Category: Peter Bartram

The Family Tree Mystery by Peter Bartram – an enjoyable Crampton of the Chronicle Adventure set in 1967

February 26, 2023

The Family Tree Mystery by Peter Bartram

This is another in the brilliant “Crampton of the Chronicles” series that I have so greatly enjoyed in the fairly recent past. According to the quote on the back cover I “Thoroughly Recommend the Entire Series” and I certainly do, especially on the evidence of this latest adventure. New readers can enjoyably start with this particular book as it reintroduces the characters and situations with well – paced comments as the Brighton crime reporter, Colin Crampton. tracks down another story of murder and machinations. This time it becomes little closer to home than most as the mystery seems to involve his girlfriend, model Shirley Goldsmith, who even in the somewhat different world of 1967 has far more skills, instinct and integrity than it may first appear. As always Colin and Shirley have to rely on their wits and survival instinct not only to sort out what is really happening, but to get them out of tricky situations where the danger is real. With his trademark humour and taste for chaos, Bartram has scored a hit once more with this story that mixes some real people and familiar situations in this enjoyable and fast paced novel. I was so pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this memorable adventure, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys tales written with real humour and excitement.

This book begins with revelations of Shirley’s family story from Australia, told in her usual forthright manner. The subject is raised by her receiving a letter from a mysterious man claiming to be a relative, urging her to be in contact as he has important information for her. Colin immediately agrees to take her to visit the man, but their arrival is shaped by the discovery of a body, as could only happen to Colin. Shaken by the find, they seek further information with an eye to finding out what message he wanted to pass on and also revealing a crime story from the beginning. A potential link with mysterious killings in Australia is a further worrying link to Shirley, but also the basis of a great story for the Brighton Evening Chronicle. Just as Colin is getting the background on the story his editor, Frank Figgis, interrupts with a demand that Colin drop everything and conduct a search of the newspaper offices for the manuscript of his memoirs. Dire threats aside, Colin realises that the pesky papers will reveal far too much about his own somewhat dubious methods of getting stories, so he agrees to the investigation. The far more complex matter of the missing revelations of Shirley’s family tree occupy the couple, especially as one or more genuine London gangsters seem to be involved, as well as a Scottish lord and some women cricketers. As Shirley and Colin must set off for some previously unknown places and demonstrate previously hidden skills, the hunt for the truth seems more complicated than ever.

This is a fast-paced novel which is well plotted and includes some remarkable ideas in its setting of the 1960s. The characters are also so well drawn, including the dangerous, the unlikable and the just awkward. This is a very funny book as well as an exciting read, with a keen eye for the detail of a journalist’s life even if the danger is perhaps a little exaggerated! I so enjoy Peter Bartram’s books, and I genuinely recommend this episode in the life of his special creations.  

The World Cup Mystery by Peter Bartram – an enjoyable Crampton of the Chronicle Adventure

November 12, 2021

The World Cup Mystery by Peter Bartram

Fans of the Crampton of the Chronicle adventures will know what to expect from this latest book, featuring Colin Crampton, his girlfriend Shirley and the rest of the dubious characters in and around Crawley. Colin is of course the crime reporter on the Chronicle, and in July 1966 everyone is obsessed by one topic, the World Cup being played in Britain. Colin has other things on his mind, including getting the fastest and best headlines for the Chronicle by any means possible, even if it does mean investigating a murder or two. This is the sixth book in the series, but it is so well written that it stands alone as each character is introduced, from “the Widow” or Colin’s landlady, through to the Chronicle’s editor Figgis. The time period of the 1960s is as always totally convincing, with small details of fashions, prices  and settings, and the dialogue is very funny, even when Colin gets himself into trouble as usual. The intrepid and attractive Shirley is as always full of ideas while effortlessly brushing off would be admirers. I have enjoyed several of these entertaining adventures in the company of Colin with his motley mob of friends, with his quick wit and survival skills. I was as always so very pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this very funny and entertaining book. 

The novel begins in a completely different location from the usual environs of Crawley as Colin is working up to proposing to Shirley. He has bought the ring, and organised the trip to Taormina in Sicily, as he is keen to make his relationship with the Australian model official. They have a lot of history of rescuing each other from dangerous situations with self confidence and humour.  When they are interrupted by a sobbing young woman they weigh in with help, as they discover her father has been murdered back in Britain. They have to sneak Rosina out of the country as her passport has been hidden by her violent husband, and Colin has to depend on the local urge to watch a World Cup match on television. 

When Colin returns home he discovers there is a lot of interest in the murdered man Sergio Parisi. Apart from running a greasy spoon cafe he was very involved with a local football club. When Colin visits and charms his way into finding out about the running of the club, he discovers the circular progress of a World Cup final ticket. The local politics are complex, especially with the manager of the club having a dubious relationship with some dangerous characters. Nothing is straightforward in Colin’s world, but it is an entertaining journey peppered with G and Ts, newspaper cuttings and inept police officers. 

This is a fantastic comedy of a particular era, almost a consistent piece of historical fiction. I really enjoyed the characterisation, especially of the resourceful Shirley. It is full of jokes big and small, funny comments and sharp improvisations, even when some of the humour may be slightly politically incorrect. There are clues, red herrings and side distractions throughout which add to the effect. I thoroughly recommend this book, and indeed the entire series, for the humour, the adventure, and the succession of mysteries culminating  in a memorable final.    

The Poker Game Mystery by Peter Bartram – Colin Crampton reports for the Chronicle again!

