A Blunt Instrument

A Blunt Instrument (1938) Georgette Heyer (Inspector Hannasyde #4)

Set in London in 1938

A stern glance was directed towards him. ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain,’ said Glass deeply. This admonishment was more comprehensible to Simmons, who was a member of the same sect as PC Glass, than to the official at the Telephone Exchange, who took it in bad part.

‘That’s why I told Neville. I thought he might be able to do something.’

‘Neville?’ said Miss Drew, in accents of withering contempt. ‘You might as well have applied to a village idiot!’

‘I know, but there wasn’t anyone else. And he is clever, in spite of being so hopeless.’

‘As judged by village standards?’ inquired Neville, mildly interested.

Sally, who had been rhythmically swinging her monocle on the end of its cord, suddenly screwed it into her eye.

‘Look here, what the devil have you been up to?’ demanded the Sergeant.

Glass fixed him with a sombre glare. ‘Mine eyes have beheld lewdness, and a Babylonish woman!’ he announced.

‘Where?’ asked the Sergeant, suddenly interested.

‘In a glittering house of corruption I have seen these things. I have escaped from an horrible pit.’
…
‘What?’ exclaimed the Sergeant. ‘Here, where was the poor fellow?’

‘In a playhouse, which is an habitation of the devil.’

‘Do you mean to tell me all this song and dance is because the postman took his wife to the pictures in his off-time?’ gasped the Sergeant.

Characters: Mr Neville Fletcher, Miss Sally Drew, Mrs Helen North, Mr John North, Superintendent Hannasyde, Sergeant Hemingway, Inspector True, PC Malachi Glass, Inspector Jevons, Mr Joseph Simmons, Mrs Simmons, Ernest Fletcher, Miss Lucy Fletcher, Abraham Budd, Charlie Carpenter, Alfred Carpenter, Angela Angel

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Rating: 7.5/10

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