A Shot in the Dark (A Constable Twitten mystery) by Lynne Truss is an entertaining book with a good mystery. The characters are drawn as caricatures of real people living in a slightly surreal world in Brighton, England, in the 1950s and 60s. Brighton came to be in the public eye when two rival gang families had a shootout that left all 45 of the dead in the street. This happened while the police were eating ice cream a few streets over. It was made into a movie featuring Detective Inspector Steine, who had infamously made the ice cream decision and now was totally convinced that there was not more crime in Brighton and led his police office using that philosophy.

His sergeant, Brunswood, portrayed in the movie as a bumbling idiot (which he was not) continued to try to convince Steine that there were still crimes happening in Brighton and there were clues available that would help solve those crimes. Steine studiously ignored him until the day Constable Twitten arrived. Twitten was all business and since her was more observant than most, he had been passed from office to office, mostly because he outperformed his betters. Then there was a spate of burglaries and several murders. Steine rushed to arrest the first two people he could, ignoring clues, and it was apparent that things had to change. Investigations had to take place.

This was an entertaining book, primarily because the characters were so colorful and odd. The mystery was a good one, a cold case, if you will. The characters were interestingly intertwined and relationships muddied the waters. I recommend this book to anyone who desires an entertaining afternoon of reading and enjoys a mystery.

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. #netgalley #ashotinthedark

So good and funny! I loved it. The characters, the dialogue, and the setting all combined to create a great story. Definitely my kind of wit! I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

Lynne Truss is a talented writer, and her language is clever. When we eventually get to the untangling of the several plots of “Shot”, she weaves her way through the tangles with precision and purpose. In this homage/send-up(?) of a classic golden age detective novel, Truss includes the bumbling policemen, the clever amateur and the nosy newspaperman. Although she checks all of these boxes, I ultimately felt the characters were just a bit flat. They didn’t totally engage my interests.

This book features bumbling coppers, equally inept mafiosa, and a new constable who comes to Brighton newly minted and college educated. The head of the Brighton police presence allowed forty-five mafiosa to die in a shoot-out while he and his team enjoyed a bit of ice cream with raspberry sauce. When the shooting was done, there were no survivors, and many of the dead men had been shot in the back, but that doesn’t deter the Inspector from taking the credit for cleaning up Brighton. When the new Constable, Twitten, begins investigating the murder of A.S. Crystal, a theater critic, other people begin dying.

It is likely that most readers will either love this book or hate it. It is written in a style reminiscent of the 1930s with a staccato cadence, incompetent police, a hero and has nearly incompetent sidekick. There isn’t a lot of subtlety to either the writing or plotting of this book. But if you’re looking for something different in your cozies, give this book a try.

Murder in Brighton with a Bumbling Group of Cops

A. G. Crystal, a well known critic, has arrived in Brighton to evaluate a play that he already finds distasteful, but that’s not the only thing Crystal plans to do in Brighton. In 1951, he witnessed a bank heist. Something has been nagging at him about the robbery, and now he wants to tell Inspector Steine. Steine is the hero of a famous gang shootout, the Middle Street Massacre, but in reality he’s no hero. He ate ice cream while letting the gangs kill each other.

Steine wants to believe that after the massacre crime was wiped out in Brighton. Thus he turns a blind eye to new cases as he works on his radio broadcasts. His sidekick Sargent Brunswick wants to chase criminals, going undercover, but Steine discourages him. Enter Constable Twitten. He’s fresh out of the police academy and full of theories. He wants to solve crimes, but runs afoul of Steine’s laissez faire work ethic.

Twitten is assigned to sit with Crystal opening night of the play for protection. While waiting for the play to begin, Crystal begins to tell him about what he’s remembered about the bank robbery. Before he can get to the crucial point, when the lights go down, he’s shot in the head. Was it because he was planning to pan the play, or because of his recovered memories of the bank heist?

As a mystery, this is quite good. The plot is convoluted with plenty of twists and turns and a satisfying ending. The police characters are designed to amusing, like the Keystone Kops. At times they are, but I found the farcical interactions wearing after awhile. It was hard to stay interested in the main plot.

If you enjoy comical police adventures, you’ll enjoy this book, but be prepared to get tired of their antics.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

"A wryly entertaining new crime novel from Lynne Truss, New York Times bestselling author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

It's 1957, and the famed theater critic A. S. Crystal has come to the British seaside resort of Brighton with something other than the local production of A Shilling in the Meter on his mind. Sitting in the Brighton Royal Theater with Constable Twitten, Crystal intends to tell the detective the secret he knows about the still-unsolved Aldersgate Stick-Up case of 1945. And yet, just before Crystal names the criminal mastermind involved, he's shot dead in his seat.

With a new murder case on his hands and a lazy captain at the helm of the police department, the keen and clever Constable Twitten and his colleague Sargent Jim Brunswick set out to solve the decade-old mystery of the Aldersgate Stick-Up. As the partners venture deep into the criminal underworld that lies beneath Brighton's holiday-happy veneer, they begin to discover a criminal conspiracy that dates back decades. But will Brunswick and Twitten be able to foil the mastermind, or will Crystal's death become just another unsolved crime in this seemingly peaceful seaside city?

