Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our April/May 25 buddy read of The Attending Truth Book 30 in the Bobby Owen series was first published in 1952.

"It's murder all right; no one could bash his own head in the way this chap's was."

The stranger's body was discovered by businesswoman Mrs Holcombe, the unofficial queen of Pending Dale. As if there wasn't enough gossip rife in the village, now the Queen may be under suspicion of murder.

Talk is cheap, but reputations are valuable - but were they worth buying silence at the cost of a man's life? When Bobby Owen of the Yard arrives in Pending Dale to investigate, amid a panoply of local characters and red herrings he discovers a compelling and unpredictable motive. A reason why the unassuming and anonymous commercial traveller had to die ...

The Attending Truth is the thirtieth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1952. This new edition features a bonus Bobby Owen short story, and an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

Wow, the 30th book in the series, and getting well into the 1950s! How do those who have stuck with the series feel it has changed since the start?

Here's a link to the spoiler thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I'll still be reading along, but I might not be getting to this one until later in May.

I've barely started myself. So many books....

My version of the ebook has a short story at the end telling why Bobby joined the police. From Curtis Evans' introduction, there are five short stories and one will be included at the end of the last five books. Nice to revisit young Bobby.

Other than growing older and moving up the ranks he hasn't changed much. He complains about not being able to do as much as he could but still races through woods and pummels the bad guy.

That's interesting that he hasn't changed much, thanks, Sandy. I haven't stayed with this series but am interested to hear about the short stories revisiting young Bobby - I'm tempted to give those a look.

Judy wrote: "Wow, the 30th book in the series, and getting well into the 1950s! How do those who have stuck with the series feel it has changed since the start?”

I agree with Sandy that Bobby hasn’t changed much. His solidity and dependability make one of the highlights for me. He still doesn’t have a high opinion of those in authority, and he still manages to get involved in motorcycle or foot chases (and some fisticuffs) when possible.

However, I would say that the tone of the books has changed somewhat through the series - the earlier books were much more in the style of the classic pre-war mystery, then the war came and Bobby moved out of London so there was a more anxious and darker tone. In the most recent books, we’ve seen some rather bizarre intrusions of the psychological or even supernatural with odd female characters.