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Colin Watson
Full Series List in Order
The Flaxborough Chronicle
1 - Coffin, Scarcely Used (1958)2 - Bump in the Night (1960)
3 - Hopjoy Was Here (1962)
4 - Lonelyheart 4122 (1967)
5 - Charity Ends at Home (1968)
6 - Just What the Doctor Ordered (1969)
7 - Broomsticks over Flaxborough (1972)
8 - Six Nuns and a Shotgun (1975)
9 - It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog (1977)
10 - Blue Murder (1979)
11 - Plaster Sinners (1980)
12 - Whatever's Been Going on at Mumblesby? (Jan-1983)
Book List in Order: 17 titles
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Coffin, Scarcely Used
- 1958
- / Law Enforcement
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Described by Cecil Day-Lewis as 'a great lark, full of preposterous situations and pokerfaced wit' Coffin Scarcely Used is Colin Watson's first Flaxborough novel and was originally published in 1958. The small town of Flaxborough is taken aback when ...
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Bump in the Night
- 1960
- / Law Enforcement
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Tuesday nights have suddenly turned quite ridiculously noisy in the country town of Chalmsbury, where the good folk are outraged at having their rest disturbed.
It begins with a drinking fountain being blown to smithereens - next...
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Hopjoy Was Here
- 1962
- / Law Enforcement
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The gripping sight of four burly policemen manhandling a bath down the front path of a respectable villa isn''t one the residents of Flaxborough see every day.
Net curtains twitch furiously, and neighbours have observations to ma...
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Lonelyheart 4122
- 1967
- / Law Enforcement
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Whatever can have happened to Lil? Flaxborough butcher Arthur Spain is worried that his sister-in-law hasn’t been in touch lately, so he pays her a visit. But Lil’s not at home, and by her porch door are a dozen bottles of curdling milk… Alarme...
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Charity Ends at Home
- 1968
- / Law Enforcement
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“I am in great danger … I know that murder is going to be the reward for my uncomplaining loyalty.” This letter containing heartfelt and urgent pleas for help is received by three very eminent citizens of Flaxborough, including the Chief Consta...
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Broomsticks over Flaxborough
- 1972
- / Law Enforcement
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She pranced towards the edge of the clearing, swerved and came back for another fire vault. Her hands moved in gestures of sinuous supplication... Then Mrs Pentatuke would halt on tiptoe, shut tight her eyes behind the bejewelled glasses, and cry in ...
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Six Nuns and a Shotgun
- 1975
- / Law Enforcement
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(AKA The Naked Nuns) "Two naked nuns available Philadelphia" is the strangest cable ever to come to Flaxborough. Inspector Purbright is at first unperturbed by rumours of white slave traffic and international crime. But when the town is hit by a ...
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Blue Murder
- 1979
- / Law Enforcement
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A car mowing its way through Flaxborough market (and almost over Constable Cowdry) dramatically signals the presence of fearless, crusading journalist - Clive Grail, bent on uncovering scandal in that town's quiet and overtly respectable back streets...
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Plaster Sinners
- 1980
- / Law Enforcement
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The appreciation of antique objects is not perhaps Detective Sergeant Sidney Love's forte, yet his critical appraisal of Lot Thirty-Four - comprising two golf balls, an LMS railway tumbler, an old meat mincer, two decanter stoppers, a soap dish and a...
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Whatever's Been Going on at Mumblesby?
- Jan-1983
- / Law Enforcement
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When Inspector Purbright goes to the funeral of Richard Loughbury, he finds himself caught up in a strange series of events in the peaceful village of Mumblesby, a situation involving both blackmail and murder...
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The Flaxborough Crab
An elderly sex-pest is at large in DI Purbright's home town. Leaping out from behind bushes at unsuspecting females, making lewd suggestions and, when challenged, scuttling away with odd off-balance leaps, he soon earns the...
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One Man's Meat
Written by Colin Watson. The Lincolnshire town of Flaxborough seems respectable enough, with many professionals living there, but young Robert Digby Tring's sudden death in the fairground again brings a shock to the inhabitants. Julia Harton is marri...