{"id":468,"date":"2007-10-27T21:27:49","date_gmt":"2007-10-28T04:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/468"},"modified":"2024-03-21T15:03:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T19:03:44","slug":"the-killings-at-badgers-drift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/468","title":{"rendered":"The Killings at Badger’s Drift"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Killings at Badger’s Drift<\/em> (1987) Caroline Graham<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30,33,8,291,42],"tags":[730,61,62],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-paper","category-police","tag-1980s","tag-caroline-graham","tag-chief-inspector-barnaby"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-7y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10023,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10023","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":0},"title":"The Killings at Badger’s Drift","author":"Michelle","date":"March 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Killings at Badger's Drift (1987) Caroline Graham Miss Emily Simpson was found dead in her home. An elderly woman, her death didn't seem suspicious, but her best friend, Miss Lucy Bellringer insists that something was wrong and the death should be investigated. I had very very vague memories of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Killing-Badgers-Drift.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13919,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13919","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":1},"title":"The Killings at Badger’s Drift","author":"Michelle","date":"February 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Killings at Badger's Drift (1987) Caroline Graham (Chief Inspector Barnaby) I'd initially forgotten just how messed up this story is. Then once we were introduced to all the characters, I clearly remembered who did the murdering and why. The opening is actually sweet. An 80-year-old woman and her best\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Killings at Badgers Drift","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/The-Killings-at-Badgers-Drift.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":470,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/470","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":2},"title":"A Ghost in the Machine","author":"Michelle","date":"October 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A Ghost in the Machine (2004) Caroline Graham Ghost in the Machine may be my least favorite Inspector Barnaby mystery so far, because it takes us forever to actually get to Inspector Barnaby, and even once he becomes involved, we still spend a great deal of time with the characters\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":460,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/460","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":3},"title":"Faithful Unto Death","author":"Michelle","date":"October 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Faithful Unto Death (1996) Caroline Graham I picked up a later book in this series somewhere, and being the way I am, decided to go back and start at the beginning of the series. Too bad for me. This isn't the first book in the series, it's simply the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":466,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/466","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":4},"title":"A Place of Safety","author":"Michelle","date":"October 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A Place of Safety (1999) Caroline Graham I only meant to read a couple of chapters of A Place of Safety. Unfortunately, an interesting combined with difficulty getting to sleep after an afternoon nap meant that I read the entire book yesterday evening. A man witnesses what appears to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18431,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18431","url_meta":{"origin":468,"position":5},"title":"Death of a Hollow Man","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Death of a Hollow Man (1989) Caroline Graham (Chief Inspector Barnaby) Inspector Barnaby's wife belongs to the local theater group, so we start during the early rehearsals, and interestingly (for a police procedural) the murder doesn't happen until opening night (about 40% into the book). So not only do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Death of a Hollow Man","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/deathhollowman.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}