With her characteristic wit, New York Times bestselling author Lynne Truss introduces readers to a cast of eccentric policeman and scheming criminals in a drolly delightful mystery you won't want to miss."

While stateside Lynne is mainly know for grammar, you'd be missing a great writer if you never checked out her fiction!

A very British parody of post-WWII police procedurals. A Shot in the Dark will either tickle your funny bone or it won’t. It helps if you are a fan of slapstick.

It’s 1951 in Brighton. Inspector Steine is famous for stopping all organized crime in the area by allowing the two mobs to kill each other four years earlier. Therefore, he thinks the current rash of home burglaries are done by young independent thieves. He sends the newly arrived Constable Twitten to investigate. At the same time, the bumbling Steine and Twitten are trying to solve the murder of a theater critic shot in the head while seating next to said Constable.

The author is famous for her grammar book Eat, Shoots and Leaves. It shows in the meticulous word choices made within A Shot in the Dark. In addition, she introduced the characters in a BBC Radio program. That format would seem a better setting for this wacky farce showcasing the incompetence of the police and the shortcomings of post-Golden Age police procedurals.

A Shot in the Dark is a parody of my favorite type of mysteries. It’s rather a vicious parody too. I just didn’t find it funny. However, if you lived in England in the mid-20th century, perhaps you will. 2 stars from me.

Thanks to the publisher, Bloomsbury USA, and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A good humorous historical novel! It made me laugh out loud and I loved the quirky characters.
It's a en entertaining parody of a historical mystery and, assuming that, you will truly enjoy it.
If you are looking for a classic whodunit or police procedural it simply doesn't work as it seems to me that's not the mail goal.
I laughed, I enjoy it and couldn't put it down.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC

Hmm. The unnamed narrator of this mashup of crime novel and comedy has a lot to say about how the the cast of police in Brighton acted first in 1951 and then again in 1957. It didn't resonate with me, perhaps because the humor felt off kilter to the subject. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This first book in a proposed series by Lynne Truss reads almost like a parody of a Golden Age mystery, in that it’s very aware of the conventions of the genre and they way they’re employed in setting up the central mystery. As such, the characters are more archetypes than fully drawn personalities. In spite of small flourishes that aim to differentiate our leading men, they come across as milquetoast Brits. Again, I think that’s rather the point. For a reader looking for a throwback mystery that ticks all the boxes rather than tries something new, A Shot in the Dark provides a solid diversion.

There are some artistic choices that make the novel feel conspicuously dated, perhaps even more so than, say, Christie and Sayers works of the actual Golden Age period. Aside from the aforementioned boilerplate male characters, there's the 'girlfriend who knows a little too much but maybe it's really her boyfriend trying to pull one over,' and a 'teenage temptress.' (This last one is, no kidding, a direct quote.) And then there’s the Italian character who runs an ice cream shop that features heavily in the plot, whose main signifying mark is an exaggerated ‘tutsi-fruitsi’ patois that comes off stale and cartoonish.

Even PG Wodehouse fell back on the old tropes more often than not. But where sparkling prose and pacing could have made up the difference, this book is disappointingly slim on either, even more of a let-down considering the CV of the author. That said, there are a few laugh-out-loud moments to be read and an overall enjoyable dry humor. At one point, a less-than-bright character is encouraged to believe the raucous events unfolding before him are all to do with an episode of This is Your Life. Two and a half stars rounded up—likable but I don’t think I’ll be seeking out subsequent books in the series.

[When discussing an unsolved robbery with Inspector Steine]
'On the contrary, you had a LOT to go on!' Crystal was saying, his high voice almost shrieky.
'I keep telling you, I appealed for information.'
'Your appeal said, and I quote, Does anyone know who did this?'

Thanks to NetGalley, who lent a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a eGalley of this title. It just was not my cup of tea, but sure wish I could have heard the radio play that was its' basis. Was it written as a farce? It wasn't really a traditional mystery story, although there was a mystery. The interesting setting in 1950s Brighton didn't make up for the incompetent policework.

