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In the "three for £5" section of "The Works" bookshop I came across the first three books in Heron Carvic's Miss Seeton series, read that they were a gentle parody on a series I knew and liked - the Miss Marple books - and so I decided to give them a go. Inexplicably, when I got home, I found that my three books were two copies of book two, and one copy of book three, and so I had to start reading at book two. Sadly, although I sort of liked the characters and the English village setting, I wasn't too taken with Heron Carvic's writing style. In short, I doubt that it is going to be a classic series.
Heron Carvic is a pseudonym for Geoffrey Harris (1913 to 1980). Geoffrey was an English actor (he played Gandalf in BBC radio's version of "The Hobbit" ) and writer who created the character of a retired art teacher, Miss Emily Seeton. The books were so well received in America, that the Miss Seeton character lived on after Geoffrey's death with stories by two further writers - 3 books by Roy Martin writing as Hampton Charles, and 16 + books by Sarah Mason writing as Hamilton Crane. Note that all three authors had the initials "H C" ! I think I will concentrate on the original author.
Geoffrey Harris was educated at Eton, but he escaped from there and his father by running away to France, where he took the stage name Heron Carvic to avoid family outrage. As well as being an actor, Geoffrey also worked as an interior designer and florist. He met his wife Phyllis Terry when he was 23 (she was 43) but they did not marry until 1958, years later. Wierdly, records show Phyllis married both Geoffrey Harris, and Heron Corvic - surely attempted bigamy. Geoffrey died in a car accident in Kent in 1980.
Miss Seeton, Emily D Seeton, MissEss is the herione of "cosy" mystery novels. She is a retired art teacher who draws portraits / sketches / cartoons of various subjects. Most bear a good likeness to the subject, but some are distorted cartoons revealing often malevolent character. Is she a gifted medium - a gift of which she is quite unaware - or just a great observer of human characteristics? She seems to blunder about with her brolly, and always be in the wrong place at the wrong time, unknowingly saving lives and exposing murderers and criminals. It's all written with humour, and Miss Seeton definitely talks and thinks as a caricature of Miss Marple, but to my ears this soon becomes annoying. I thought it was overdone - like a smart idea from which, once started, Heron Carvic could not escape.
The whole Miss Seeton series was written by three authors - 5 books by the original author, Geoffrey Harris writing as Heron Carvic (1968 to 1975), 3 books in 1990 by Roy Martin writing as Hampton Charles, and 16 books by Sarah Mason writing as Hamilton Crane, (1991 to 2018). I had intended to read just the books of the original author , Heron Carvic, but by 2021 I had bought a few other books in the series, so I just kept dipping in and out.
I read this book in November, 2019.
Through a silly mistake I didn't buy books 1, 2 and 3 of this series, but picked up 2 copies of book 2 in error. I had to start off reading at book 2, and so now book 1, "Picture Miss Seeton" is the second in the series I have read, and it more or less confirms my earlier impressions. It is a series set in the 1960s, in a then typical English village (5 village shops and a pub) where gossip rules and our heroine Miss Seeton is a retired art teacher who blunders about causing chaos, and solving crimes without being aware of it. Miss Seeton is obviously a psychic, but of this she is completely ignorant. However her sketches reveal all, invariably hidden clues from her subconscious. The police who call on Miss Seeton for help are Superintendent Alan Delphick (the Oracle) and Sergeant Bob Ranger. It's a sort of humorous take off of Miss Marple, and is good when action is taking place (and there is a lot of action) but the author seems to write in triplets, and I was bored, annoyed and fed up with much of the long winded silly village gossip. Better editing would have improved the series enormously.
We open with Miss Seeton taking a short cut up a back alley on her way home from a visit to the opera in London. She passes what she thinks is a courting couple on a dark doorway, but soon the couple are quarrelling, and when the man seems to punch his "girlfriend" Miss Seeton wades in with her umbrella to the fore. Miss Seeton is pushed to the ground, another passerby rushes to help her, and the man escapes. The girl was a prostitute, it wasn't a punch but a fatal stabbing, and Superintendent Delphick who is working on another prostitute stabbing, hears of the case. He interviews and is impressed by this quiet unassuming old lady witness. On discovering that she is an art teacher, he has the brilliant idea to get her to draw what she has just seen. The resulting cartoon clearly identifies the assailant as a known villian Cesar Lebel. Delphick thinks case solved, but recognises that Miss Seeton is in danger until Lebel is arrested. He places a police guard on Miss Seeton, but in the morning she is off to a little village in the country called Plummergen where she has inherited a delightful cottage on the death of her godmother, and should be anonymous and safe.