November 23, 2019

 

Crampton of the Chronicle is back! The crime reporter of the Chronicle, a local paper in Brighton, Colin Crampton has some developed some fairly cynical attitudes over the years. Happily he has also acquired some fairly nifty skills of a dubious nature to get him in and out of buildings and sticky situations. Not to mention the lovely, fast thinking and extremely resourceful Shirley, his girlfriend. When murder, past dangers and future crimes are all at risk, Colin must rack his brains to solve three problems, all in double quick time. In a story which vibrates with comedy, as hired thugs with strange names, women who gossip and dubious newspaper modelling are all part of a complex plot which is carried off with great aplomb.  As fast moving as its predecessors, this is a book where the tension of possible imminent serious injury or death is diffused by the quips and quotes of the lead characters. 

 

Set in 1965, this is a world of landline phones, news in papers rather than online, and clubs for gentlemen who play cards. Not that Colin is confident that all will go to his complicated plan at all times, but he has an uncanny ability to read people and decide the best way to proceed. As always Bartram has a way with characters, in their names, “Coldbody” being an accurate description, and their distinguishing features such as a nose that “dominated his face, like it had just landed there and decided to colonise the place”. Their actions always fit in with their established patterns of behaviour, as editor Frank Figgis decides to smoke only black cigarettes until the paper’s owner’s funeral, after the disposal of his black tie following “what happened at…Uncle Whitlow’s wake”. I was really pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this funny and extremely enjoyable book.

 

This cheeky book opens with the dissolute Viscount Rackham recruiting his Saturday “Little Darling” or girlfriend, before the news breaks that his father has died. Colin discovers a dead body which disturbs him a little, but he keeps his head to make sure that he discovers a significant amount of money and a display of cards which will propel the story as he tries to discover the who, why and how of this first death. He then learns of a long standing crisis for one family and how there are plans to help, and must deal with the threat to his job and the very paper he works for together with his friends. He knows in all this he must get his story, while employing all the tricks and subterfuges he knows. Always with him, encouraging and enabling the surprises and hustles he can imagine, and some he cannot, Shirley brings an Australian brand of quick thinking and opportunism that make the two of them a formidable team.

 

Colin’s narration is a continual joy, as he admits that he may have missed the lesson in journalism that covered being “stuck in a house with a dead body, a fainted woman, and a fierce dog” . His narration means that the reader finds out what is going on just as he does, but his longer term plan is kept close to his chest, just as the cards are in a memorable game of poker. Not that the reader has to understand cards to follow the action, as Colin and Shirley have to practice their skills in cheating and distracting respectively. The beginnings of “Page 3” girls is covered as Shirley robustly refuses to engage in glamour modelling, and there is the beginning of a lamentable trend to reduce the serious news in daily newspapers. This book reveals much of the time when journalism was an undertaking beyond sound bites and journalists employed complicated stratagems. It is funny, clever and immensely readable, and I greatly look forward to the next instalment of the Deadline Murder Series. 

The Comedy Cub Mystery by Peter Bartram – Some violence and appalling jokes in Brighton, 1965

June 1, 2019

A comedy murder mystery sounds unusual, but the effective notion of this book is that the actual murder is quickly described, and the detection of the true murderer is the main action. Not that the murder is the only thing worrying the hero, crime reporter Colin Crampton. He has to cope with strangers who seem to have a problem with his continued existence, a job which he loves being on the line, and a lot of remarkably unfunny comedians. Fortunately he has some help from his girlfriend, tough and resourceful Shirley, who frequently acts as bodyguard, motivator and companion in one tight spot after another. Wisecracking, comedy dialogue and some over the top characters make this novel set in Brighton in 1965 a genuinely funny read, with little respect for the conventions of detective writing. Nightclubs, comedy clubs and police cells all feature as backdrops to some violence and appalling jokes. I really enjoyed this well paced and engaging novel, and I was so pleased to have the opportunity to read and review this novel.

 

The novel opens with a News editor on the Chronicle, the wonderfully named Frank Figgis, bemoaning the fact that a libel writ has been issued against the paper, specifically Sidney Pinker, theatre critic. Not that the information is quickly divulged; an extended anecdote about a misrepresented bull distracts the attention. Before Colin can think of a way to solve the problem, Sidney is arrested for the murder of the theatrical agent he is supposed to have libelled. Unfortunately or fortunately for the free wheeling investigations of Colin and Shirley, as he narrates, the investigating officer is Tomkins, and his second in command Ted. Colin ironically comments “In the Sherlock Holmes Award for Brilliant Deductions, Ted would bring up the rear.”.For reasons that are not completely clear, Colin finds himself in a dubious situation as he tries to discover who needed Bernstein, unscrupulous agent, dead. In a fascinating element of the book, the narrative then moves to include the real character of Max Miller, famously successful comedian, who has died leaving his famous blue book of smutty jokes. As a potential suspect, drunken comic Ernie Winkle needs to be investigated, which is another excuse for a bad routine in a seedy club. Unfortunately, a pair of mysterious characters, Gino and Willis, seem to have orders to deal with Colin as he emerges from the club. They are not alone in apparently acting under orders to liquidate Colin, as another challenging pair, Bert and Dean, also pose a threat. An underground dweller provides assistance, and Colin has to face riddles of every sort as he tries to clear Sidney. Happily Shirley is often on hand to adopt disguises and do battle in every sense to save the day, as Colin has to put everything on the line to get to the truth.

 

Part adventure story, part politically incorrect comedy, this is a fast moving and funny book. I really enjoyed this novel, the characters and even some of the jokes, though the story and dialogue were much more amusing. This is an entertaining read with sustained my interest and involvement throughout, and the central mystery was far from straightforward. This is a mature and confident book from an experienced and knowledgeable author, and I  would recommend it as a light and satisfying read.

 

Now we have returned from our break in Worcester, I am going to sort out my June books and go to some events in the Derby Book Festival. We booked the tickets a while ago, so I am not entirely sure what I am going to – but no doubt we will work it out. Watch this space for more!