Murder Gone Mad

Description

Benjamin Joliclerc became an estate agent after retiring without much credit from his family bank of Joliclerc & Co, in the pleasant Norman town of Montjoie. On the annual fete of St. Lupin, M. Joliclerc staggered out of his house and died in the street. He had been shot. Chief Superintendent Littlejohn, of Scotland Yard, was invited to the funeral. He didn’t know why, but tendered his apologies and condolences to the widow. A letter from his old friend Luc, retired Inspector of the Paris Sureté, hastened him to Normandy, however for M. Joliclerc’s last public utterance seemed to have been that he must send for his friend Littlejohn, which was an exaggeration, for they hardly know one another. The arrival of two celebrated senior detectives on the scene was warmly welcomed by the French police, but not by the law officers and the local aristocrats, who hindered them all they could. However, Littlejohn and Luc, in their rather plodding, old-fashioned way, finally tied-up the Joliclerc affair and that of another body which inconveniently turned up. George Bellairs loves France and the French and here he finds himself surrounded by a lot of ripe characters, suave scoundrels and some of the usual food, drink, and local specialities, which make his followers hungry as they read.