Customer Reviews

Coffin, Scarcely Used

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Colin Watson's Flaxborough novels are one of those discoveries that readers should treasure. The vein of serious mysteries intertwined with humour had been richly mined by the likes of John Dickson Carr and Edmund Crispin already when 'Coffin, Scarcely Used' appeared on the scene in 1958. Over the next twenty-odd years, readers would be treated to eleven more outings in the Norfolk town of Flaxborough, each of them slightly more odd than the previous one.

Crime in Flaxborough is met by the resolute Inspector Purbright. In 'Coffin, Scarcly Used', Purbright must determine how the naked body of an electrocuted citizen arrived in a most undignified position on a local electrical pylon. His investigations among the eccentric and somewhat perverse inhabitants of Flax. will reveal that if an accidental death looks somewhat too bizarre to be believed, then it may very likely be murder after all. Watson's talent for creating unusual names and situations for odd characters with shadowy motives, paired with what must have been a most distinctly English sense of humour, set this novel well ahead of most contemporary offerings - forty years ago, and today.

This Black Dagger reprinting of the 1958 Eyre & Spottiswode first edition would be an attractive offering even were it not the only book of Watson's currently in print either in Britain or the US. If you enjoyed 'The Moving Toyshop' by Edmund Crispin or 'Landscape with Dead Dons' by Robert Robinson, then this will most likely be your cuppa too. Highly recommended.

I am thrilled to see that Rue Morgue has added this book to their offerings. The Flaxborough books are well-plotted, with three dimensional characters and deft handling of clues. They are also very witty social commentary that is as fresh and convincing now as when they were written.

This book is the first in the series, and it includes the intelligent Inspector Purbright, his amazingly innocent helper Love, and a collection of villagers and townsfolks who provide a parade of human foibles. The details of the story, from descriptions to dialogue, are to be savored. The story is very funny, but never at the expense of the plot. Watson plays fair with the clues, as well.

I hope we will see the rest of the series republished in the future, to be enjoyed by a new generation of readers.