Gently in Trees

Chief Superintendent Gently #21

by Alan Hunter

This was no suicide, however it looked - too many people wanted Adrian Stoll dead. From an embarrassment of suspects, Gently had a very tangled tale to unravel.

The unflappable Inspector George Gently has become a household name through the hit BBC TV series starring Martin Shaw. These are the original books on which the TV series was based, although the George Gently in Alan Hunter's whodunits is somewhat different to his TV counterpart. He is more calculating, more analytical, and his investigations are even more enthralling.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

239 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Alan Hunter was born at Hoveton, Norfolk and went to school across the River Bure in Wroxham. He left school at 14 and worked on his father's farm near Norwich. He enjoyed dinghy sailing on the Norfolk Broads, wrote natural history notes for the local newspaper, and wrote poetry, some of which was published while he was in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

He married, in 1944, Adelaide Cooper, who survives him with their daughter. After the war he managed the antiquarian books department of Charles Cubitt in Norwich. Four years later, in 1950, he established his own bookshop on Maddermarket in the city.

From 1955 until 1998 he published a Gently detective novel nearly every year. He retired to Brundall in Norfolk where he continued his interests in local history, natural history, and sailing

Reviews

[Alan (The Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gently and the Camper
Review of the Constable Kindle eBook edition (2011) of the Cassell hardcover original (1974).

Superintendent Gently is called in on a suspected suicide by film director Adrian Stoll who is found gassed in his caravette (a small mobile home) in a forest where he was filming a badger sett. It is soon determined to be murder though and the suspects are plentiful from the victim's worlds of cinema and family.

I found this one to be a bit tiresome with its dated hipster jargon esp. with Gently being regularly called the "fuzz." It all hearkened back to Gently Go Man (Gently #9 - 1961) with which this #21 in the series had a twisty connection. I jumped ahead from #11 to #21 in this reading as some of the interim books are more difficult to source (only 30 of the 46 are available on Kindle for instance).

I'm still continuing with the George Gently novels as my current 'light' reading next to more serious reads and/or my translation work. They are more along the cozy line in that way and I still try to imagine Martin Shaw from the TV series in the Gently role, even though the TV adaptation was quite different.


The dust cover of the original hardcover published by Cassell in 1974. Image sourced from Goodreads.

Trivia and Links
The George Gently books were adapted as the TV series Inspector George Gently (2008-2017) with actor Martin Shaw in the title role. Very few of the TV episodes are based on the original books though and the characters are quite different e.g. Sgt. Bacchus does not appear in the books. The timeline for the TV series takes place in the 1960s only. A trailer for the first episode can be seen here.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry in the George Gently series and one with a somewhat philosophical bent. The unflappable Gently shows the locals why he's the top man at Scotland Yard with some solid detective work which culminates in a rather explosive ending. I enjoyed this one quite a bit and whizzed through it in no time.

[Hapzydeco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detective Chief Superintendent George Gently is more cerebral in this Alan Hunter mystery, but still spot on. Gently’s Lt. Columbo approach once again exposes the perpetrator.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old-fashioned detective story, a little out-dated but entertaining enough.

Written in 1970, this detective novel centres around a murder in a forest, thus the title. Apart from lavish descriptions of the trees, the story is quite straightforward but takes the reader in a variety of directions. The writing is marred by what would be “hip” language of the era, which doesn’t work nowadays. Other than that, it’s entertaining and engaging enough,

[Marilyn Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read one of Alan Hunter's books as I was hooked on the DVDs of the Inspector Gently mysteries. Somehow, having the actor in my mind, this book worked for me. But the book's description of Gently wasn't quite as well developed as the film version showed. I don't know if I would have preferred the books had I discovered them first.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the language is very dated, it was published in the early 1970s, and in some passages very 'hip'. Too many characters with many using two names, e.g. Edwin to his friends and Keynes to the police, make the plot awkward to follow at times. Fairly solid and predictable characters. A little slow at times.

[Marina.Downing · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always a good read it had me stumped right up to the end

[Rosemarie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
I found this one boring. Following the detective around just seemed to drag on, and didn't hold my interest. Also, there was also some very dated terms and ideas in this one, like "flagrant homosexual", "womanish man" and believing only a woman would chose a non-violent method for murder. I am usually willing to forgive these things, if the story is compelling enough, because they are a product of their time, but here they just felt flies on top of my disappointment cake.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a television series from these mysteries. This one would be easy to adapt, since it is mostly dialog, so one feels as though they are reading a play. You can just see these people walking over to stage left and exiting through the door to the garden, while someone else stares into space from the sofa.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dusty old nasty 1970s police detective novel, reprinted because of the television series. Gently investigates the murder of a film/TV director, gassed in a Kombi van while filming a badger sett. A crowd of hepcats are suspected, leading to the improbable revelation of the murderer.

The novel is reactionary to the movements of the times, but still immoral in the 1970s way.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Hunter a bygone "whodunnit" Brit author of Inspector Gently. Details, brit humor accompanied by an unyielding, dogged, intelligent Inspector. Fan of Alan Hunter - reading more... Love Inspector George Gently

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of my favorites by Alan Hunter. Like, wow, it was so 70s, you know. It really piled on the hip 70s lingo. I got thoroughly tired of Gently being called the "fuzz.." I don't remember that in any of his others.

[Jon Newswanger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've recently been binge watching the TV series and have come to love Martin Shaw's portrayal of Gently. Thus, among other things, I was more than a bit disappointed at the absence of Sergeant Bacchus. It started out rather slowly, but picked up speed toward the end.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sufficiently convoluted plot. Nice descriptions of the wild places and characters involved. But like, Hunter just didn't get the hip slang down, man. I could hear the accent and cadence in the other suspects, though. The BBC series comes off better than the book.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two and a half stars.

Fairly typical Alan Hunter. Gently shrugs and grunts his way through the story as usual. Not bad but nothing special.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another puzzle for Gently to solve as an apparent suicide in a camper van in remote woodland appears instead to be murder.