As soon as I read this book's description, I thought of one of my favorite English towns, Midsomer. Charming and quaint on the outside, but worth your life if you live there. Flaxborough, the setting for Coffin, Scarcely Used seemed like it could be a sister town for Midsomer, though so far there have only been 2 deaths in 6 months.
The story is definitely an ode to days gone by since Colin Watson's book was published in the 1950s, which explains the much gentler language, class distinctions, and character interactions. When a man dies of a heart attack and then his neighbor is electrocuted, Inspector Purbright becomes suspicious and begins interviewing friends, co-workers and family members. Mr. Watson perfectly captures the feeling of living in a small village where everything appears proper and idyllic on the outside, but underneath secrets, jealousies, lies and even murders bubble to the surface.
The story is told with humor and the characters are extremely well written. I have yet to meet a mystery set in a small English town that I didn't like and Coffin, Scarcely Used was no exception. The book title alone had me smiling and the unique characters were a delight. If you like cozy English mysteries, I would recommend this book.
Thank you Farrago and NetGalley for the digital copy to read and review. While looking into other books he had published, I discovered he died in 1983. Luckily for lovers of this type of book, his words and works live on.

This is a captivating who done it! The twists and turns keep you guessing. There is a list of interesting characters.

This is a charmingly amusing British mystery which takes place in the 20th century. Purbright is the primary detective. His boss, Harcourt Chubb, is totally ineffective and only gets in the way.

In this mystery, a number of older men are dying. They all seem to know each other, and be connected in some kind of loose way. Of course, it takes place in a small, English village where everybody knows everybody.

What is the most fun about this book is the dialogue. Purbright is droll and self-effacing. He sees the irony in situations and people. Anglophiles will enjoy this series. It borders on the cosy, but in a sophisticated, not sappy way. There's aren't any quilts, cats or apple pies cooling on the window ledge. The wit is quite original, and you'll find yourself chuckling. The ending was particularly humorous.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrago for the advance digital review copy.

I first read this a number of years ago and also recall the television adaptations. I was very pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed re-reading it. Although firmly rooted in the English countryside and social mores of the late nineteen fifties, this murder mystery has stood the test of time pretty well.

Mainly this is due to Chief Inspector Purbright whose sterling qualities and shining honesty make him timeless. He has no truck with social position and deftly and subtly elicits information with a twinkle in the eye and a touch of irony on the tongue.

Colin Watson was for many years a reporter in East Anglia and knew well the workings of small town elites. The humour displayed here is gentle but clear-eyed.The writing and characterisation are so good that it matters little that the central mystery is not difficult to work out.

A most enjoyable and entertaining read.

This was a very entertaining English mystery with a great setting--a kind of minor faded seaport that doesn't even boast a local gentry. The book is quite witty and charming, the mystery adequate. All in all a very enjoyable read with a humorous set of characters

I would like to thank Netgalley and Farrago for an advance copy of Coffin Scarcely Used, the first of the Flaxborough series of police procedurals, originally published in 1958.

The novel opens with the death from a heart attack of Councillor Harold Carobleat and Inspector Purbright nosing around to no avail. Six months later Carobleat's next door neighbour, newspaper owner, Marcus Gwill is electrocuted and this time Inspector Purbright is seriously investigating as it's murder. What he uncovers is the meat of the novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed Coffin Scarcely Used which is a humorous cozy from a bygone age with a good, if fairly transparent to modern eyes, plot. It is a straightforward third person narrative from Purbright's point of view so the reader knows no more or less than he does. I found it quite easy to guess some of the angles and twists but it has some clever touches I didn't see.

The humour comes from the arch tone of the writing, the suspects' verbal fumbling for answers and Purbright's assessment of them. It's all very gentle and well bred so clever as well. I suspect that the characters' names also have humorous references but I'm not smart enough to work them all out.

The novel is very firmly set in 1950s middle class England so the Chief Constable has trouble suspecting Gwill's friends of wrongdoing as they're not those kind of people. Purbright, on the other hand, has no problem with it but he's the suspicious type. There are some lovely period gems like builder Jonas Bradlaw believing that his television set rather than his personality is what has attracted a series of young live-in housekeepers.

Purbright is not, perhaps, the smartest detective, or so Mr Watson would have the reader believe, but he's acute enough to work out and solve this, his first, murder. As befits the period and tradition there is no mention of his life outside the investigation as his role is to propel the plot forward. I like this approach as it makes a change from my more usual fare of character centric crime fiction.

Coffin Scarcely Used is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

First published 60 years ago in England, the Flaxborough Chronicles feature Inspector Purbright and the inhabitants of the town Flaxborough. In this first book of the series, Purbright is looking into the mysterious death of man who seems to have left his house in the middle of the night and been electrocuted. Could he have actually been climbing the pylon for the electrical lines in his slippers? It doesn't make sense, and the longer the investigation goes on, the stranger things become. What do a newspaper editor, a doctor, an undertaker, a lawyer, and a broker have in common? With conflicting accounts from those closest to the deceased, interviews with the housekeeper that show she believes in ghosts and supernatural beings, and pressure from the Chief Constable and the Coroner's Court to wrap things up, it seems that Purbright may never find out what really happened and why. With smiles and apologies for the inconvenience, he still manages to question everyone involved and slowly put together a picture that is not what anyone would have suspected.

There are death and suspicions to deal with, but there are also many humorous points in the book. Sometimes it is the words or actions of the characters, but at others it is simply the writing. For instance, the newspaper's owner is described as a man who "spoke only one-sidedly, as though half his lips had been sewn up to prevent waste of words and body heat." And readers learn that the doctor's "head was perched on the great promontory of his chest as though it had separate existence and might tumble off if it strained forward any further." Descriptions like that create a vivid mental image and a sense of the farcical. Which of these individuals should readers take seriously as suspects and which are simply there for comic relief? Perhaps they are both.

Readers who enjoy Miss Marple and mysteries set in small English towns full of eccentric residents will welcome having this series drawn to their attention.

An out of the park home run in the classic crime genre. Mr. Purbright is an absolute gem.

Excellent! A throughly enjoyable mystery .