Sat 1 Aug 2020
A Mystery Review by Ray O’Leary: S. T. HAYMON – Death of a God.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
REVIEWED BY RAY O’LEARY:
S. T. HAYMON – Death of a God. Inspector Ben Jurnet #4. Constable, UK, hardcover, 1987. St, Martin’s, US, hardcover, 1987. Bantam, US, paperback, 1990.
Inspector Ben Jurnet reluctantly agrees to attend a concert given by the pop group Second Coming — a local group that hit it big — at the University in Angleby. As publicity for the concert, effigies of the three-man group have been “crucified” in Angleby Market Place garden. To his surprise, Jurnet greatly enjoys the concert, but doesn’t find it very enjoyable when he is awakened early next morning and called to the garden where the effigy of the lead singer has been replaced by the real thing, very dead and tied to the cross.
This is extremely well written, with realistic characterization and believable dialogue. Inspector Jurnet bears quite a resemblance to Martha Grimes’ Richard Jury, both being extremely good-looking (something like Dan, who edits this and makes interpolations) and very considerate of the people who share the building they live in. Though I had hunch, which proved correct, where the solution lay, I enjoyed nearly all of it (except for the fate of the cat).
The Inspector Ben Jurnet series –
Death and the Pregnant Virgin (n.) Constable 1980.
Ritual Murder (n.) Constable 1982.
Stately Homicide (n.) Constable 1984.
Death of a God (n.) Constable 1987.
A Very Particular Murder (n.) Constable 1989.
Death of a Warrior Queen (n.) Constable 1991.
A Beautiful Death (n.) Constable 1993.
Death of a Hero (n.) Constable 1996.
August 1st, 2020 at 12:19 pm
Another British mystery writer, who although her reviews were uniformly good, never quite caught on in this country.
August 2nd, 2020 at 7:41 am
I read them for a while – maybe the first 5? – but lost track, or the next one wasn’t available, or something. Nevertheless, the first few were pretty good.
August 2nd, 2020 at 9:22 pm
I enjoyed these, I see the comparison to Jury, but like Haymon better than Grimes.
August 2nd, 2020 at 10:30 pm
I wonder if someday authors like Haymon will get their day in the sun again, such as many of the lesser known authors of the 30s and 40s are now.