are saying about the Flaxborough series: "Colin Watson wrote the best English detective stories ever. They work beautifully as whodunnits but it's really the world he creates and populates ... and the quality of the writing which makes these stories utterly superior.""The Flaxborough Chronicles are satires on the underbelly of English provincial life, very well observed, very funny and witty, written with an apt turn of phrase ... A complete delight.""If you have never read Colin Watson - start now. And savour the whole series.""Light-hearted, well written, wickedly observed and very funny - the Flaxborough books are a joy. Highly recommended.""How English can you get? Watson's wry humour, dotty characters, baddies who are never too bad, plots that make a sort of sense. Should I end up on a desert island Colin Watson's books are the ones I'd want with me.""A classic of English fiction... Yes, it is a crime novel, but it is so much more. Wonderful use of language, wry yet sharp humour and a delight from beginning to end.""Colin Watson writes in such an understated, humorous way that I follow Inspector Purbright's investigation with a smile on my face from start to finish.""If you enjoy classic mysteries with no graphic violence and marvellously well drawn characters then give the Flaxborough series a try - you will not be disappointed."Editorial reviews: "Watson has an unforgivably sharp eye for the ridiculous." New York Times"Flaxborough is Colin Watson's quiet English town whose outward respectability masks a seething pottage of greed, crime and vice ... Mr Watson wields a delightfully witty pen dripped in acid." Daily Telegraph"Arguably the best of comic crime writers, delicately treading the line between wit and farce ... Funny, stylish and good mysteries to boot." Time Out"A great lark, full of preposterous situations and pokerfaced wit." Cecil Day-Lewis"One of the best. As always with Watson, the writing is sharp and stylish and wickedly funny!" Literary Review"The rarest of comic crime writers, one with the gift of originality." Julian Symons"Flaxborough, that olde-worlde town with Dada trimmings." Sunday Times
Fifteen years ago, Jeannie's relationship with a close friend ended in rape. With the rise of the #MeToo movement, recurring nightmares have returned and to process her conflicted feelings of betrayal she resolves to face her trauma head-on.
A fascinating journey through the atmosphere that will leave you breathless. Every Breath You Take combines scientific evidence with Mark's personal stories and advice on what you can do to improve air quality, giving us the low-down on what's up high.
From cycling for travel around the British countryside to its importance for widening the gene pool and its role in the women's liberation movement, the bicycle is a marvel of modern technology that transformed Britain and the world over.
Prenumerera på vårt nyhetsbrev för att få fantastiska erbjudanden och inspiration för din nästa läsning.
Genom att registrera dig accepterar du vår personuppgiftspolicy.
