The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries

Imagine that the great Sherlock Holmes were a bumbling buffoon — an investigator so incompetent that, despite 20 years’ experience, he were incapable of conducting even the simplest interrogation of witnesses and needs reminding to search the murder scene. What you’d have is Inspector Gerald Witherspoon.

Now imagine that Holmes’ housekeeper Mrs. Hudson were the widow of a distinguished policeman and, having a quick mind, had absorbed the minutia of detective work and could advise her boss. You would have Witherspoon’s housekeeper, the intrepid Mrs. Jeffries.

Now this upside-down scenario could have worked as a sly send-up of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s master work, but author Emily Brightwell tries to play it straight, and the show more novel just becomes silly and predictable. show less

I'm not sure I'd have liked in print this Victorian-set cozy mystery about a housekeeper who slyly helps her Inspector employer solve his mysteries (so. many. bad dialogue tags--I don't think I could have successfully turned off my editor brain), but I enjoyed the audio a great deal. It was fun, light, had a reasonably meaty mystery, and was elevated nicely by Lindy Nettleton's performance.

There are a whopping 34 books in the Mrs. Jeffries Mystery series. 34! But, I can say with no reservations, that book #1 was delightful! If all of the stories in this series are such fun reads, then I can see how the stack of published Mrs. Jeffries novels has grown to 34 books!

The plot in a nutshell: Mrs. Jeffries is the housekeeper for Inspector Gerald Witherspoon. Witherspoon received a promotion after helping solve a rash of horrible murders. He used to be a records clerk for Scotland Yard, but now is an inspector who investigates and solves major crimes. Behind the scenes, Witherspoon is assisted by his staff of servants, headed by Mrs. Jeffries. The assistance with his cases is done in secret, of course, because they don't want to show more hurt Witherspoon's feelings. But, he can be absent minded at times and most of the time his investigations just need a nudge in the right direction. While he isn't the best investigator, Witherspoon is a very kind and generous employer. So his servants don't mind sneaking about to help him solve complicated cases. In the end, he believes he solved the cases himself, and his staff knows that they helped him maintain his reputation as one of the greatest investigators at Scotland Yard.

This book was a short, fun, read. A real Victorian cozy mystery romp. It had humor, suspense and just the right peppering of villainy. It didn't get bogged down in explaining past history of the characters, but gave enough information during progression of the plot to bring readers up to speed. That kept the pacing of the mystery going, without slowing down to explain minutiae that had nothing to do with the present story. The book is not complex, but a quick, simple afternoon read. As a cozy mystery lover, this book really hit the spot for me.

I don't know if I will be able to find the other 33 books in the series, but I'm certainly going to read a great number of them! This book was well-written and witty. Mrs. Jeffries and the other servants in the house are likable characters, and readers will find themselves loving the bumbling Witherspoon just as much as they do.

My rating: 8/10
Ages: 10 show less

Mrs. Hepzibah Jeffries is the widow of a Yorkshire policeman who has moved to London and taken a job as housekeeper for Inspector Gerald Witherspoon of Scotland Yard. The Inspector had until recently spent most of his career in records for the police, but now he is a full-fledged inspector, currently working on the murder of Dr. Bartholomew Slocum who appears to have been poisoned. Unfortunately, the Inspector is, shall we say, not terribly bright; but no fear, he has the intelligent, curious and very adept Mrs. Jeffries to help him out, although he himself is not aware of that because she is very discreet indeed. But who among the many suspects had actually done the deed? Even Mrs. Jeffries is stumped - for a while, anyway…. This is show more the first book in a long-running cozy series set in Victorian London, and is a fun quick read (I finished it in a couple of hours). Yes, the Inspector is a bit of a caricature, at least in this first novel, but his detective shortcomings are made up for by his good-heartedness, and Mrs. Jeffries is one of those female characters who through sheer curiosity and force of will is able to deduce the most convoluted situations. I ran across the series accidentally and decided to give it a try; I’m glad I did, as there are a *lot* (41 as of this writing) of them and they will be fun to read throughout the summer; recommended. show less

This was an enjoyable and different 'light' read. Inspector Witherspoon of Scotland Yard is quite a different detective, he doesn't like the sight of dead bodies and hopes they won't make him be sick or pass out, he doesn't like asking personal questions of witnesses and suspects and doesn't like it when he can't solve clues. Thankfully the hapless detective is helped in solving his murders by his house keeper, Mrs Jeffries, and his household of servants - although she does this without him knowing she is doing it. This is quite a unique selling point and makes the book feel fresh and different.

I look forward to becoming reacquainted with this series and hope it keeps up this quirky nature.

Mrs Jeffries both entertained and annoyed. Yes, many clever women would have to hide behind men and possibly manipulate the men to use the intelligence and information that they had but sometimes she was too overt about it.

Mrs Jeffries is the housekeeper for Inspector Witherspoon who is helped in his investigations by her, sometimes almost too well, his co-worker Nivens is suspicious of her and wants to catch her out. Sometimes she's almost too clever and sometimes Witherspoon is too stupid, but I still enjoyed the read.

It wasn't bad and I do want to read more in this series but somehow it left me wanting more

Mrs. Jeffries loved helping her husband solve crimes. Now she is widowed and working as a housekeeper. Her new employer, Gerald Witherspoon, has recently been promoted to Police Inspector. Unfortunately, he is not very good at crime solving.

However, he’s a very kind man and his entire staff under Mrs. Jeffries’ directions are willing to step in and help him out. The challenge is to do this without letting him know.

In this first volume of this Victorian era series, a doctor has been poisoned. It seems to be an open and shut case, as a few deadly mushrooms are found in his soup bowl.

But Mrs. Jeffries believes there is more to the crime than this. Under her direction, the other servants roll into action, sleuthing out the truth.

For show more me, the first in the series is often a bit underwhelming, especially when, as in this case, there are quite a few characters to be established. It’s a good romp, although I wish there was a bit more story in this character driven mystery. Since my copy is an omnibus of the first three in the series, I’ll continue onward. show less