Other plot lines now develop, and we meet the village worthies. The main gossips are Mrs Baine and Miss Nuttell, Martha Beeton cooks and cleans for Miss Seeton, and Sonia Vannell is a local writer of children's fiction who has a daughter Algela (Angie). The local big wigs are retired General Sir George and his wife Lady Coveden. Their son Nigel is trying to woo Angie, but Angie has changed recently, and fallen in with a bad bunch of youths. Drugs are involved. The local doctor is Dr Knight, and he too has a daughter - Anne. Anne and Sergeant Bob Ranger seem to fall in love at first sight. Their first meeting was contrived brilliantly by Heron Carvic - the series is really quite good in some places. The local vicar is the Rev Treeves who lives with his sister. Sadly Treeves has lost his faith, but knows of no other employment and so carries on as a terrible and bungling vicar. In this role he tells the press that Miss Seeton, now famous as the lady with the brolly, has come to stay in Plummergen - and so Lebel follows Miss Seeton and attacks her in her garden. She thinks he is only a local lad trying to steal her eggs, and sees him off. Had the police been guarding her better they would have caught Lebel.
The other plots involve drugs, a crooked wind bag solicitor who offers some tablets to Miss Seeton, and tragic Sonia Vannell who was destitute when her husband died and became a sort of high class drug pusher to put food on the table when Angie was young. It's a horrible sort of poetic justice when Angie is corrupted by drugs - there is much more to the story, and it's worse. Miss Seeton is almost knocked down by a speeding car, is almost drowned, but rescued by Sergeant Bob Ranger, and is gassed along with Sonia Vannell, but again rescued by Bob Ranger.
I liked the first boy meets girl sequence when Bob meets Anne. Miss Seeton is drowning in a pond, and Bob, a strappling hulk of a man, strips down to his underpants and dives in. Carrying Miss Seeton over his shoulder he runs to get help at Dr Knight's. Anne has had a bath, and so has her hair in a pigtial, but comes downstairs in her dressing gown to assist. Bob thinks it's a little girl, but soon realises his mistake. He and Anne work together to get the unconcious Miss Seeton out of her wet clothes, and put her to bed. Belatedly he realises he is only in his underpants, and wet, they hardly hide his modesty. Blushing he quickly wraps a towel around himself. And so the ice has certainly been broken.
More or less everything is cleared up at the end, but for one thing. Delphick has not yet caught up with Lebel. Lebel seems to have caught up with Miss Seeton however. Read the book yourself to see what happens, or doesn't happen next.
It's not a bad series - its silly, sometimes humorous, sometimes action packed, sometimes stuck in gossip verbage. The unknowing psychic artist / little old lady is quite a good idea. It's not great fiction, but its OK and will probably grow on me.
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I read this book in October, 2019.
This is the second book in Heron Carvic's Miss Seeton series, but I foolishly had bought book two twice instead of books 1 and 2, and so this had to be my starting point. I liked the country setting. Miss Seeton is retiring as an art teacher, and hopes to move to a cottage in the little Kent village of Plummergen left to her by her godmother. It's the 1960s, so even this small village has 5 shops - a baker, a small butcher, and 3 grocers, one of which is a post office. The pub is the "George and Dragon". Village life is ruled by gossip (the Nuts, Mrs Blaine and Miss Nuttel ) which spreads at lightening speed - sometimes it is based on fact, usually not. We meet some village worthies. There is a Dr Knight, Treeves, the vicar and his sister, Miss Seeton's cleaner Martha (three shillings an sixpence per hour), and Major General Sir George and Lady Colveden, and their son Nigel who live just outside the village. The main police character is Superintendent Delphick (the Oracle ) and his assistant Segeant Ranger, but we also meet the Oracle's boss Chief Super Gosslin, and the assistant commissioner Sir Hubert.
The story opens with Delphick and co baffled by a series of brutal child murders - strangulation with a wire. In desperation Delphick remembers a village phenomenon, the artist Miss Seeton who saved the day in book one when she painted a portrait of the killer, and so won great noteriety in the national press. Delphick asks Miss Seeton to draw pictures of the dead children to see what that might reveal. But Miss Seeton has troubles of her own. Mrs Goffer, mother of the village scamp Effie, had stood in for Martha in her absence in looking after Miss Seeton, and so Miss Seeton had agreed to draw a portrait of young Effie as a reward. Unfortunately each of three attempts fails - half the sketch is a good likeness, the other half a devilish distortion. Miss S. consults Dr Knight to find out what is wrong with her. Has she had a stroke ? Delphick sees one of the sketches and identifies Effie as a future strangler victim. Another Miss S. sketch connects the murders with a series of post office raids. We also get a local gang of youths starting street fights, an embezzeler at the local bank, and a Fleet Street journalist despatched to Plummergen. There are two new families in the village - the Quints, brother, sister and their strange kid brother, and the Hosiggs - and both are soon made chief suspects. Miss S. stumbles about in a series of comic turns, solving everything, saving lives with her brolly, catching crooks (always just happening to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time, and not being aware of the effect she is having).
