I enjoyed this book. It had some humor and the mystery was compelling. I have read a couple of Bellairs other mysteries and this was as good and well written as the others.

A Littlejohn mystery that traffics in most of Bellairs' bugaboos - grubby locales, moral pettiness, a general gross vibe, and cynicism about human nature and human motivations. It's a testament to his writing style that this series is readable at all. A quick read that perhaps leaves you with the desire to take shower, with a truly bizarre epilogue-ish sort of diary entry from one of the characters that feels more like a writing exercise than an asset to the narrative - a recommend, but take a walk afterward to shake off the cynicism.

Scotland Yard Inspector Littlejohn is dispatched to the seaside English town of Westcombe to investigate the poisoning death of Sir Gideon Ware. Ware was the town's Mayor as well as its leading citizen. However, he was not well-liked, and no-one really grieves his sudden death (aside from his widow who makes a short cameo appearance). There's a long list of potential suspects for Littlejohn to interview, one which is murdered before being questioned. Regrettably, Littlejohn's usual sidekick DS Cromwell makes only a brief appearance late in the story. Despite that, Cromwell is able to unearth a crucial bit of information which helps put Littlejohn on a trail to the killer. The killer's identity is revealed in a denouement several chapters before the book's finish. The last chapters are used to explain a rather sad backstory of the villain.

There's plenty of local colour about Westcombe, a honky-tonk seaside resort developed to great profit by Ware. He's the big man in town and uses his position in cruel and selfish ways. He's the perfect murder victim in the style of the Golden Age crime novels. Westcombe itself plays a leading character role, portrayed as a holiday town of low morals and few redeeming features. It sports several oddball characters who play a minor role in the main mystery story. The town's Chief Constable emerges as someone with a past to hide and eventually faces a day of reckoning.

It's a satisfying traditional police procedural whodunit, a typical Inspector Littlejohn story. Written in 1945 it's an early entry (#8) in a long-running series. Easy to read it as a standalone.

Many thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for providing a complementary ARC eBook for my independent review.

When I started reading this book I was really put off due to a few things:

1. Yet another police procedural
2. Number eight in a series of books
3. First published in 1945

I wrote it off before I even read the first page...

Well, I was very wrong and I eat my words! I really enjoyed this book, it was brilliant from start to finish regardless of it being book eight or so in the series.

The book follows Chief Inspector Littlejohn who is called on to assist in an investigation to find the murderer of the mayor in the lively seaside town of Westcombe. The major himself was an odious man who had enough suspects in his murder to make a Christmas episode of Eastenders look like a sedate teatime with your nan.

I liked the irreverent Littlejohn, he was smart and likeable. I found the author to craft the characters extremely well, they were all very human and even the "baddies" had many layers. There is a human side to just about everyone in this book and there is a whole load of heart in it.

I'm really surprised at how much I liked this book and I'm willing to give the whole series a go!

If you're looking for an old fashioned Sherlock Holmes type yarn, then this is the book for you.

A solid 3.75 out of 5.

**I recieved this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was not my favorite story. I usually wait impatiently for the next release of Detective Inspector Thomas Littlejohn but there was something about this particular story that did not set well with me. I just did not like this story. George Bellairs is a tried and true crime writer and Littlejohn is one of the best characters for untangling a mystery but I just could not get into this story. I apologize to all the fans of this esteemed author. I will try another.

Inspector Littlejohn Investigates....
The empathetic and ever patient Inspector Littlejohn is called upon to investigate the murder of Sir Gideon Ware. No shortage of suspects and multiple motives and then a second body, Littlejohn has his work cut out. Superb characterisation and an excellent sense of place makes this a pure pleasure.

George Bellairs has done it again. I've read several of his books and have thoroughly enjoyed each one. This one had more emotion packed into it. The character that you loathe becomes one that you find yourself having sympathy for.

I really like how Mr. Bellairs is completely honest with the readers. He provides all of the information at the disposal of Inspector Littlejohn and it's not his fault if we fail to come to the correct conclusion.

Mr. Bellairs powers of description make us feel as though we are at Westcombe and have watched its transformation from an old-fashioned seaside resort to something much more garish. The story is set in a small seaside resort that was perfect as it was until it was almost ruined by greed, graft, egos and corruption.

