A Hardcastle Mystery set in 1927. D.I. Hardcastle and sidekick Marriott make a distressing discovery when they are assigned to a case by New Scotland Yard. Enjoyable detective yarn with credible characterisation and a quite complex plot. Very much character driven, a well told story as usual.

Vintage detective novel

This is the first of Graham Ison’s novels that I have read, and I really enjoyed it. Set in 1927 in this novel, DDI Hardcastle and DS Marriott are tasked with following up on a suspected murder involving an ex-army Captain and a farmhouse in Ditton.

A fairly convoluted plot ensues, involving all manner of twists and turns, but also some good old fashioned detective and legwork. A welcome change from modern-day detective novels that are very much based on forensics and computer searches for links between victims and suspects.

The vivid description of London and the surrounding countryside in the 'roaring' twenties was a great backdrop to the story. What I enjoyed most was the emphasis on great storytelling, rather than gory details. It was refreshing to read a novel that relies mostly on great characters that lead the reader to the conclusion. It reminded me of watching old reruns of Columbo, which I enjoy immensely.

I will be sure to add Graham Ison to my TBR list, which keeps growing by the day.

Gillian

Breakaways Reviewers received a copy of this book

Graham Ison finds Divisional Detective Inspector Hardcastle in Hardcastle's Quandary about two butchered corpses found at the scene of arson in a small country town. The trail leads to the seamy life in the party clubs of London and rampant corruption. Whodunit in 1928 at the height of the jazz clubs? Good police work by Hardcastle's team and stupidity by the criminals lead to a satisfying conclusion. Is Hardcastle close to retirement? Only time will tell.

Hardcastle's Quandary is the fifteenth novel in the DDI Hardcastle and DS Marriott series and sees the two of them hitting the road to investigate a case in 1927 Surrey - a world away from the hustle and bustle of London town. Each instalment works perfectly well as a standalone. This is a well written, proficiently plotted and interesting mystery, and Hardcastle is what I would term as a right moaning Minnie. Complaining about everything which I found quite comedic. The dynamic between him and Marriott works well, with Hardcastle's take no prisoners attitude and Marriott's patience and tendency to be a bit of a shrinking violet. Overall, a compelling historical mystery and a fast, easy read to relax into.

Many thanks to Severn House Publishers for an ARC.

March 1927 and the police have received a letter from the Reverend Percy Stoner stating that he believes that his nephew Captain Guy Stoner has been killed. Informed that there has been a fire where Stoner works in Ditton, Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle and Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott are assigned the case. The character of Hardcastle is certainly of the complaining kind and I didn't really take to him, maybe it is time for him to retire. References to which were made throughout the book.
An enjoyable mystery, certainly well-written but I didn't like the main character enough to love the book.

London, 1927, and Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle is summoned to the office of Chief Constable Frederick Wensley , who has received a letter from a Norfolk parson. The Rev. Percy Stoner is convinced that his nephew Guy has met with misfortune. The former army Captain has disappeared, and when Hardcastle despatches men to visit the business young Stoner had set up with another Great War veteran, they make a chilling discovery.

Hardcastle himself was too old to serve in the war, but for his younger colleagues who knew the Western Front, body parts hold few terrors. The human remains found in the burnt-out premises in Surrey are examined by none other than Sir Bernard Spilsbury and his findings complicate Hardcastle’s case. Is the first body that of Guy Stoner, or is it that of his business partner? And who was the young woman whose butchered remains shared the same ignominious burial place?

Forced to play cherchez-la-femme, the detectives stumble down one blind alley after another, but as they do so they learn a few home truths about the fate of the young men who went to fight in the war-to-end-all-wars, and returned home to find that their birthplace was not the ‘land fit for heroes’ glibly promised by politicians. There is a peacetime army with no place for young officers whose courage was welcome in the trenches, but whose humble upbringing is now seen as an embarrassment as the cigars are lit, and the port passed in the correct direction at mess dinners. Such young men, not all heroes, but men nevertheless, are forced to find civilian employment which is neither honest, decent nor lawful.

Eventually, after an investigation which takes the detectives on many a trip into the provinces and away from their metropolitan stamping grounds, the case is solved, and there is work for the hangman to do, but not before an intervention by the Home Secretary’

Graham Ison is a master story-teller. The Hardcastle books contain no literary flourishes or stylistic tricks – just credible characters, excellent period detail and an engaging plot. Cosy? Perhaps, in the sense that we know how Hardcastle and his officers are going to react to any given situation, and their habits and small prejudices remain unchanged. Comfortable? Only because novels don’t always need to shock or challenge; neither do they always benefit from graphic descriptions of the damage humans can sometimes inflict on one another. Ison credits his readers with having imaginations; he never gilded the lily of English life in the earlier Hardcastle cases which took place during The Great War, and he doesn’t start now, nearly a decade after the final shots were fired. The suffering and trauma of those four terrible years didn’t end at the eleventh hour on that eleventh day; they cast a long and sometimes baleful shadow which frames much of the action of this novel.