It's a sort of humourous, make believe caricature of English village life that I found OK for a change. But Miss Seeton's contrived "Miss Marple," "don't you know", "as it were" peculiar speech patterns soon became annoying, and generally crept throughout the narrative as a disease. If only Corvic had mastered the deceptively difficult art of simple writing, the book would have been many times better, to my thinking. In short a good idea spoiled.
It's early days, I'll reserve judgement and see what I think with the next book.
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I read this book in January, 2020.
This is another outing for eccentric Miss Seaton and the strange inhabitants of the little Kent village of Plummergen. So we meet once again Sir George and Lady Colveden, the two gossiping old biddies, Nigel, Ann and her friend Sgnt Bob Ranger, and of course D Superintendent Delphick, the "oracle".
It's satire on the harmless village spinster theme. The actual story is absolute rubbish and piffle. Two crooks - the Master and a man called Duke - are conning money and valuables out of gullible followers /"believers". One crook peddles "Nuscience" - the end of the world is nigh, sign up to our sect and you will survive and be leaders in the new world. The other crook peddles fear of witchcraft.
A lot of the Miss Seaton situations are very contrived. She is great beleiver in the best in all people, and gets into terrible scrapes and dangers, but never realises the danger, and somehow escapes unhurt.
Needing some extra cash for day to day living, Miss S agrees to be a supply teacher at the local school, mostly teaching drawing, which she knows about, but also teaching maths, which she knows nothing about. Somehow the maths class turns into a financial planning forum. The children soon advise Miss S "you need to get an extra job, Miss"
The police are getting nowhere with their Nuscience work, nor witchcraft investigations, and so they ask Miss S to go along to a Nuscience meeting and do one of her inspired drawings. As usual Miss S in misunderstood, causes mayhem, escapes unhurt, and stirs up so much action and reaction that the crooks are exposed and it all comes good in the end. Miss S is a hero to half the village, a witch to the other half.
Its hardly the best of crime fiction, but it's a short 205 page read, and so more or less OK for a change, and for a smile or two.
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I read this book in February, 2020.
This is book four in Heron Carvic's Miss Seeton series, and it's more of the same - a contrived situation is set up, Miss Seeton is let loose, she blunders along not knowing what she is doing, and crooks are flushed out wherever she goes.
Miss Seeton is famous from numerous press reports of a battling old lady with a brolly, and now other departments of the UK government want a slice of the action. The police, and now Chief Superintendent Delphick (the oracle) explain that Miss Seeton is not the superhuman agent they think she is, but to no avail. "You can't keep her to yourself."
A lot of forged £5 notes are in circulation - they are excellent forgeries on genuine Bank of England paper. Is someone at the Treasury a traitor? A bank in Geneva has a very important client - a multi, multi billionaire investor - and the forgeries seem to be coming from his account. He has a joint account with his young fifth wife - the wife is unfaithful, and is sleeping with the tycoon's deputy. Also two scams are afoot - jewels are stolen, duplicate false gems are substituted, and the original jewels are sold. Also paintings are being stolen, and painted over to disguise them.
Thus the F.O., the secret service, etc, etc are sending Miss Seeton to Geneva to investigate. The crooks' password is a musical one, and en route to Geneva Miss Ess gets the catchy tune into her head, and causes confusion. Her escorts and minders lose her when Miss Ess mistakenly goes to Genoa, not Geneva. And so it's chapter after chapter of Miss Ess escaping danger, and flushing out the crooks. The tycoon is a Mr Stemkos. Miss Ess exposes his unfaithful current wife, and matches him up again with his first wife. Unknown to him she had been working in his organisation, looking after his best interests, and protecting him from too much damage from the crooked deputy and the fifth wife.
There is pandemonium wherever she goes, Genoa, Geneva, and finally Paris where there is an escapade in a nude review show. All the scams are eventully sorted, and only two crooks are still at large when Miss Seeton finally gets back to London. Chief Superintendent Delphick and Sgnt Ranger meet her there, but even here Miss S has not stopped crook catching.
Once set up, it's all handled very cleverly. The author seems to know his way round Genoa, Geneva and Paris, and yes, it's all done with a lot of humour. It's not a bad little series, and in this book it has more than survived the transplant away from Miss Ess's Plummergen.
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I read this book in July, 2020.
