I read this series all out of order, and wish now there were more, since for me this is the last book. (I skipped this book previously because my father wrote "dismal" on the flyleaf, but I don't agree with his assessment at all.) The mystery itself was not my favorite of the Pettigrew series, but I loved the romance between Pettigrew and Eleanor. It was sort of a reverse Jane Eyre story ("Do you think that because I am poor, plain, obscure and little I am soulless and heartless?") I also loved the setting of the Pin Control bureau and the funny descriptions of the pointless busywork that sprang up in wartime Britain.
Warning: contains the n-word. Could be edited out so easily if reprinted. ( )

Light-hearted crime mystery, poking fun at the bureaucracy of the English public service, but very well written and good use of the English language. Published in 1950. ( )

Maybe even 4.5*

I found Hare’s setting in this one very amusing (a satire of WW2 British bureaucracy, it’s set in the Bureau of Pin Control and has a subplot about black market trading in pins!) and the mystery was very good. I thought that I had figured it out but not so! ( )

Maybe even 4.5*

I found Hare’s setting in this one very amusing (a satire of WW2 British bureaucracy, it’s set in the Bureau of Pin Control and has a subplot about black market trading in pins!) and the mystery was very good. I thought that I had figured it out but not so! ( )

Bevat: De moord met het scheermes
De moord op het rijksbureau