Peggy Pinch Policeman’s Wife
Written by Malcolm Noble
Published by Matador
ISBN: 978-1848767-867
Review copy purchased by reviewer
Review by Jane Seaton
We all love an idyllic 1920’s English village, lightly peppered with a few tasteful murders, all of which are solved in calm and timely fashion by an elderly spinster, or titled gentleman.
So get real. In 1926, an English village too far from the nearest main road to merit a reliable bus service is already nervously aware that the threatened General Strike will bring real hunger. The policeman’s wife senses that the local Police Inspector is going to take out his frustration over this crime on her husband. That’ll mean humiliation, unemployment and loss of their police house home.
As the gentry talk up the possibility of full scale, communist-led revolution, the feudal certainties of village life are degenerating into a kaleidoscope of scandal. Peggy Pinch can’t even bring herself to say ‘arse’ but that doesn’t protect her from the village scolds. The only thing she can do now is solve the mystery, by Thursday.