Untimely Death (Francis Pettigrew, #5) by Cyril Hare

Untimely Death (Francis Pettigrew, #5) Reviews

• 
  Squeak2017

  I’m not sure why the publisher changed the title of this novel. The original was clever, literary and appropriate to the plot.
  
  The novel is more a legal drama than a detective novel with a long courtroom scene which is presented with humour and panache. The author drew on his personal experience at the Bar to make the details authentic.
  
  The two amateur detectives finally work out what happened by thinking of who stood to gain by the victim’s death, though the adroitly managed final twist still succeeded in being unexpected.
  
  Hare writes well not just about the workings of the legal system but also about the way a married couple negotiate their relationship. There are many references to how each has their foibles which are known and accommodated by the other. The hunting episode is particularly well done, showing the gulf between the married couple in their opinion about hunting and those who hunt. But far and away the best scene in the book was the elderly portly gentleman who decided to mount a hard mouthed but spirited pony who proceeded to bolt with him downhill. Surely a scene transposed from life?!
  
• 
  Lady Wesley

  Review of the audiobook narrated by Chris MacDonnell
  
  3.5 stars
  This book was published in 1958, well after the real "Golden Age of Mystery," but apart from a few mundane details it could just as easily have been set in 1938. It is a skillfully crafted good, old-fashioned murder mystery. I recommend it to all Golden Age fans.
• 
  Polly

  Good, old-fashioned mystery with a certain amount of creepiness thrown in. Upon revisiting a place he stayed in his youth, Francis Pettigrew, our protagonist, remembers one day stumbling on the body of a man while walking in the woods. When Pettigrew (now an older man) walks in the same woods, hoping to chase away the terror of his childhood memory, he stumbles on a whole new mystery!
• 
  Puzzle Doctor

  Perfectly fine but unexceptional Mystery. Full review at classicmystery.blog
• 
  David Evans

  Quite satisfying, amusing late Golden Age detection.
  Frank Pettigrew, walking on Exmoor with his wife among the stag hunters, captures a riderless pony which bolts off with him aboard after it is startled by the dead body of a man, briefly seen by the rider. This relives an identical childhood incident and Frank half believes he has precognition. Along with the locally retired Mallet he unpicks the complications of the local Gorman family and the usual problems that families face when money and the outcome of a will is critical.
• 
  K.

  Loved the Frank Pettigrew / Inspector Mallet series & this one was the best of them. All the others were available cheaply on Kindle, but this one wasn't & I had to buy on eBay. Glad I did. Delightful mystery.
• 
  Andrea

  The writing was great, the story interesting, the twist somewhat foreseeable - but what I simply cannot forgive is that one dead body was left unresolved. How can the cover blurb highlight the mindboggling coincidence of two dead bodies in the same location, but 50 plus years apart, and then completely ignore the cold case!? Apparently they are unconnected, so then why tease us and mislead us? I would have given this one 2 stars due to disappointment, but it was otherwise an enjoyable read.
• 
  Lisa Kucharski

  A novella length mystery, which is a nice length. It starts with a vacation, then a dead body, then a missing dead body, which shows up again elsewhere. There is an inquest and then, we jump forward in time. There are several jumps in time. It shows Pettigrew having his emotions get the better of him, though about mid-point his mind starts to click again and the detecting on his part takes off.
  
  An interesting mystery, that features English entails of property, and hunting. Would say its mood was dreamlike at times.
• 
  Claudia

  A nice, smart traditional mystery, with some well-placed red herrings and very interesting characters. I'm really curious now and probably will go back to the rest of the books in the series.
  
  Chris MacDonnell's narration is excellent.
• 
  John

  Classic low-key British murder mystery with a Sherlock Holmes reference and a nice twist at the end.
• 
  Jan

  Another enjoyable read from Cyril Hare.
  
  He has a lovely writing style, somewhat old fashioned but still beautifully expressed.
  
  A good story line with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader interested but the solution came out in the end and without any daft twists!
• 
  James S.

  A rather light entry from Cyril Hare, overjocular and not terribly interesting. I got halfway and didn't feel like finishing it.
• 
  Jerry

  Cute, quirky characters. The story was a bit long when it came to the will and lineage. I found myself skimming that part to hurry up and get done.
• 
  Janet

  I like Cyril Hare.
• 
  Nancy Thormann

  I've got one more Cyril Hare book left to read. I'll miss Francis Pettigrew and Inspector Mallet. I wish Cyril Hare would have written more of these books.
• 
  Emily

  I enjoyed this short, easy to read, murder mystery.
• 
  Patricia

  Hare writes with the wonderfully wry and allusion-spiced style of the best golden age mysteries, but the plot trudged along for the last 90 pages.
• 
  Roman Clodia

  Poor Francis Pettigrew gets dragged into another murder, this one that has strange links back to a past holiday he took as a boy. We get more of the charming Pettigrew marriage as well as an older Inspector Mallett who is living locally. It takes quite some time before the story gets going and the solution seems absurdly obvious - I think I prefer the Pettigrew books set against a more clearly defined background.
• 
  MasterGamgee

  Good story from an old-timer author who I've never read before. I enjoyed the characters, setting and storyline. However, I was confused (still am) about the inheritance stuff behind some of the crime. It was explained by the author, but I still didn't get it.
  
  Anyway, will look for more of these books as I found the leisurely pace and descriptive details refreshing.
• 
  Dave Goody

  Not the normal sort of book I read, but very enjoyable. Written in the style of the time, with a very clever story, well presented. Very nicely written, I wanted to know how the story concluded and it did so in a believable manner. Finished in about 3 hours, so excellent to fill a gap. Highly recommended.