![]() ![]() ‘The Case of the Curious Cook’ by Cathy Ace.‘Murder in Little Shendon’ by A.H.Richardson.Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 201.Bellairs has a straightforward, simple style, with fairly laid clues and usually fits in more than one murder per novel. Also, many of the simple, village constables that Littlejohn meets are portrayed as honest, hard-working and intelligent within their own sphere, although they know little of the wider world. Although Littlejohn sometimes encounters jealousy and obstruction from the local police officers when Scotland Yard is called in to investigate, more often than not they are intelligent, co-operative and welcome his help. There is an element of mischievous humour in Bellairs’ work, which lifts the whole tone of the novels and he often gently mocks self-satisfied, pompous officials. He also has a habit of dropping in little statements concerning what will happen to the characters in the future, which allows the reader to eliminate those characters as suspects. As new characters are introduced he describes them in detail, giving a paragraph to even minor characters and making it clear whether they are likeable, attractive people or not. ![]() Bellairs has an unusual, possibly rather old-fashioned writing style. ![]()
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