Jennings Follows a Clue

I used to read the Jennings and Darbishire books when I was a little lad back in the early 1970s. I was delighted to get hold of a copy of Jennings Follows a Clue but opened it with trepidation. So many of these old books have not stood the test of time and are let down by 1950s anachronisms and attitudes that we don't approve of any more. Would Jennings be the same?

No! It has survived the passage of years and I polished it off in the space of an afternoon. I remember this story and specific scenes really clearly, despite the passage of nearly half a century. The story is innocent and charming and the characters are fun. Even the prep school language 'ozard oik', 'supersonic', 'spinning' fails to annoy. I'm really glad I found this and show more invested some time in a lovely trip down Memory Lane. show less

In book 2 of the series, Jennings gets impressed by a Sherlock Holmes story and decides that he, too, will be a great detective, with the assistance of his hapless sidekick Darbishire. The plot, although still a bit episodic, is more cohesive than the first book, since it's all organized around this idea.

I found it as good as the first book. I'm not much for laughing aloud when reading, but I was chuckling several times with this book. There's something really appealing about Jennings' eager, well-intentioned attitude and fancies of imagination, and the chaos he causes is always entertaining. Darbishire is great too, struggling to keep up with his adventurous friend and always ready to quote a piece of wisdom from his show more father.

Delightlfull read. show less

What a delight! Full of laughs and surprises. I'm thrilled to find this new (to me) author. I found a short article where several authors shared the books they loved from childhood. I'm sad that I can't remember which author it was that mentioned the Jennings books in the same paragraph as the William stories by Crompton and Enid Blyton's work. I have loved Crompton and Blyton but was unfamiliar with Buckeridge and went at once to fill the gap in my education. Boy, am I glad I did! I'll be searching out the others in this fabulous series.