Hardcastle’s Quandary is a great read. As well as being a fascinating period police procedural, it is a gently reflective but sharply observant look at England in the 1920s. We sense that Hardcastle, deeply conservative and instinctively opposed to the steady advance of technology, has entered his autumn period. Colleagues like Marriott and Catto tolerate his idiosyncracies and work around the fact that he sometimes appears to be a creature from a bygone age, preserved in his own block of amber. Hardcastle’s quandary? That is for the reader to judge, and it may only be resolved in the final pages.

"Hardcastle’s Quandary" is the ninth in the Hardcastle and Marriott series, written by Graham Ison. This is a quick and easy book to read, more a story of how Hardcastle is faring then a study in solving a crime. But that’s okay, because Ernest Hardcastle is an interesting man. Irascible, is Hardcastle. Grumpy, definitely. But a fine police officer that knows his stuff.

it's 1927. Ernest Hardcastle is a Divisional Detective Inspector at Cannon Row police station in Westminster. Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott is his “sidekick.” In "Hardcastle’s Quandary" they’re ordered to go to Norfolk, where Reverend Percy Stoner thinks his nephew, ex-Captain Guy Stoner, has been murdered. It transpires that there’s been a fire at the business Stoner and his partner, fellow officer Robert Holyroyd, owned, suspicious enough that the insurance company won’t pay out. Stoner has disappeared, and so the Reverend’s quest to find out what happened. Hardcastle and Marriott are on the case.

A body is found – well, parts of a body. And then another -- this time a woman. The plot thickens.

Soon Captain Stoner’s former partner is found, who identifies the body as his friend. Of course, he denies the killing. He also doesn’t know anything about the other body – but does say that his friend/partner was stepping out with a married woman – could a jealous husband be in the picture? It transpires that a young Frenchwoman is missing – married, she is – or was. The husband turns up, and people who know Celine Fontaneau from the club she worked in as a dancer are found and interviewed. Oh, did I mention a botched bank robbery? The Flying Squad plays a part. And we get to see Hardcastle’s son, also a police officer, at work. All this will tie together as the case comes to a satisfactory close.

Graham Ison does his usual great job of showing how dogged the police are in working through the investigation. As faithful readers know, Hardcastle never lets the culprit outwit the police. It hasn’t happened before, and it won’t happen now. Although the author does like to tease his readers, preferring to talk around but not lay out certain facts of the case, which can be annoying. We meet Sergeant Catto, and Marriott is busy, too, especially since Hardcastle seems to be slowing down a bit. Are there changes in the wind? Seems that the book title alludes to that, somewhat. We’ll see, in the next installment.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the book in advance of publication, in exchange for this review.

A great historical mystery!
It was the first one I read in this series and a great discovery.
I liked the well researched historical background and the cast of characters.
I loved the mystery, fast paced and engaging, that kept guessing till the end.
I look forward to reading other book in this series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for this ARC

A letter from Reverend Stoner to New Scotland Yard sends DDI Hardcastle and DS Marriott off on a new investigation. The Reverend is convinced that his nephew has been murdered. Guy Stoner, a former army officer, regularly wrote to his uncle. His last letter was in a different handwriting and requested money, leading Reverend Stoner to believe the worst.

Guy Stoner had gone into business with a fellow officer, establishing an auto repair service on a former farm. When Hardcastle arrives he finds that a suspicious fire destroyed the office and the service area and neither owner is to be found. A later search of the area leads to the discovery of body parts that belong to two different bodies, one being a female. This is a case that involves not only murder, but theft and fraud as well and takes the reader from a gentlemen’s club to lower class establishments. There are also some unexpected twists that provide a growing list of suspects.

I have been a fan of the Hardcastle series for some time. While earlier books in the series took place during WWI, this entry leaps ahead to 1927. DS Marriott takes on a larger part of the investigation and frequently notices that Hardcastle is more willing to pass on responsibility. He is still resistant to new and modern conveniences, such as the phone system that has been installed, and taxis are still his preferred mode of transportation. Graham Ison once again presents an excellent mystery, but the story hints at retirement or a relocation for Hardcastle. Should that be the case he would be sorely missed.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle, solving crimes in London just after World War I, blusters his way into a case outside the city when asked to cover for an ill comrade. With 36 years on the force, he knows it all and gladly shares it -- and shares it and shares it -- with his underlings.

Hardcastle drags Sergeant Marriott to an interview with a country curate, convinced his nephew is dead because weekly letters have ceased to arrive. With the help of Sergeant Catto, the force unearths not one but two bodies.

Grudgingly, Hardcastle lets Marriott and Catto have their heads after years of micromanaging. As they track down the nephew's business partner, his lovers and his drinking holes, Marriott and Catto muse over the changes in Hardcastle and wonder if this case could be his last.

