The Killings at Badger's Drift (Inspector Barnaby) [Paperback]

Caroline Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2005

Badger’s Drift is the ideal English village, complete with vicar, bumbling local doctor, and kindly spinster with a nice line in homemade cookies. But when the spinster dies suddenly, her best friend kicks up an unseemly fuss, loud enough to attract the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby. And when Barnaby and his eager-beaver deputy start poking around, they uncover a swamp of ugly scandals and long-suppressed resentments seething below the picture-postcard prettiness. In the grand English tradition of the quietly intelligent copper, Barnaby has both an irresistibly dry sense of humor and a keen insight into what makes people tick. Badger’s Drift marks Barnaby’s debut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The British author makes her debut here in an uncommonly appealing mystery, set in a tranquil village, Badger's Drift. Learned Chief Inspector Barnaby and callow Sergeant Troy go to work when importunate, elderly Miss Bellringer insists that her friend, Emily Simpson, did not die of a heart attack as her doctor claimed, but was murdered. An autopsy proves Miss Bellringer right; Emily had imbibed a Socratic mix of wine and hemlock. Spreading alarm throughout the community, an unseen murderer strikes again, leaving sly Mrs. Rainbird's bloody corpse to be found by her son, the local undertaker. As Barnaby and Troy investigate, they turn up evidence of another crime years earlier, and several suspects. Among them are the doctor's promiscuous wife, a young woman whose brother objects to her marriage to a rich widower and a Lady Chatterley-type gamekeeper. Diligent detecting brings the chief and his bumbling assistant to a sensational expose. Graham makes the characters humanly believable in her witty and tragic novel, a real winner.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This choice English confection introduces a memorable police duo, Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy. Juxtaposition of the conservative, distinguished Barnaby with the spontaneous, handsome, modish Troy provides ample opportunity for dry humor and wry insight. As the two investigate the coniine (hemlock) poisoning death of 80-year-old spinster Emily Simpson, they encounter a bizarre mixture of eccentric village dwellers, starting with the little old cat-lady and gardener friend of the deceased. The murder, of course, causes a commotion in picturesque Badger's Drift, laden with quaint cottages and Georgian manor houses. A winner. REK
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Felony & Mayhem Press (June 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933397047
• ISBN-13: 978-1933397047
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cozy meets police procedural, April 21, 2001

By 

Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Killings at Badger's Drift (Paragon Softcover Large Print Books) (Hardcover)

Cozies tend to have a limited cast and a modest local. In that sense, this first novel in the DCI Barnaby series certainly qualifies. Badger's Drift is a collection of buildings (village would be generous) at a T intersection. Virtually every resident is a suspect and they're a nicely mixed lot. Cozy heroes (and heroines) tend to have warm and fuzzy aspects - Barnaby has a wife he adores despite her utter inability to cook and loves to putz around in his garden.

What cozies don't contain, as a rule, are multiple murders, reformed and current prostitutes and illicit relationships that are, shall I say, more than adultry.

I really enjoyed the mixed tone of the book, even after I realized I'd seen the screen version on TV a few years ago. Graham does a nice job of taking many classical mystery elements and giving them a new spin. I'll admit that, knowing the ending, I was looking extra hard for the clues that would lead to the resolution. There weren't many but there were a few.

It's also worth noting that this book won a McCavity for best first novel and was selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers as one of their top 100 mysteries of the 20th Century.

Bottom-line: A nice series for those who like British mysteries but want a little less rough stuff than Daziel & Pascoe or Frost.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best writer of English "village" mysteries since Christie, IMO, March 14, 2006

By 

Hypoxy (Bath, ME United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Killings at Badger's Drift (Inspector Barnaby) (Paperback)

This was the debut of the Inspector Barnaby & Troy series, and--with the possible exception of "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"--I don't think a better mystery of this genre has ever been written and I could say the same of most-if-not-all of the subsequent additions to the series.

Wonderfully atmospheric, grittier than Christie but no less philosophically insightful, without Rendell's darkness or Martha Grimes' often-intrusive humor or Elizabeth George's excessive atttention to the private lives of some boring principals, I believe Caroline Graham's books are the most completely satisfying English mysteries I've ever read--and I've read more than a few.

Barnaby & Troy are a delightfully unlikely duo, and it's from their cultural clash that most of the delicious subtle humor comes. "Talisa Leanne's dictionary" cracks me up every time.

All I could wish is that Graham were more prolific. It's a long wait between books.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Promising Series, March 14, 2000

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Killings at Badger's Drift (Hardcover)

I am a great fan of British "cosies". I was excited to think I had found a new author since I've read Madames Christie and Sayers. Caroline Graham's plot are a lot different - more modern with modern problems and criminals. There is also more death, but she writes a terrific story. Read this series. This is the first in the series of DCI Barnaby. He's enough of a curmudgeon to make this interesting, but there are certainly a lot more killings in this book than in most "cosies". The plot is good and it keeps you guessing. I look forward to reading more. Barnaby gets started with one murder of an elderly teacher, but before the story is done there are other murders to contend with and the motive for the crimes, when it's discovered, will blow you away!