This is book five in the harmless / hapless Miss Seeton series, and is the last written by it's creator Heron Carvic. It's light weight, farcical humour - Miss Seeton blunders around not knowing what she is up to, stirs things up, and when everything that can go wrong inevitably and predictably does go wrong, Miss Seeton wanders off, unknowing and unscathed.
Usually the setting is Plummergen village where Miss S resides in Sweet Briar cottage - looked after by no nonsense housekeeper Martha Bloomer. However Miss S. has again been called in by another division of the police force. A mafia style gang are taking over the casino, gambling, and sex scene. The police think they know the head of the gang, but they have no photos of him - X-ray and similar security equipment at the casinos destroy photos. Accordingly, a disguised Miss S ( as an American high roller gambler) is sent in to do a sketch. In a London casino she meets the suspect Mr Thatcher - the arch villian of the story. Everything Miss S bets on wins, and Miss Seeton leaves the casino with her handbag stuffed full with notes - but about to be mugged.
The anti-mafia police group is lead by Inspector Brinton with DC Tom Haley is the Miss Ess escort and minder. Miss S does not drink and so DC Haley has to drink Miss S's as well as his own, and so he gets drunk. His training kicks in and he bravely tackles the mugging gang. Help arrives in the shape of Chief Super Delphick (the Oracle). He had been informed of the use of "his" Miss Ess, and insisted on keeping a watching eye on her - ie the Oracle and Sgnt Bob Ranger (who had married Ann Knight, the Plummergen village doctor. A thwarted Mr Thatcher must save face (and his mafia empire) by eliminating Miss Ess, but as usual she leads a charmed life and her luck holds.
At the Casino Miss S had met Deidre Kenharding, daughter of Sir Kenharding, a director of the casino, and opposed to Thatcher. Sir Kenharding has suffered a motor "accident" / brake failure. He dare not fight back as his family has been threatened. There is also a useless son, Deidre's brother Derrick, who sadly is now a member of the mafia gang.
There is a day at the races, lots more mayhem, and a very predictable reverse ending when Thatcher plants a bomb in Sweet Briar cottage.
Tom Haley and Deidre Kenharding fall in love, as perhaps do local reporters Mel Furnby and the American Thudd Banner. Local gossips Mrs Bunny Blaine and Miss Nuttall (together known as "the Nuts") start a petition to get Miss S to leave Plummergen.
All in all, 190 pages of very light, reasonably humourous reading - it's sort of an "OK" read. I'm not sure if I'll read on to see what the other authors have done with the Miss S. character. Perhaps if I chance upon a book at a bargain price I might be tempted.
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I read this book in October, 2021.
I hadn't intended to read on past the original author, but saw some more Miss Seeton books in a charity shop, and thought why not see what others have done with Miss Seeton. The setting is the same, Plummergen, with all the usual characters, but I thought Hampton Charles had toned down Miss S. - there are fewer ongoing, strung together passages of extreme confusion and silliness. Their set up seems klunky and long winded. However, we do meet Miss Emily Seeton, living in her cottage Sweetbriars with Martha Bloomer still her housekeeper. Lady Meg and Sir George Colveden still live in style at Rytham Hall with their son Nigel. The local gossips, the Nuts, Miss Erica Nuttall and Mrs Norah Blane still think Miss S. is some sort of demon, to be fought wherever and whenever. The Rev Arthur Treeves is still the vicar. Although he has lost his faith, no one in Plummergen seems to mind, nor does the bishop. The police are still represented by Chief Super Delphick (the Oracle) and his assistant DS. Bob Ranger in London, DCI Chris Brinton of the local Ashford station, and PC Potter. Bob is getting married to Anne, the daughter of the local doctor, Dr Wright - in about two weeks. They do get married, with Delphick (the Oracle) a last minute replacement best man. And we still have two investigative journalists, Thrudd (Scoop) Banner and Mel Fornby. Romance here too, and they end up in bed together most nights in a bedroom of the local "George and Dragon".
There are two main plots. Firstly, William Parsons is now out of jail, working as a St John's Ambulance man. He wants revenge against Justice Wilfred Thumper who sentenced him. Secondly Parsons' ex cell mate Norman Proctor and Harvey, his effeminate friend, are stealing silverware, etc, from quiet unprotected churches. Parsons agrees to be Proctor and Harvey's get away driver, if they will help him get revenge against Thumper. The Plummergen / Miss S. connection is that Thumper is a great friend of Sir George Colveden - they went to school together - and thieves Proctor and Harvey target Plummergen church.