Author Graham Ison's first career was on the police force. His interest in World War 1 led him to set this series during and after the war. Newcomers to the series will have no trouble starting with this newest addition that offers an intriguing story well told.

Despite jumping to the year 1927, the personalities of the overbearing Hardcastle and that of the patient Marrott remain the same. The story line still involves veterans of WWI as its’ main characters with their individual characteristics. I found the story to be divergent from the author’s norm, I did enjoy the plot and the synergy among the detectives that took place in order to solve the crimes. The book ends with many expectations and a possible re-appearance of Hardcastle’s son in a more prominent role.

A thank you to NetGalley and Severn House Publishing for forwarding an ARC of this book for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House Publishing for an eGalley of this novel.

If you've been following along with the DDI Ernest Hardcastle novels, this might be/should be book #15 in the series based on publication date. Book #14, Hardcastle's Runaway, was published in June of 2017 and covered a period in 1919. This book will be published in March 2019, but jumps ahead to March 1927 in the novel. Now, that's a lot of time to just breeze over during this very important period of English history. I'm just wondering if I missed a book or more somewhere because there is so much talk from Hardcastle about the pending promotion of Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott to the rank of detective inspector and I don't remember that topic specifically from book #14. There is also a whole lot of mention made about whether or not Hardcastle should retire or even whether his men think he needs to retire. The book ends without a resolution to that, but the door certainly is open for fond looks back by Hardcastle to old cases.

This specific story was kind of disjointed and didn't flow very well because of all the trips Hardcastle's team members made back and forth to the crime scene (outside London) and interviewing witnesses. Hardcastle must have spent a bundle on taxi fare! For some reason the horrible forensic methods used in uncovering this crime really bothered me. Granted, methods of detection and investigation were extremely limited even in 1927, but the cavalier way the police handled dismembered body parts almost made me want to stop reading the book. So this wasn't a very successful novel for me between the crabbing and complaining by Hardcastle about anybody and everybody and everybody crabbing and complaining about Hardcastle plus the general feeling that the crime that took place wasn't handled by the author in a very sensitive way. Maybe I just need to take a rest away from the series for a bit. Hardcastle is a character who is hard for me to like under the best of circumstances. In this story he was just a plain old pain in the behind!

4 stars

I read the Kindle edition.

DI Ernest Hardcastle and his partner DS Charles Marriott are assigned to a new case in 1927 Norfolk. A vicar has written a letter stating that his nephew Captain Guy Stoner was murdered. Hardcastle and Marriott make their way to Norfolk.

When they meet Vicar Stoner, he tells them of a failed chicken farm that morphed into a regular farm and that there was a fire and his nephew asked him for money. But the letter wasn’t his writing and Guy would never have asked him for money.

Hardcastle and Marriott arrive at the local police station and learn that the fire wasn’t on a farm, but rather Stoner and his partner owned a garage. How odd. The pair then inspect the site of the fire.

Through dogged determination and smart police work, our pair of detectives catch their killer – and pick up a few other baddies along the way.

This is a very well written historical mystery/police procedural. It harkens back to the “good ol’” days before forensics, DNA and all the modern aids that the police now have to aid them in their investigations. It rings true to style as it describes the people and the countryside of a small English village. I enjoyed it; it was relaxing to read. Not exactly action-filled it is a gentle read and moves along nicely. This is my first Graham Ison novel, and I immediately went to Amazon to look at his other books.

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this nice book for me to read, enjoy and review.

This is book 15 in the Hardcastle series. You don't need to start at the beginning, but you'll enjoy Ison's writing so much you'll want to read them all. Ison worked for Scotland Yard’s Special Branch, but more importantly he knows how to write a novel. Patrons that love historical mysteries will devour.

This series has been very enjoyable, but I was rather taken aback to find that we have jumped in time. The last book in the series was set in 1919; this one leaps to 1927. Part of the charm was a book set with the First World War as it's backdrop, but not directly about the War but about life on the home front.

Having said that, the plot was interesting and well written. Hardcastle and Marriott are still solving crime; however Marriott is awaiting his expected promotion, and it was rather unbelievable that he hadn't already been made an inspector, particularly given the dearth of healthy males after the War and flu epidemic.

The story line is as well written as ever, although with less use of contemporary language and slang than in some of the others. A fire at a garage reveals murder has taken place, and it is up to Hardcastle and Marriott to discover first who the body belongs to, and then to find the perpetrator. We are left guessing till the end. The irrepressible Catto is still present, but he has been promoted and now he's out of Hardcastle's firing line, he's finally become the confident and capable copper we all thought he was.

The story felt different to the others in the series - Hardcastle has mellowed a little, and his colleagues seem to have an eye towards his retirement. I hope he's going to bounce back, more on his game than ever. It would be sad to see him fade away.

Overall it's enjoyable, but for me it seemed to have lost a little of the sparkle of the earlier books.