The Killings at Badger’s Drift

The Killings at Badger’s Drift (1987) Caroline Graham

This is actually the first Inspector Barnaby mystery. How annoying when publishers only have part of a writer’s catalog and one is deluded into thinking you’ve read the first book in a series, only to discover you were terrible wrong.

So this is the book where we first meet Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby. And we also first meet Sargent Troy. And of course the characters involved in the murder and mystery. Emily Simpson accidentally sees an assignation in the woods, and the next day is discovered dead in her home. Because of her age, the death was immediately determined to be natural causes, but her best friend, Lucy Bellringer, doesn’t accept that verdict, and insists that her death was in fact unnatural, and that someone should look into it.

As the mystery unfolds, secrets are uncovered and various individuals of Badger’s Drift look good for the murder. And of course other deaths are discovered, which may or may not have been accidental.

This story certainly twists and turns, leading you first in one direction, then in another. At first I was sure I knew who the murderer was, then I changed my mind, then I discovered that I really had no clue at all. Not that it all wasn’t there from the beginning–I just never expected things to turn out the way they did.

Interestingly, Troy is slightly less annoying in this story than he is in later stories, but he also plays a smaller part–his character is not as developed as Barnaby’s, and we haven’t yet discovered that he has plenty of strengths and weaknesses–some more offensive than others.

The version I read, published by Felony & Mayhem, is a British publication, which means that single quotes are used instead of the double quotes. Didn’t affect the reading at all, but it was interesting. The book is also full of British foods and stores and places and streets, some of which were not obvious to this American reader off the bat, but that was, for me, part of the fun of the story.

I still don’t see the “best detective writer since Agatha Christie,” I mean, she’s good, but as much as I like Inspector Barnaby (and I like him quite a lot) he still lacks that ineffable quality that drew me to Miss Marple, and keeps me re-reading those books years later.

Despite not quite being Agatha Christie, any fan of British mysteries (and these are most definitely British) should enjoy wending their way through this story.
Rating: 7/10

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