Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our Feb/March 25 buddy read of The Secret Search Book 29 in the Bobby Owen series was first published in 1951.

"There's a spot of trouble this morning. Old gentleman found dead in his bath."

Bobby answered: "there may be one chance in a million it's natural death."

When the notorious gangster Cy King was imprisoned thanks to Commander Bobby Owen's investigation, he spent a good deal of time talking about avenging himself. Now Cy's out of jail, linked to a notorious London nightclub owner, while a man impersonating Bobby has been spotted snooping around in a remote London suburb. The same suburb, as it happens, where a young woman, recently arrived from Canada, has seemingly vanished into thin air. All Bobby's investigations lead to the unassuming borough of Southam, where the disappearance of Elizabeth Smith is compounded by the sudden death of a respectable old man. Cy keep dodging around in the background of the case, but can Bobby bring it home to the old villain - or find an alternative solution?

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

I thought this one was just okay, but there were things I did like. I'm not sure if Cy King made any appearances before I started reading the series, but he makes for a nice nemesis. The ending and his death felt appropriately dramatic. I also enjoyed the Bobby impersonator, and I would have liked more from him. It's a fun idea. There were a lot of good Olivia scenes in this one.

I don't mind a detective story getting into the supernatural, but I didn't like it in this one. I think that "me okay" was just too weird of a phrase. At first, I liked that it could be someone spying on the characters, but once that became unlikely, it kept feeling more and more goofy each time it showed up.

My other problem was that Ted really annoyed me.

Ted annoyed me too! I completely understood how Bobby felt :) I enjoyed this book more than the last few in the series. I liked the explanation of why people were called what they were like Tiny, Sunday, etc I also enjoyed the Bobby impersonator (very funny and unexpected) and the office politics Bobby has to put up with.

I'm another that was really annoyed by Ted. And after a lot of attention given to people hearing 'Me, OK', including Olive(!), that plot point was entirely dropped with no resolution.

However, like Shaina, I enjoyed this book and for the same reasons. In addition, I thought the plot was nicely intricate, the feud between the two gangs was interesting and Olive got plenty of face time. And there was the new hire with his umbrella.

Shaina wrote: "Ted annoyed me too! I completely understood how Bobby felt :) I enjoyed this book more than the last few in the series. I liked the explanation of why people were called what they were like Tiny, S..."

I realized after I finished reading that I had no idea when someone was supposed to have actually said it. I'm guessing either during the murder or when everyone was in the shed, but I would have thought that reveal would have been more dramatic.

Just finished and I enjoyed this, with all the reservations others have expressed about Ted and the ‘Me, OK’. I think Punshon is really good at conveying menace, his villains are truly violent and unpleasant.