Tom Brown's Body

I enjoy Gladys Mitchell's series about Mrs. Bradley, but not for the mysteries, which tend to be inconsequential or really far-fetched. It's the humor and Mitchell's sharp social commentary that make these old-fashioned stories fun to read.

This book, however, was nearly impossible to comprehend completely, let alone to enjoy. The beginning is chaotic; the book is full of obscure English schoolboy slang, circa 1949; and the actual plot line is buried beneath a fog of distractions. The occasional flashes of wit didn't make up for the awful struggle to understand what on earth is going on.

Skip this entry in the long series--you won't be missing a thing.

Another mystery for Mrs Bradley to solve. This one involves the murder of a junior master at a boy's school. Mr Conway was unpopular with both boys and teachers alike, for a variety of reasons. A lot of fun, with some sharp social observation. It was first published in 1949, which has some bearing on one of the minor plot threads. One of the boys is Jewish, and subject to anti-Semitic bullying. He does engage in some stereotypical behaviour, but Mitchell, through her lead character, observes that the behaviour is in response to the bullying and not the other way around. I get the impression from this and other books that Mitchell had a low opinion of racists.

Really quite enjoyed this, plot is fantastical as ever but the interactions between the boys and the masters are a delight and very funny.

This was first published in 1949 and is bizarre. It is a crime story set in a public school; it is therefore full of public school jargon and silly things about Houses and Housemasters. Who killed Conway? I'll tell you - it was Mr Pearson. All the stuff about witchcraft is padding.

I like many of Mitchell's books but I really couldn't get into this one.