Sir Gideon Wares dies spectacularly at a luncheon in his honor. Everyone ate and drank the same food and yet Sir Gideon is dead on the floor. Inspector Littlejohn must unravel this mystery while being almost effectively blocked from doing so by the town's Chief Constable. The tale takes many twists and turns but as mentioned, the clues are there for everyone to piece together what happened. The characters are well crafted and believable. You will find yourself transported to a bustling English seaside resort Circa 1942 as you dive into this wonderful tale.

An Inspector Littlejohn mystery ,a treat in store if you haven't read one before and the return of an old friend if you've read some before..Set in a small holiday resort during the war,the Lord Mayor is poisoned at a civic dinner and the local chief constable wary of upsetting the local bigwigs calls in Scotland Yard who send Littlejohn.
There is no shortage of suspects as everybody seems to have a serious grudge against the Mayor,who it seems was a real nasty piece of work. Then there's the murder itself how can someone be poisoned at a meal when everyone there has the same meal .
Littlejohn has none of the modern techniques so beloved of modern detectives this is strictly old school,,questioning checking looking for anomalies then the body count rises and its a race to find the culprit before there are anymore victims.Littlejohn must dig into the past to find the answer.
Told with Bellairs gentle humour and excellent characterisation this is a cracking tale and if very much of its time that's no bad thing in my opinion..
Terrific !

George Bellairs is a master of the vignette and this cozy mystery is filled with them. There are enough unusual suspects to fill several stories. Each has his own background tale and each tale is woven with the others to make for an enjoyable read even if there weren't a couple of corpses thrown in. This is a beautiful example of a mid 20th century British mystery and on my re-read list.

I’ve read and enjoyed a few Golden-Age mysteries by George Bellairs, featuring Inspector Littlejohn, and so I was happy to be offered an ARC of this title by the publisher/NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

As with the other books I’ve read in this series, I really enjoyed the setting, both time and place. In this case, the action actually occurs during World War II. For example, I liked Bellairs’ rather off-hand sympathy with the ordinary housewife, who has lost out to the staff of the Grand Hotel, who were up in the wee hours of the morning with cash in hand, and thus snagged (legally or not) rationed goods before she had a chance to. And casual references to things like black-out curtains and other wartime adaptations gave a feeling for a war-time life that was very different. The aura of a slightly seedy oceanside resort is also pretty familiar to me, especially when compared to a few trips to the Jersey shore that I’ve made during East Coast US visits.

I also liked Bellairs’ characters, most of whom seemed pretty recognizable to me, even decades later – the canon with a slimy “avuncular” manner towards pretty young girls, the dentist who botches a treatment, the offended Catholic priest, the socialist with Labour hopes, the anti-development guy in charge of the small town across the river, etc. And then of course, there is the victim himself – a brash and unlikable guy who skates on the edge of legality, or over it, with plenty of folks (see everyone above, and more) who dislike him. Although it’s not clear at first that anyone’s dislike should actually be intense enough to result in murder. But someone’s is…

All-in-all, I quite liked this book, and look forward to reading some of the other many Littlejohn titles available in ebook. Please note that for me, 4 stars out of 5 is a really good ranking, and means I really do recommend the book. I just try to fight “star-flation” a little bit, so I reserve 5 stars for a very few absolute favorite books that I am going to read and then re-read again. Probably no more than one in thirty or forty books that I read gets 5-stars from me. And my thanks again to the publisher and NetGalley!

When I read George Bellairs I am always surprised that he is not better known today as a writer. Certainly much time has passed since these books were written but he did write more than fifty novels in the Littlejohn series over a forty year period! That is quite a legacy.
He may not have been as innovative as Christie, Marsh or Allingham or other big crime fiction names, and maybe the problem is his coming around ten or so years later, at the very end of the ‘Golden Age’. However, Bellairs’ storylines are based much more in reality than his more famous contemporaries and his books are certainly more revealing of British life in the 1940s and 50s.

