The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop

Gladys Mitchell's psychologist-detective Mrs. Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley has fallen into undeserved obscurity. I'm hoping that all of books penned by the woman once known as "the great Gladys" come back into print and are picked up by Audible.com.

Unlike the innocent-appearing Miss Marple or the erudite Roderick Alleyn, Mrs. Bradley is frequently described in saurian terms. She's yellow with age, curmudgeonly in disposition, and decidedly not a sweet old lady. However, her observations -- in addition to being spot on -- tend to be quite funny. In The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop, the rapacious Sir Rupert Sethleigh first goes missing. His body then turns up gruesomely butchered in the window of the local butcher's shop, and Mrs. show more Bradley decides to get to the bottom of things. That proves difficult as Sir Rupert's skull keeps turning up in all the wrong places. One suspect after the other keeps moving the skull to dispel suspicion from him- or herself, adding to the hilarity. I read the Audible.com version of the novel, and the reader, with her elderly voice, does full credit to the book.

To read one Gladys Mitchell book is to become hooked. However much I enjoyed this one, my favorite still remains The Saltmarsh Murders. But I've promised myself that I shall read all 66 of the Mrs. Bradley novels. show less

It takes a while to adjust to the style of the Mrs. Bradley series; certainly I find them unlike most of the other golden era offerings. The writing is superb, the settings range from melodramatic to classic (country house, quiet village etc.) but there are elements of gothic fiction not just in the plotting but in the characters. Mrs. Bradley is a grotesque if likeable figure. Her infuriating habit of explaining the crime away one way, only to renounce that explanation and explain it another way, coupled with her rather ungenerous habit of holding the cards too close to her chest for even the reader to see, can be irritating but the compensation of the witty, and atmospheric writing helps.

This book is one of the more standard, classic show more plots; a disappearance, a murder, a dollop of romance and lots of her trademark psychology. The characters are likeable and there's plenty of false leads, and suspicious characters. My only real quibble was the solution felt flat, slightly unsatisfying but it's well worth the read like most of the series. show less

The Mystery of a Butcher Shop by Gladys Mitchell is the second in her Mrs. Bradley series of mysteries. This book has been described as “superbly odd” and I heartily agree with that statement. Considering that this story included a dismembered body displayed in a butcher shop, at times it seemed like a comedy of errors as clues appeared and disappeared randomly, a number of suspects were continuously lying and covering up their movements for the strangest of reasons, and the police weren’t even sure of the identity of the headless corpse for most of the book. Thank heaven Mrs. Lestrange Bradley was on the case and was able to sort through the muddle.

With many twists and turns, the story slowly unfolds as to what happened in the show more Manor Woods that night and although it seemed like everyone in the village was in those woods at one time or another, Mrs. Bradley is able to assist the police to arrive at the most believable outcome.

Other than I felt this mystery moved a little slow, I enjoyed it. I know that in real life I would run a mile from a woman like Mrs. Bradley with her reptilian ways, leering smile and pushy nosiness, but I must admit on paper she has me most intrigued and I will certainly be continuing on with this mystery series. show less

Second of the long-running Mrs Bradley mystery series, and the first I've read. I bought a set of nine of the novels recently re-published by Vintage (Random House) because I adored the BBC adaptation starring Diana Rigg and Neil Dudgeon. Unsurprisingly, the books differ significantly from the tv series, but are equally enjoyable. And I think the tv adaptation is faithful to the tone of the novels; even if Diana Rigg is far too elegant and glamorous to be the physical Mrs Bradley of the books, she's got the personality right.

Mrs Bradley is elderly, wealthy, eccentric, and a talented and experienced psychologist who uses her skills to solve crimes. As other reviewers have noted, there's a distinct resemblance to what you'd get if you show more turned Miss Marple into a wealthy woman who has married and divorced three times, and divorced at least one of those husbands for being boring. The ones I've read so far are enormous fun.

The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop is fairly gruesome, in that the body of one Rupert Sethleigh is found neatly butchered and laid out as cuts of meat in the local butcher's shop. Sethleigh will not be missed by Wandle Parva, and there is a large and varied selection of people with motives to do away with him. Adding to the fun and games, many of those people have reason to protect each other, and their attempts to do so only confuse the issues. General silliness ensues as Mrs Bradley disentangles methods, motives and opportunity, frequently by deliberately poking the suspects to see what they will do. show less

Gladys Mitchell is a bit of a weirdo, I think ;-) Technically this is Golden Age era cosy mystery, but rather than a nice, quick poisoning, the victim is bludgeoned, decapitated, quartered, and hung to dry in a butcher's shop, which is a bit queasy-inducing even for my 21st century stomach.

They also feel a bit long—a bit too rambling, not quite neat. And I'm annoyed when characters interfere in the clean solving of a murder—I recently read a Craig Rice where the protagonists, children, did everything from hide fugitive witnesses to steal clues—and this book also features youngish characters mucking things up on purpose, it just annoys me.

And yet I read, and wonder about the solution, it's just all the while I wish it would go a show more little faster and be a tad less grisly. I'll read her again, though. Nothing wrong with a 3-star read, it's just I wish it were even better. 2-stars, now, you've let me down, that's different. But she's a good solid 3-star read, and after all, I've just about finished every Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham and am happy to find a prolific writer to ease the pain.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). show less

Very funny novel, but I think it would have worked better without a mystery since that was the weakest part by far (the resolution and the end in general is extremely abrupt and a sad disappointment). The writing is excellent - the author reproduces speech patterns and idiosyncracies which is a tad disconcerting at first and may be tiring after a while but it adds so much humour. The eccentric characters wouldn't be out of place in a P.G. Wodehouse book and the main character's really endearing. Again, my only problem was with the mystery which was convoluted to the point of being seriously confusing but I'm sticking with this author to see if she has some better stuff out there - the setting, characters and writing are all too good to show more dismiss. show less

Stop, James!" came in deep rich tones from the depths of the chair. "You are wearing grey flannel trousers!"
"Yes," agreed Jim, glancing down at them.
"If I had my way," said Mrs Bradley firmly, "grey flannel trousers should be taxed, together with dogs, automobiles, wireless receiving-sets, income, and the colour curiously termed beige."

I like Mitchell's character studies and her humour but her plotting and convoluted storytelling left me, yet again, puzzled beyond what I can put up with. I was lost by the half-way mark, and the red herrings and inconsequential discussions in the second half did nothing to salvage the mystery for me.

Not even the humour and obvious Christie-mockery could make up for it.
Shame.

*Edit* - I've changed my show more rating from 2 to 3 stars. I did enjoy the writing and the humor more than a 2-star rating would lead to believe. show less