Gwendoline ButlerReseñas

two students disappear, tied to earlier murders and crisis in Coffin's career and his affair with Stella

a murder and a missing baby in West London

death of University girl connects to another death of 20 yrs earlier, Coffin faces career and personal crises.

Complex series of deaths in Greenwich neighborhood revolves around fantasy game acted out.

rape murder followed b y 3 poisonings and riot in New london

Commander John Coffin is in charge of maintaining law and order in the Second City of London: an area of London that had been split off and designated as a city of its own. An area with an history of crime and dowdiness, existing along the river. Difficult at its’ best of times, the stifling heat only makes things worse.

Coffin has two officers dead from accidents that happened while investigating a violent money laundering operation. Coffin suspects the deaths are murders and becomes more convinced when the wife of one of the dead officers turns up dead.

Coffin brings in Phoeby Astley to go undercover to suss out more information. He has suspicions of inside collusion but needs proof. Coffin has worked with tPhoeby in the past, but there is also some other history between them. Will there be a problem with that? How will Coffin’s wife handle it?

Coffin doesn’t take things at face value. He feels there is usually more than what is presented and he obsesses over working it out.

I’ve read a few of the series and think I will put a little more effort to getting and reading more. I enjoyed what I read.

inferior mystery with white witches and murder caused by jealousy

Inspector John Coffin has his hands full.

His wife, actress Stella Pinero, is being stalked. There appears to be a serial killer on the loose. Killers from a twenty-year-old murder have served their time and are coming back home. Will they want revenge on the young girl, now an adult, who witnessed their crimes and testified against them? Life in London's Second City is bubbling.

Things only seem worse when his niece goes missing. His sister withdraws a large sum of cash and goes after the girl without leaving word of where she is going.

Is there a relationship between all these happenings? Little by little, Coffin peels away the layers to find not only the solution to the current events but also some hidden information from the earlier events.

Haven't read a Coffin mystery for a while but plan to read more. I enjoyed this one.

Unexceptional mystery. More of a classic 70s gothic (governess, nightgowns, brooding rich men, glimpses of women in capes, etc.) than a whodunnit, and no hint whatsoever that this was part of a mystery series, Inspector Coffin himself is vestigial at best.

Enjoyable enough, but never thrilled, never deepened, never blossomed. Inert.

Would try another of hers, as the writing is good, the plot and characters just didn't take off in a particularly memorable way.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

Gwendoline Butler (b. 1922) had limited success as a writer before she began a police procedural series featuring a young Scotland Yard Inspector, John Coffin, penning eight Coffin novels between 1956 and 1962. When Butler's husband took a job teaching in St. Andrews, Scotland, the author decided she wanted a change from Coffin and found her inspiration one day when she saw a young red-haired Scottish policewoman. She later asked the local police chief about the young officer and was told she was a recent graduate on a rapid promotion track. Thus was born the character of Detective Charmian Daniels of the fictional Deerham Hill CID and, as some have given credit to the author (written under her pen name of Jennie Melville), the birth also of the woman's police procedural.

Butler's A DIFFERENT KIND OF SUMMER, dating from 1967, is the fifth outing for Detective Daniels. Daniels is still a sergeant when an unidentified body arrives on a train into town in a coffin minus head or hands. It's up to Daniels to figure out which of many missing women this could be, including an increasing number of young girls vanishing in London. As she gets deeper into the case, she tries to stay objective and focused even as she starts receiving menacing phone calls and has to deal with a new young assistant, Christine Quinn, and a hysterical troublemaker who claims she's lost her sister.

Butler has a low-key writing style, blending social commentary with quirky characters, detailed plotting and thoughtful writing for the most part, although in general, it's her novels with Inspector John Coffin where she's had her greatest success. One wonders if writing from a woman's point of view was too close to home to provide the inspirational distance required or if perhaps the fact the author's brother was Warden of the Toynbee Settlement in London gave her more of a first-hand experience with male protagonists. In either case, with Butler's Daniels or Butler's Coffin, there's a lot of good material there, enough to show that grouping her with the "Four Great Founding Mothers" isn't that much of a stretch. If you're a fan of the "Golden Age" of detective fiction, then you'll enjoy this series.

Oh dear. 'Coffin In Oxford' indeed. First of all Coffin was not in Oxford very much at all,neither was he in the book at all that I could make out. What we had were three murders that weren't murders and three or four nutters of minimal interest.The story is mixed up and not at all interesting.
All I can find to praise here are sparse mentions of Oxford and mercifully few pages.

Many writers revel in producing immensely convoluted plots that go through intricate hoops and twsits before offering a pleasing denouement. However, to do so and retain the reader's attention and interest requires a level of skill that Ms Butler seems to lack. I found this book simply annoying and utterly unenjoyable.

Somewhat improbable Victorian heroine foils a drug-smuggling ring.

The gimmick in this book is fairly irritating . A man is killed in the house of a female Oxford don and the only logical explanation makes no sense. John Coffin comes into the novel fairly late and is the least annoying character in the story.

This is the 20th in the John Coffin series. Scotland Yard has promoted Coffin to head the new London district of the Docklands.

After moving into a flat in an old church converted to flats and a theatre, an urn with a severed head in it is found in the street outside, addressed to the church. Thus begins the quest to answer all the obvious questions, which eventually leads to undiscovered murders from long ago. Although Coffin's police career began in post-WWII London, he is regarded by the locals as an outsider keeping them tight-lipped. The puzzle is further complicated by a mysterious illness affecting many of the people connected.

Apart from Coffin and his friend Stella, the characters are not developed particularly well. However, the authentic description of the London streets makes up for any lack in characterization. One of the strong points of the story is that it portrays credible police work, there are no great coincidental discoveries that are the undoing of many mysteries. I enjoyed the story but have not read any of Butler's other works so I can't compare.

This is an historical murder mystery and I usually favor these types of books. Somehow, this one was lacking. Several of the characters were likable enough but the story was light and not well developed. Seemed more like an author's first efforts than someone who has written over 50 books.

This is the first book I have read by Ms. Butler who is a well established British mystery writer. In fact, she has published over 50 novels. This is an historical thriller taking place in the Court of King George the IV. It is an entertaining and easy read but a little on the light side for me and I likely won't seek out any further books by this author.

Coffin buys a house and bodies are found in it