Kindle British & Irish Mystery Book Club discussion

Gently Does It, by Alan Hunter

"he last thing you need when you're on holiday is to become involved in a murder. For most people, that would easily qualify as the holiday from hell. For George Gently, it is a case of business as usual. The Chief Inspector's quiet Easter break in Norchester is rudely interrupted when a local timber merchant is found dead. His son, with whom he had been seen arguing, immediately becomes the prime suspect, although Gently is far from convinced of his guilt. Norchester City Police gratefully accept Gently's offer to help investigate the murder, but he soon clashes with Inspector Hansom, the officer in charge of the case. Hansom's idea of conclusive evidence appalls Gently almost as much as Gently's thorough, detailed, methodical style of investigation exasperates Hansom, who considers the murder to be a straightforward affair. Locking horns with the local law is a distraction Gently can do without when he's on the trail of a killer."

Discussion Leader: Chris
Link to Book on Amazon.UK: https://amzn.to/4l4YbPz

Is it as good at the gently series on tv?

No comparisons should be made. Apart from the name of the title character, practically everything else got changed for the move from print to visual. Which is pretty usual when the author died years ago.

If it helps to try and imagine Martin Shaw smoking a pipe and eating peppermint creams while reading the books, well, who am I to disagree... (I am currently on book 12 - how did that tiger get out? )

It’s been a while since I have read any of the George Gently series!

As I was just getting into this one, I hick I read years ago, I realized that any younger person reading novels of this age, would likely have a dictionary by their side. I love the adjectives and adverbs that you don’t read any more and certainly aren’t used in everyday communication where I live

I guess I am old

And having commented on language, I had to look up the idiom “off your chump”. Am sure I have never heard that one before and I have been around since 1955 when this one was written

Common enough where I come from. ;) "He's off his chump, he is."

It was interesting to see the word slattern used in its correct meaning. That has since seemed to die out.

Some of the dialect was fun, but you can see why the dramatists changed so much for the modern audience.

Agree with Christine that you can see why the tv people
Changed the character to suit their viewers. I do like the peppermint eating detective of the novels. Did you notice how much people smoked in those days!??

I am enjoying this book (again) as I like the character development of laid-back George