The story opens at the famous Hurlingham Club, where Nigel Colveden is leading a party from Plummergen including Miss S. They have come to see Patricia (Trish) Thumper, the leading England young tennis player and hopefully future Wimbeldon winner, play an American champion, Nancy Weisendonck. Nigel fancies Trish Thumper. Scoop Banner and Mel Fornby, also covering the match, spy Miss S. and creep closer. They know Miss S. creates great stories. They overhear George Colveden saying that Wilfred Thumper was his fag at school, but misunderstand the meaning of fag in an English public school context. They think the high court judge is a secret homosexual - which would be a great story. Miss S. appears distracted, and much taken with the strange looking, bearded St John's Ambulance man, who reminds her of the painter Tinteretto. Later this inspires a few Miss S. cartoons - great clues for the police. The ambulance man is Bill Parsons, he slips something into Trish's drink, she is taken ill, and loses a match she had been winning. Parsons sends a note to Thumper saying only a mild attack, this time, but wait till next time. Thumper tells the police, and so Delphick and Bob Ranger become involved. They decide to hide Trish incognito with the Colvedens but Nigel tells Miss S, not appreciating she is with reporter Mel.
As a little detour we hear William Parsons sad story. He had been an upright building society manager, but unthinkingly "borrowed" £500 to pay for an abortion for his anguished daughter. He made no attempt to hide the fact, the loss was discovered in a couple of hours, and he was arrested. His daughter attempted a DIY abortion, and died in agony. Justice Wilfred Thumper was a merciless man, who handed out maximum sentences. Worst of all though, he told Parsons that his daughter's death was a judgement of God. Parsons swore revenge.
And so the story takes off. Three groups of people converge unconvincingly on Plummergen church one dark night - Miss S. on flower duty, the thieves, and Scoop and Mel, on their way to visit the vicar. Nigel dances attendence on Trish, and runs her to a tournament in Hastings every day - pretending not to see the following police escort as supposedly Trish does not know of any threats. She is grateful to Nigel, thinks he is sweet, and gives him a casual kiss on the cheek - but when she is kidnapped and he rushes to her rescue, he is her knight in shining armour, and we have the start of a romance. It's cosy crime, and it all ends well.
All in all, quite a good Miss S. revival, and she does still create confusion and humour - but it doesn't quite have the same degree of silliness as the Heron Carvic's originals. It will be interesting to see how Sarah Mason fares - with 16 books she must have been reasonably successful. I wonder too why Hampton Charles had three books published in the same year (1990) and then no more ?
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I read this book in September, 2022.
I quite liked the original Miss Seeton books by Heron Carvic, and thought Advantage Miss Seeton by Roy Martin writing as Hampton Charles not quite so good, but OK. I was surprised that he only wrote three books. This now is the first book by yet another new author, Sarah Mason, writing as Hamilton Crane, and sadly I thought it was worse than rather poor. And yet she went on to write and sell at least 16 books in the series. Either I am missing something, or things look up in later outings. Perhaps I will give Sarah Mason another trial, but later on.
The setting and the characters are as before, and to be fair to the author, this has been done well. It's 1972, and we are back in Plummergen in Kent, near Brettenden (where the residents do their big shopping), near Ashford. Miss Seeton resides in Sweetbriars Cottage looked after by housekeeper Martha Bloomer, whose husband Stan also does the gardening. Sir George Coveden, his wife Lady Meg, and their son Nigel are local aristocracy, Arthur Treeves is the incredibly stupid, absent minded vicar, and Mr Stillman, runs the post office / general stores where everyone meets to gossip. The main gossips of course are Miss Erica Nuttell, and Mrs Norah (Bunty) Blaine - together known as the Nutts. They live in Lilikot cottage, and blame Miss Seeton for all that is wrong with the world. The police are Constable Potter, local bobby, Super. Brinton from Ashford, and Chief Super Delphick (the Oracle) and his giant sergeant Bob Ranger (6ft 7 inches) from Scotland Yard. Bob is married to Ann Knight, daughter of the local doctor. A new couple Dennis and Betsy Manuden have moved into the old Dawkins "Ararat" cottage next to the Nutts. They will play a prominent role in this story. Apparently old Albie Dawkins was a religious fanatic who use to beat his daughter Susannah if she dared to wear lipstick. Did she run away to escape the beatings, or, as per local rumour, is she buried in the old war time shelter in the Ararat cottage garden ? Incredibly, Dennis Manuden is running a raffle in aid of church funds with the first prize the honour of opening the war time shelter.