Written just at the end of the second world war and based in a similar time, much of the book almost casually mentions the effects of wartime life for those at home and not fighting: describing street lighting during blackout, the effects of rationing on the availability of food in cafes and restaurants and how conversely, much of these rationed items are made available for those who have ‘alternative access’ to them, such as for the Mayor’s dinner where the first murder occurs… The ubiquity of tobacco and social attitudes and life experiences of distinct social classes may come across as more shocking than would have been intended in the 1940s but this too reveals much about real life at this time. For the social comment alone it is worth reading this novel but that is certainly not the only reason.

The plotting is methodical, unfolding the crime and its effects and eventual solution a piece at a time, allowing the reader to form and reform ideas and conclusions throughout. But as always with Bellairs, the genius of his books and the reason why I keep returning to them lies in his characters; from the main protagonists to the most minor parts added for comic effect, all are fully realized and entirely believable.
Excellent writing and great entertainment!

A Bad Day for the Mayor

Westcombe, like Brighton or Bournemouth, is a holiday fairy land, a place where fun seekers and frolicking families head for a summer outing. Unlike the sister cities up and down the coast, Sir Gideon Ware, the current mayor, was the driving force behind its development into a holiday destination from its humble roots as a quiet fishing village. Ware the developer and builder fashioned this fairyland by pushing aside those who wanted to stop him, trampling on those who opposed him, and took advantage of those who actually built the town into Ware’s dream. A bombast, a narcissist, and, during the celebratory banquet to honor his mayoralty, a dead man. Surrounded by the leaders of the town, each of whom, for their own reasons, either could not abide the man or openly hared him, Ware was poisoned and taken off to hospital, a destination he never made. The only one to hear his final words was a priest who was in attendance at the banquet and accompanied the stricken Ware on his final journey.

With a surfeit of witnesses and suspects – both being the same – the Chief Constable, considering the high status of the individuals who attended the banquet, decided it would not be a career enhancing move, and so called on Scotland Yard to send an Inspector off to Westcombe, that inspector being Littlejohn.
Littlejohn’s first impression of the Chief Constable was less than underwhelming. Fortunately, Detective-Inspector Hazard of Westcombe was assigned by the Chief to serve as Littlejohn’s assistant in this investigation. Whilst Littlejohn was to tackle the town’s brass hats, the Constable would follow up with questioning the sub luminaries and lesser lights. As the investigation continues, another murder, one most distinctive, adds to Littlejohn and Hazard’s caseload.

Littlejohn’s associate Cromwell, back in London, is able to uncover several critical facts concerning one of the key suspects in the story. The association of Littlejohn, Hazard, and Cromwell delivers up the killer in an unusual ending to this story.

George Bellaire treats the written page as Claude Monet did the canvas – artful brushstrokes of words describing characters, capturing the environment, seizing the action on a dance floor or on the beach with color, movement, and an expressionist’s eye. In a few words, Bellaire draws the picture of a character with such insight and clarity, the mind’s eye attaches and feels as the author h ad in drawing the person.

This novel also has another dimension, a psychological one, that is the underpinning of the murderer’s reason for murder, written almost as a short story within the novel. An excellent book, and highly recommended!

Excellent, this must be a very early book in the series as Littlejohn is a Detective Inspector, in later books he has risen through the ranks but it can be read either as a stand alone or as part of the series. The book starts with the murder by strychnine of Sir Gideon Ware the Mayor of Westcombe. Sir Gideon by all accounts was a thoroughly odious individual with lots of enemies. The local police led by Chief Constable Steven Boumphry decide to call in Scotland Yard early as he didn’t want to upset the local dignitaries who he might have to work with in the future. Enter Detective Inspector Littlejohn to do the dirty work so that the locals don’t get their hands dirty. My thanks to Netgalley and Agora for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book as I am a huge fan of George Bellairs.

I was apprehensive at first because the book started with a narrative of the crime using the same flippant tone I disliked so much in Death Stops the Frolic. However, once Littlejohn was called in the clouds parted, the birds sang, and all was right with the narrative. The unfolding of the mystery, as Littlejohn plugged away, battling dishonesty and self-serving bureaucrats, was a pleasure to read. It went from something that I dreaded picking up again to one of my favorite Littlejohn mysteries. While he did not have his normal sidekicks with him, a local cop served that role and Cromwell made a brief, but important appearance, uncovering key information on the background of the victim, killer and another important player. That background information led to the resolution of the case. You would think at that point that an arrest would be made, Littlejohn would go home and the screen would fade to black. You’d be wrong because it was almost a ‘but wait, there’s more’ moment. The killer was not content to go out quietly. In addition to going out on their own terms, a confessional was left behind. It was a fascinating look at the last days of someone spinning out of control toward their inevitable tragic end.