I'd only heard of Lynne Truss from her bestselling grammar book, Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, and was surprised to see her trying her hand at crime fiction. Nevertheless, I was happy to receive an advance electronic copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
A Shot in the Dark is cleverly told in a tongue-in-cheek, humorous style. The characters are fun: bungling cops, colorful criminals, a foul-smelling victim whom no one will miss. The setting is 1957 Brighton, a seaside resort whose chief of police, Inspector Steine, believes he rid the place of all criminal activity six years earlier. Steine refuses to tarnish his reputation by admitting that crime still happens right under his nose even though his lieutenant, Sergeant Brunswick, keeps taking reports about a spate of burglaries. Brunswick learns that all the victims had been visited by a red-haired woman taking an opinion poll earlier in the day, for which she rewarded them with tickets to a variety show performance at the Hippodrome that evening. (The burglaries happened while they were out.) He wonders if there's a connection, but Inspector Steine insists it must be a coincidence. Steine's bubble is further threatened by the arrival of Constable Twitten, a precocious young officer who has been transferred from station to station because he annoys his superiors with his cleverness.
Then a famous and feared film critic is shot to death during the opening performance of a play he'd already made up his mind to pan. Less than an hour later, the play's director is found brutally sliced with an antique sword at his boarding house. Although Steine is content to declare both crimes solved after a forged suicide letter from the director turns up, Twitten insists on continuing to investigate.
Despite the farcical tone and predictable behavior of most of the characters, this is a pretty well-constructed mystery, with surprising plot twists unfolding until the end. An entertaining read!

1957 and theatre critic A. S. Crystal has arrived in Brighton to review a play. But Crystal was once a witness to a robbery, the culprits never caught. But just before he exposes a clue he is killed.
Unfortunately I really didn't care for the writing style, and I certainly didn't get the humour of the story.

This mystery was more farce than a novel. I also found it typecasting; it makes policeman in the fifties look, and sound like idiots. Based on a radio program from that era, it would have made a better story, knowing that from the first.
Thank you Netgalley!
Carokintallahassee

I have to admit that I was disappointed in Lynne Truss' first outing as a mystery writer. The book seemed very uneven to me--sometimes it would be very funny and lively, and then we'd get into a long stretch of description or internal monologue from an intrusive omniscient narrator...who would then face out again.

When I read the acknowledgments at the end of the book, I understood what might have caused this lack of consistency: apparently, the novel is an adaptation of a radio series that Truss wrote for the BBC with the same characters and setting. That would explain the clunky transitions in places.

I like the trilogy of detective figures here--the clueless Chief Inspector Steine, his earnest sidekick Sgt. Brunswick, the the brilliant but annoying newcomer, Constable Twitten. And the mystery is well-plotted. I just think it needed some more careful editing to unify the narrative styles. As it is, I found myself skimming and skipping a lot of needless exposition that bogged down the plot and the characters.

Detective Inspector Steine (pronounced Steen) came to Brighton in 1951 to clean up corruption, crime and the Laughing Policeman from the arcade. After the Middle Street Massacre, when two big crime families kill each other, Steine thinks he has eliminated crime in Brighton.
Six years later, a theater critic name A.S. Crystal shows up with an acid temperament and noxious body odor. He already hated the play he is to review, "A Shilling in the Meter". Crystal was not always a critic, but had worked in a bank before a robbery had traumatized him. Unfortunately, Mr. Crystal never gets to write his scathing review because he is killed during the performance.
The same day Crystal arrives in town, Constable Twitten shows up at the police station and presents himself to Steine who had know idea Twitten was coming and feels he is too clever.
Author Lynne Truss takes the reader on a fast paced ride that is part crime and part farce. The story had to take place in the 1950's. There is too much social media and technology for it to work today. The older, more experienced police seem to be clueless and Twitten is thwarted at every turn. From the Afterword you find out this book was based on a radio play. I could see how it would be hilarious in that form. I have always been a big fan of British dry wit.
Lynne Truss is best known for her bestseller, EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES. Although it was non-fiction, I loved it.
If you want a crime mystery that will test your deductive skills and make you laugh, A SHORT IN THE DARK will hit the mark.

Lynne Truss of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves fame has created an unforgettable wry British mystery complete with dead bodies, ineffectual policemen, incredibly evil villains, and, of course, a puzzling mystery. When art critic Crystal is murdered in a theater, Inspector Steine is forced to concede that crime might exist in Brighton. What follows is a delightful mystery filled with unforgettable characters, including Constable Twitten, hilarious criticism of less-than-intelligent policemen, an overly bright constable, and clever "bad people."

I found myself laughing out loud throughout the book as I tried to piece together the crumbs Truss drops. A Shot in the Dark is a refreshingly different mystery and may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those willing to read a mystery that pokes fun at parts of the genre, this book is unique and filled with totally unusual, but memorable, characters. I found the end a bit drawn out, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book as a whole and recommend it.

If you enjoy farces, then you will like this story of characters adapted from a popular BBC radio series also written by this author. It is difficult to give a book like this a rating. Compared to other mysteries, it might be a bit over the top, but rated on its own merits, it was well written with intriguing characters and quite amusing. I wouldn’t want to read a novel like this every day, but it was and enjoyable change of pace (genre). Incidentally, I loved all the references to various British confections and enjoyed “Googling” them to find out what they were.

As a fan of “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” and of Monty Python-esque humor, I expected to like this a lot more than I did. Although I do my best to give a book a good try, the silliness made me feel that I was wasting my time. With so many books in my TBR pile, I had to put this one away and move on without finishing it.

This was a little too "cute" for my taste. I just couldn't get in to it. I will not be purchasing this book.