There are two main plots. The Sherry Gang appear to comprise a young woman, a middle aged woman, and an inbetween aged man. One of the women finds an old dear struggling in the street with a heavy parcel, or in need of similar help, offers assistance, takes them back home, gets invited in for tea, and offers a drink of sherry in return. The sherry is drugged, the old dear falls asleep, and the gang rob the house and escape. One of the victims, RSM Brent, dies, and so Delphick and Ranger are called in. The other plot concerns the 3 manned Turpin gang who stop a coach with two blocking cars, produce shotguns, pillage the passengers, and escape. Somehow they seem to know which coaches are worth stopping. Without any real clues, Delphick calls in Miss Seeton to speak to one of the sherry gang victims, but all she sketches seems to be a recreation of her earlier conversation with Bob Ranger - i.e. a pirate scene. Similarly clueless, Super Brinton also gets Miss S. to do a sketch, but its a wierd war time sketch of ARP wardens and he complains to Delphick that his Miss S is senile. All together Miss Seeton does 3 sketches - and when shown them lined up together she announces they seem to be the same sketch. Are the Sherry Gang and the Turpins connected ? And, as I usually say, "and so, the story unfolds".
Why didn't I like to book ? There are lots of words, but not much action. The author spends a lot of time describing Miss S's reputation for causing mayhem, rather than letting her loose to cause mayhem. The book was amusing rather than funny. The local gossip was way over the top, tall story invention and quite unbelievable. And Rev Treeves was never so stupid in previous books. Twice his sister explains that there is a silly rumour that Miss S is an inposter, and she wants him to visit Miss S and then she can debunk the rumour. But Treeves thinks it's his sister who is claiming that Miss S is an imposter. It's meant to be gently silly, but not to such an extent. I thought a terrific ending was being built but any climax just fizzled out. Such a disappointment.
Maybe I will give this series a second chance, but not for some time.
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I read this book in February, 2023.
This is book 10 in the Miss Seeton series - this time by Sarah Mason writing as Hamilton Crane. It's not my favourite series, but I fancied a bit of alternative "cosy crime" after reading two heavy "tartan noir" books. This is Sarah Mason's second book. I thought it was better than her first, but not as good as the early Heron Carvic stories. Apparently the series sells well in America, so I guess it's all just personal taste.
Let's set the scene, and reintroduce the main characters. Miss Seeton is a retired art teacher who now lives in SweetBriars Cottage in the village of Plummergen (pop c 500) in Kent. Miss S. has psychic talents, of which she is blissfully unaware, but these are displayed when she does one of her cartoon drawings. The nearest towns are Brettenden and Ashford, and the the nearest village is Murreystone (pop c 350). One of the plots in this story concerns the Best Kept Village Competition and the Plummergen / Murreystone rivalry. There are lots of policemen in the series. D. Chief Super Delphick (the Oracle) and his very tall sergent Bob Ranger (married to Ann, Dr Knight's daughter) are called in from Scotland Yard to help with the Miss Seeton cases. D Super Brinton and DC Loxon are from Ashford. In this story Loxon is swapped for DC Arbuthnot from Hastings. A new face is required to infiltrate the local Choppers gang, blamed for a spate of local acts of vandalism. DC Potter is the village constable. Martha Bloomer bakes and housekeeps for Miss S, and Martha's husband Stan tends her garden. Mrs Norah Blane (Bunny) and Miss Erica Nuttall - known as the Nuts - are great gossips. Mr Stillman runs the post office / general store, and Jack Crabbe the local garage which runs a twice weekly bus service to Brettenden. Dr Knight runs a private nursing home just outside the village, and near this is the secluded Miss Venning's private house surrounded by a high brick wall. Apparently Miss Venning is in Swuitzerland, and the house is currently occupied by a mystery Russian woman and her servant Mr Alexander. He walks in the village with two large Borzoi dogs (Russian wolfhounds), Boris and Sasha, which terrify the Nuts. The village church is under the care of Rev Arthur Treeves. Mr Jessym is in charge at the village school. Lady Meg and Sir George Colveden live in Rythan Hall with their son Nigel. Sir George's opposite number in Murreystone is squire Mr Norman Thaxsted, apparently a successsful businessman and night Club Owner but he is not all he seems. The Plummergen village pub is the George and Dragon which also has guest bedrooms. Mel Forby, ace reporter of the Daily Negative is also back in town.
There are various plots, the main ones being the Best Kept Village Competition, and the arson story. The book opens with D Super Brinton trying to tackle a spate of vandalism by getting DC Arbuthnot to infiltrate the Choppers gang. Lady Colveden is on the Plummergen Best Kept Village Competition committee, and she comes up with a bright idea to show Plummergen at its best. She will get Sir George to take a series of photographs of the village, the committee will suggest a list of possible improvements (new awnings, new fences, etc) and Miss S will do a set of drawings redepicting the photos but incorporating the improvements. These are eventually displayed in the village hall in a "Before / After" exhibition. However the Miss S drawing of the post office cannot be used without editing - it shows smoke billowing to the side. This links with the arson story - the petty acts of vandalism had worsened into a series of arson attacks. Delphick and Bob Ranger had been called in and are lodging at the George and Dragon where Mel Forby is also lodging. A fourth guest is a stranger in the village, Miss Ursula Hawke. She has strong opinions on everything and is not slow in expressing them. In particular she falls out with the village mole catcher, the disreputable Jacob Hickney. Finally Miss S has agreed to cover a staff vacancy at the village school and work as a temporary supply teacher.
