Fallen Into the Pit (An Inspector George Felse Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Ellis Peters (Author) "The war ended, and the young men came home, and tried indignantly to fit themselves into old clothes and old habits which proved, on examination,..." (more)
Key Phrases: Chad Wedderburn, Jim Tugg, Shock of Hay (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Originally published in 1951, but just now making its first American appearance, this mystery launched Peters's Inspector Felse series. Set in Britain just after WW II, the main sleuth here is not actually George Felse but his 13-year-old son Dominic. He and his best friend, Pussy Hart, are playing when Dom finds the body of Helmut Schauffler, an ex-P.O.W. who had stayed on after the war in the Comerford area. An autopsy indicates that Schauffler's skull was fractured by blows that were "precise, neat and of murderous intention." Helmut, a loathsome blend of cruelty, cowardice and anti-Semitism, is hardly mourned, but his death so rends the village's social fabric that solving the case is imperative. In his first murder investigation, George has difficulty viewing his neighbors as suspects, although the area does have its share of demobilized veterans, i.e., trained killers. Even more distressing to George and his wife Bunty is the proprietary--and potentially fatal--interest that Dom takes in the case. By giving the youth a finely balanced blend of doggedness, good luck, ingenuity and foolhardiness, Peters sets out a very effective mystery while expressing, through the gradual unfolding of the character of Helmut,her own serious skepticism that aperson--or a country--can change his--or its--spots. In 1991, Mysterious reissued Flight of the Witch , a Felse mystery written in 1964.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Widely known for her Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries, Peters also built a series around British detective George Felse. This title, which initiated that series, is now published in the United States for the first time.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: The Mysterious Press (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446403180
• ISBN-13: 978-0446403184
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #427,836 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great modern English mystery, best she's written., February 3, 1999

By A Customer

This was one of the best mysteries I have ever read. I came upon it by accident, not even knowing if it were a mystery or not. It is a wonderful successor to the great writers of the original English mystery. George Felse ranks up there with Poirot and Holmes, but shows a bit more humanity. The other characters, also, show qualities that make you forget that you're reading. The plot, I'm sure, will perplex you and will have you back for more Ellis Peters. I will say that after reading most of the Felse mysteries and a few Cadfael that Felse is better, but this one is the best in the lot.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep, insightful, and brilliant, August 23, 2003

By	phantomfan (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

After reading almost all of Ellis Peters' Cadfael mysteries, I decided to give her other works a try, just to see if they could possibly compare. Well, to say I was surprised at what a fantastic novel this is can only be appreciated by those who have read and marveled at the brilliant Cadfael series.

Peters has created not only a very suspenseful and intriguing whodunnit, but a work of great depth, warmth, humor, and tragedy, full of complex character studies and profound insights into human nature, the effects of war, and how the murder of a man whom everyone hated anyway still rips apart the fabric of a small, close-knit community. And above it all emerges a playful, lighthearted banter between a precocious 13-year-old and his loving parents which is absolutely delightful to read. Somewhere around the middle of the book, after she has painted a vivid picture for us of the people, place, and times, young Dominic becomes central as the book's primary protagonist, and I cannot think of a more well-suited character to carry this novel.

As for the mystery itself, it was simply ingenious, better than many of the Cadfael mysteries, some of which are fairly easy to solve. This one had me on my toes until the very end, and threw some whopping surprises in along the way.

This is truly a work of genius, many-layered, lovingly crafted, and brilliantly well-told. Good luck finding another modern author who can come close to this level of accomplishment. Peters' work deserves much more acclaim than it has received.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Felse's first murder investigation, April 7, 2002

By	Michele L. Worley (Kingdom of the Mouse, United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
- Psalms 7:14 - 15

In these days after WWII, England is no longer the place the young men left when they went away to fight. The mining industry has been nationalized, and even Comerford's old slapdash efforts at opening up its shallow coal deposits are about to be reopened, with a flood of new faces coming in to operate the new machinery. The men who went away, of course, aren't those who came back: Jim Tugg, the hired man at the Hollins farm, with daring exploits as a paratrooper; Chad Wedderburn, the pacifist classics master who spent years in guerilla fighting; even Charles Blunden, son of Selwyn Blunden of Harrow, fought all the way across North Africa and Sicily.

Expatriates from all over Europe are common enough, even ex-POWs who still slip and say 'Heil Hitler!' if they forget. (And get beaten up, maybe, by somebody whose brother died in a Stalag.) Helmut Schauffler, though, has been asking to be murdered by going far beyond that.

Gerd Hollins had lost her entire family in the concentration camps. Haunted by memories of horror that won't stay suppressed, she asked her husband to hire Helmut, because if she could learn to see one German as a human being, it would help her to let go of her nightmares. Unfortunately, Helmut is a creep - an actual Nazi who enjoys psychological torment (though he's not stupid enough to try it in front of her husband or hired man). When he's fired and takes a job at the quarry, he still harasses her in a slimy way, while causing discord everywhere else he goes.

Sergeant Felse isn't surprised when Helmut finally turns up floating in the brook, head bashed in, although he's less than thrilled that his 13-year-old son Dominic found the corpse. Despite George's best efforts, Dominic gets interested in the case, especially since his classics master is a suspect.