The Case of the Demented Spiv

Written by George Bellairs

Narrated by Antony Ferguson

A mad man's outburst about a body in a mill calls Inspector Littlejohn of Scotland Yard to a sleepy English village.

It's a rainy, uneventful evening in the Oddfellows' Arms until a man bursts into the pub, clearly unstable, and ranting about a body in Fennings' Mill.

The police investigate and stumble upon a body-the face smeared with theatrical make-up and a false mustache pasted neatly over the lip. Once the national news descends, Inspector Faddiman calls in Inspector Littlejohn to help him uncover the dark, hidden secrets in this quiet, provincial town. Soon it becomes clear that a lot of people can't, and won't tell the truth . . .

About Inspector Littlejohn

Inspector Thomas Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is a shrewd yet courteous sleuth who splits his time between quaint English villages, the scenic Isle of Man, and French Provinces. With a sharp tongue and a dry sense of humor, Littlejohn approaches his work with poise and confidence, shifting through red-herrings and solving even the most perplexing of cases.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781541402041

George Bellairs

George Bellairs was the pseudonym of Harold Blundell (1902–1985), an English crime author best known for the creation of Detective-Inspector Thomas Littlejohn. Born in Heywood, near Lancashire, Blundell introduced his famous detective in his first novel, Littlejohn on Leave (1941). A low-key Scotland Yard investigator whose adventures were told in the Golden Age style of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, Littlejohn went on to appear in more than fifty novels, including The Crime at Halfpenny Bridge (1946), Outrage on Gallows Hill (1949), and The Case of the Headless Jesuit (1950). In the 1950s Bellairs relocated to the Isle of Man, a remote island in the Irish Sea, and began writing full time. He continued writing Thomas Littlejohn novels for the rest of his life, taking occasional breaks to write standalone novels, concluding the series with An Old Man Dies (1980).

Reviews for The Case of the Demented Spiv

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had no idea what a 'spiv' was though it was clear that it was a derogatory term. Turns out it meant a Jewish person. As becomes clear early on (so this isn't a spoiler), the Jew has nothing to do with the case. I can only suspect that the publisher wanted a provocative title to boost sales :(

[vesper1931 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Inspector Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is called in to a case in Broadfield. The death of Ambrose Barrow has been investigated by loca lpolice Inspector Faddiman without finding the guilty party.
The story was interesting enough to finish the book

[kindleifier · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable classic British detective story of the era of Allingham and Sayers. The Spiv of the title discovers a murdered man at a cotton mill and the circumstances send him off his head. When the local police fail to solve the crime, Inspector Littlejohn is called in to sift through the lies and secrets and hidden conspiracies.It's a good read, with well-drawn characters and good descriptive scene setting.I found the Kindle production a bit odd. Having received the book via email, I wanted to see the title page and find out whether it was written by someone who was contemporary with the world he described, or by a twenty-first century author writing a "historical" crime novel. There was no title page. At least, I thought so. I found it at the end of the book, when I had finished reading it. Why?