The arson attacks spread - hay stacks, the Brettendon school, a sports pavillion, and two shops in Ashford are all burned to the ground. Arbuthnot no longer thinks it's the Chopper gang, and suggests they call in Miss S. Finally a corpse is found in the charred remains of Norman Thaxsted's "Half Seas Over" nightclub. Dental records identify the victim as a Notley Black, a London villain known to Delphick. Financial checks on the fire insurance claimants identify Thaxsted as not being who he says he is. Mel discovers Miss Hawke is missing - and of course it's Miss S, taking a class outing to Ashford Forrest, who finds her dead body hidden in the undergrowth.
As Miss S tells all to Delphick, Bob Ranger, and Brinton, Delphick notices that her hands have started to twitch. He gets her a sketch pad and leaves her to do another drawing. In all, Miss S has done three psychic drawings. The first was the Post Office and neighbouring fire, the second, concerning the arson attacks, was a night club scene, and the third, after finding Miss Hawkes' body, was a "Wind in the Willows" scene. Miss S's drawings make perfect sense after the murders are solved, but need interpretation before. Mel has always respected Miss S's privacy in her scoop reporting, and so is mostly trusted by the police to provide help. She links the "Wind in the Willows" clue to Mole, looking worried, and so to the village mole catcher with whom Miss Hawke had argued. Jacob Checkney is taken in for questioning and wilts under Delphick interrogation.
Although it's the Best Kept Village Competition ill fortune had struck Plummergen. There are brown patches on village lawns, flowers are wilting, mole hills are everywhere and garden furnishings are being stolen. Sir George sets up volunteer Village Watch patrols. The arsonist has met Miss S and is sure she is on to him. The arsonist will need to "take care" of Miss S. And so an exciting climax has been set up involving fire, the fire brigade, the police, the Village Watch, the arsonist, and four men in a car with no lighs on. Read the story yourselves to find out more.
Although I'm not a fan, to be fair to the author, it's a good enough "cosy crime" story.
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I read this book in April, 2023.
This is the fourth book in the Miss Seeton series written by Sarah Mason. I thought she had finally cracked it as she makes a great start and goes straight into typical Miss S. mayhem. But then the book goes off the boil with little Miss S. activity. Finally Sarah almost recovers it at the end, but not quite.
The plot concern three crimes - the thieving "Tomato Ketchup" gang in London, Delphick's drugs mystery - how are they getting into the country and how is the money being laundered - and thirdly a rogue family, the Standons, exiting hotels without paying. But first, let's reintroduce the main characters.
We are back with Miss Emily Seeton, retired art teacher, who lives at Sweetbriars Cottage in Plummergen, in Kent. Martha Bloomer looks after Miss S, while her husband Stan does the garden. Mr Stillerman is at the post office, Jack Crabbe runs the bus service, Dan Eggleton is the blacksmith, Arthur Treeves is the vicar, Molly his sensible sister, and Charley Mountfitchet runs the George and Dragon. Sir George and Lady Colveden live at Rytham Hall with son Nigel. Local gossips are the Nuts - Emile Nuttall and Mrs Norah Blaine. The police are PC Potter, the local bobby, D. Super Brinton at Ashford, and D. Chief Super Delphick (the Oracle) and his giant assistant DS Bob Ranger at Scotland Yard. Sir Hubert Everleigh is asssistant Commissioner. Bob is married to local girl Anne Knight, daughter of Dr Knight.
