The Body in the Dumb River (1961) by George Bellairs #1961Club

🎪 My second read for #1961Club is a far cry from my first; this one is a typical Golden Age murder mystery, introducing Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard as the detective. He was aroused from a deep sleep at 3 am, by a telephone call, informing him that a body has been found swept away by torrential flood in the Dumb River. It was identified as of late James (Jim) Teasdale of Yorkshire. Everyone said he is a decent man with no enemy; yet, he was stabbed to death, and his body was dumped in the river near Ely, Cambridgeshire, miles away from Yorkshire.

🎪 It's later found out that Teasdale had been leading a double life. He had made huge mistake of marrying a girl from a snobbish, social-climbing family, who was always pestering him to be a successful man, which he was not. He failed at several attempts (an art store, photography store, and whatnot), and one day made an impulse of taking over a hoopla game at travelling fairs, on which, astonishingly, he made quite a success. Of course, he couldn't tell his wife and in-laws that he's running a hoopla; hence he told them that he's travelling much for a company, and would only come home every weekend. During his absence on these weekends, the hoopla was managed by a woman he's hired, who eventually became his mistress.

🎪 I have suspected from the beginning that this double life of his would probably be related to his murder. But is it? Is it his family who've done it? Or is it a blackmail case? Either way, this mystery has had a good and promising beginning. I instantly liked Superintendent Littlejohn, with his no-nonsense but gentlemanly manner - just the kind of police/detective I always prefer. I liked also the slowly revealing of facts upon facts, by way of Littlejohn's painstaking interviews with either suspects or people who could provide clues. I always love a slow-building of mystery. However, after such a perfect pace with a promising dramatic scene near the end, the end itself felt underwhelming. The 'drama' during the denouement was too long for an ending scene, and the red herring felt unimportant. I was surprised too to find out that this was actually the 35th book in the series - you'd have expected a smoother one than this! I wouldn't probably continue reading the series, unless you can convince me that one of the previous books is much better than this one.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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The 1961 Club

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Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 2026

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