Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our June/July 25 buddy read of Strange Ending Book 31 in the Bobby Owen series this was published in 1953.

"The poor devil's mouth was filled with feathers. An unconscious man with his mouth full of feathers wouldn't have had much chance of surviving, and this one didn't."

The press gleefully dubbed it the 'Banquet Murder'. The murdered man, Hugh Newton, had apparently been making a sumptuous feast for two in his flat, before his own goose was cooked.

Bobby Owen of the Yard is drawn to the cold case. Starting with the curious fact that the apartment building has experienced two break-ins since the murder, Bobby starts investigating the colourful, or faintly macabre, inhabitants. Elsewhere in London, Doreen Caine, cookery instructor, is excited that the case has been reopened. And further afield, a travel agency specializing in gastronomic tours comes under suspicion. It's a bouillabaise of a mystery, one of Punshon's finest, in which Bobby will discover whether retribution - if not revenge - is a dish best served cold.

Strange Ending is the thirty-first novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1953. 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.

I have started this and really enjoyed the opening with Olive taking part in Bobby's first interview. An interesting plot so far. I expected a "cold case" to be years old, but this one is only a few months.

Finished except for the short story included at the end. I expect it to be another from Bobby's early life on the force.

Brits in the 50's had not discovered garlic! The Americans may not have either; pizza was new and not a family standard.