The book opens with a bang, straight into the Tomato Ketchup Gang story. Miss S. has been working as a temporary supply teacher, and to celebrate end of term she treats herself to a trip to London to see the art galleries. She has to shelter from a thunder storm in an art gallery - the Van Meegeren, and this gallery will reappear later in the story. Emerging from there, she is amazed to see a man being stabbed before her very eyes - there is a big pool of blood on his back - and she rushes to help. A young man is also "helping". Miss S. causes havoc with her umbrella, and the young man retires injured. The "stabbed" man says he doesn't need any help - the blood is tomato ketchup, and the young man has made off with his wallet. The victim is convinced the mayhem causing Miss S. is part of the gang, does a citizen's arrest, and marches Miss S. to the nearest police station, where there is elation that one of the Tomato Ketchup Gang has been caught at last, and who would have thought it would be an old lady ? Interviewed by WPC Ware, Miss S. says she usually deals with D. Chief Super Delphick, and Ware thinks firstly that Miss S. is very important, and then from Miss S's ramblings, thinks Delphick is involved with the gang, police corruption ! Delphick and Bob are about to go off for lunch, and are annoyed to be disturbed by a phone call, but splutter down the phone when they finally mention an old lady with an umbrella. Bob is despatched to explain - it's the Oracle's famous source Miss S. She didn't realise she had been under arrest and was full of praise for the kind police giving her a lift to see Delphick when she was quite prepared to walk. I should add that Van Meegeren was a famous Dutch forger working in the inter-war years, and the Van Meegeren Gallery sells copies of the great masters. Much later in the story one of the famous Miss S. sketches is in the style of Van Meegeren. What was she trying to say ?
Miss S is unable to do a sketch of the young man "helper" / thief, and goes off home - but she does manage at the end of the book, and returns to London to give it to Delphick.
The drugs story starts gently - the Oracle and Bob are puzzled by a new suppply of cocaine on the streets. How is it getting into the country, and how is the money being laundered ? There are two strangers in Plummergen, staying at the George and Dragon. They are Dickie Nash and beautiful, charismatic Juliana Popjay. Miss S. knows them from a cruise they were all on together, and invites them to tea. Sir George and Lady Coveden were on the same cruise, and later also invite them to dine at Rytham Hall - where Nigel is captivated by Juliana. They are trying to contact an old friend Mentley Collier with a business proposition. Eventually they do find him - he is a wierd, long haired, hippie / perhaps druggie. He is an artist, and they want him to do copies of the old masters - legally labelled e.g. "after Constable ". He says he will think about it. Later in the story, Brinton also has a drug crime to solve - who murdered a drug pedlar by the name of Secombe.
Also staying at the George and Dragon are the family from hell - the Standons, with wild, out of control children. Dickie Nash gets very drunk at Rytham Hall, walks back to the pub in a thunderstorm, gets cold and shivery, and turns his bedroom into a Turkish Bath in an attempt to get warm. In the morning, the bedroom wallpaper has stripped from the wall - Juliana is furious at Dickie, and notwithstanding his hangover, insists he confesses straight away to the landlord Charley Mountfitchet. Whilst he is doing this, the Standons sneak off without paying their bill. Charley thinks Dickie is in on the scam, distracting him with tales of peeling wallpaper. He phones PC Potter. Miss S. can vouch for Dickie and Juliana. Potter takes everyone to Ashford. Standing orders are that anything to do with Miss S. has to be referred directly to Super Brinton. Miss S. does two excellent sketches of the Standon family. Brinton has watched the Oracle handle Miss S, and so he coaxes a third drawing from Miss S - a psychic one this time. It's a wierd foreign looking drawing with 3 faces, wierd shapes, and lots of birds. The Oracle and Bob are sent for to interpret. Two of the faces are those of Dickie and Julianna - but who is the third ? We are back to the drugs story and the third face is Mentley.
Miss S. had rescued a winded pigeon and phoned Wounded Wings Charity for advice. Babs Onger collects the bird and tells Miss S. about homing pigeons/ carrier pigeons. All of this gets muddled in with one of Miss S's explanations to Delphick, and somehow this puts him on to the use of carrier pigeons to get drugs into the country.
Owen Barkway had recently come into to local fame when he flew into a temper and shot his neighbour's cat. Delphick is interested - had the cat cut off Barkway's drug supply ?
Bob and the Oracle go to visit Mentley - he is not there - then visit Barkway. Mently is there, and they both try to run for it, but have no hope versus 6ft 7 inches Bob Ranger. Mentley will soon be broken and confess, Barkway refuses to speak without his lawyer being there - the famous criminals lawyer Proctor.
And so the climax is set up. Miss S remembers what the Tomato Ketchup young man looks like, does a sketch, and goes to London to deliver it to Delphick. He and Bob are about to raid the Van Meegeren Gallery, suspected of money laundering, when they see Miss S, struggling in a taxi, and think she is being kidnapped. She had actually seen the young Tomato Ketchup man board a No 19 bus, jumped into a taxi, and told the cabbie to "follow that bus".
Read the book to see what happens next. Amazingly too the Standons are caught by the end of the book . Miss S has had a successful visit to London. The ending, however, is told as a telephone conversation between Delphick and Brinton. I would much rather we experience it live. It's as if the author ran out of space or steam.
But overall, I thought this book a better outing than the previous I read. Credit where credit is due.
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