I highly recommend this book to existing Bellairs fans and anyone who likes a more cerebral, wise detective that puts in the real work of investigating.


Thank you to NetGalley and the George Bellairs Literary Estate for providing a copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review

Having just read this book I was not disappointed it was up to Mr Bellairs usual standard. The characters were very well introduced and a good description of their characters was given and how they were linked to the victim Sir Gideon Ware mayor of Westcome. Inspector Littlejohn who needs no introduction was brought in and set about carefully gathering the evidence aid in this case by Inspector Hazard. Mr Bellairs also described the town of Westcome which is at its height of the holiday season. The investigation gains in pace when a second victim is found. I really enjoyed reading He'd Rather Be Dead and recommend this book if you are not acquainted with George Bellairs books.

Another great and highly exciting George Bellairs mystery novel. Inspector Littlejohn, once again, is called upon to solve a complex murder in a seaside resort town of Westcombe, along with the various suspects whom share a personal and professional animosity towards our murdered victim, Sir Gideon Ware.

This is my fifth Inspector Littlejon mystery novel and I continue to be more than pleased and always look forward to a new selection. Another solid, complex story, with delightful twists and turns, red herrings and unexpected developments along the way. George Bellairs' particular attention to detail, character development and mastery of weaving a complex and intriguing plot are evident, once again.

I want to thank Crime Classics and Net Galley for this advance copy to read and review.

How to make everyone want to murder you

An unpleasant murder victim and a multitude of potential suspects in a small seaside town during the war.
Good character development, clever plot: all in all, a very successful Littlejohn murder mystery.
Well worth reading.
NetGalley and publisher Agora Books generously provided an ARC.

He'd Rather Be Dead is the 9th Inspector Littlejohn mystery by George Bellairs. Originally released in 1945, this reformat and rerelease by Agora is 245 pages and available in ebook format (earlier editions available in other formats). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.


This is an engagingly written and well constructed golden age mystery. Full of well rendered characters, it proceeds from the murder of a universally loathed crass and mean spirited mayor at an official luncheon through the winnowing of a whole stable of potential murderers by Inspector Littlejohn. The dialogue, though admittedly a product of its time, is well written and urbane, lightly witty and humorous. Although I have enjoyed all the Littlejohn mysteries, this one does work quite well as a standalone, and it's not necessary to have read the other books.

It's really lovely to see these gems being dusted off and re-released to new generations of readers. Bellairs (Harold Blundell) was a gifted writer and a technical master of construction.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This is an excellent murder mystery by one of my favorite Golden Age authors. It combines a twisty, well plotted mystery, with excellent character development and a good sense of time and place.

The setting is the seaside town of Westcombe. As the story begins, we find ourselves at a lavish banquet for Sir Gideon Ware, the nearly universally despised Mayor of the town. During the banquet, the mayor dies, in full sight of many illustrious guests. Since he ate the same food as everyone else, his death is a puzzle. The towns own police force is reluctant to question all these important people so Scotland Yard is asked for assistance, and Imspector Littlejohn arrives.

Despite a Chief Constable that would like to keep some of the towns secrets to himself, Littlejohn is able to solve the mystery of Ware’s murder. The murderer was extremely clever, but not quite clever enough!

I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to more from Bellairs.

For those interested in stories that build on characters and background, Bellairs always makes great reading. This has Bellairs's usual excellent descriptions of time and place. The atmosphere of a gaudy seaside resort with it’s crowds, hucksters, and cheap amusements is extraordinarily well done. Disappointingly, what it lacked were the characterizations and the snarky, witty prose which I’ve come to expect from him. And the addition of the long diary addendums unnecessary and rather bizarre.

I’ve quite a Bellairs fan, but I’ve found him to be a bit hit and miss. While this one just didn’t do it for me, I’ll definitely be reading more.

My Rating is more in line with 3.5/5