The Flaxborough Crab

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 03 May 2018 | Archive Date 16 May 2018

Talking about this book? Use #TheFlaxboroughCrab #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

An elderly sex-pest is at large in DI Purbright’s home town.

Leaping out from behind bushes at unsuspecting females, making lewd suggestions and, when challenged, scuttling away with odd off-balance leaps, he soon earns the nickname of the ‘Flaxborough crab’. No one can identify him, and it turns out that quite a few older gentlemen have begun exhibiting over-familiar behavior around the opposite sex.

Suave Dr Meadow knows more than he is letting on, yet how can Purbright, aided once again by the fragrant but dodgy Miss Lucy Teatime, get him to talk? Events take a darker turn before the ill-assorted pair succeed in catching their crab.


Witty and a little wicked, Colin Watson’s tales offer a mordantly entertaining cast of characters and laugh-out-loud wordplay.

An elderly sex-pest is at large in DI Purbright’s home town.

Leaping out from behind bushes at unsuspecting females, making lewd suggestions and, when challenged, scuttling away with odd off-balance...


Advance Praise

What people are saying about the Flaxborough series:

"Colin Watson wrote the best English detective stories ever. They work beautifully as whodunnits but it's really the world he creates and populates ... and the quality of the writing which makes these stories utterly superior."

"The Flaxborough Chronicles are satires on the underbelly of English provincial life, very well observed, very funny and witty, written with an apt turn of phrase ... A complete delight."

"If you have never read Colin Watson - start now. And savour the whole series."

"Light-hearted, well written, wickedly observed and very funny - the Flaxborough books are a joy. Highly recommended."

"How English can you get? Watson's wry humour, dotty characters, baddies who are never too bad, plots that make a sort of sense. Should I end up on a desert island Colin Watson's books are the ones I'd want with me."

"A classic of English fiction... Yes, it is a crime novel, but it is so much more. Wonderful use of language, wry yet sharp humour and a delight from beginning to end."

"Colin Watson threads some serious commentary and not a little sadness and tragedy within his usual excellent satire on small town morality and eccentricities."

"Re-reading it now, I am struck by just how many laugh-out-loud moments it contains. A beautifully written book."

"As always, hypocricy and skulduggery are rife, and the good do not necessarily emerge triumphant. Set aside plenty of time to read this book - you won't want to put it down once you've started it!"

"Colin Watson writes in such an understated, humorous way that I follow Inspector Purbright's investigation with a smile on my face from start to finish."

"If you enjoy classic mysteries with no graphic violence and marvellously well drawn characters then give the Flaxborough series a try - you will not be disappointed."


Editorial reviews:

"Watson has an unforgivably sharp eye for the ridiculous." New York Times

"Flaxborough is Colin Watson's quiet English town whose outward respectability masks a seething pottage of greed, crime and vice ... Mr Watson wields a delightfully witty pen dripped in acid." Daily Telegraph

"Arguably the best of comic crime writers, delicately treading the line between wit and farce ... Funny, stylish and good mysteries to boot." Time Out

"A great lark, full of preposterous situations and pokerfaced wit." Cecil Day-Lewis

"One of the best. As always with Watson, the writing is sharp and stylish and wickedly funny!" Literary Review

"The rarest of comic crime writers, one with the gift of originality." Julian Symons

"Flaxborough, that olde-worlde town with Dada trimmings." Sunday Times

What people are saying about the Flaxborough series:

"Colin Watson wrote the best English detective stories ever. They work beautifully as whodunnits but it's really the world he creates and populates...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9781788420211
PRICE £2.99 (GBP)

Average rating from 23 members


Featured Reviews

I would like to thank Netgalley and Farrago for a review copy of The Flaxborough Crab, the sixth novel to feature DI Purbright, originally published in 1969.

There is a sex pest on the loose in Flaxborough and the ladies of the town are frightened. With no clear cut MO. or much of a description except he's elderly and has a sideways run Inspector Purbright is at a loss as how to catch the man dubbed The Flaxborough Crab until Alderman Steven Winge dies after chasing Miss Pollock with amatory intentions. Clearly he is The Flaxborough Crab but Inspector Purbright is not convinced that this is the end of the case.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Flaxborough Crab which is a clever, amusing read. From the opening chapter where a librarian is attacked to the ironic ending the novel held me entranced as it is both situational comedy and a comedy of manners. I know that nowadays any kind of unwanted sexual advances are not acceptable but the idea of an unsuccessful geriatric predator scuttling about like a crab is highly amusing if not very P.C.. The reactions to it are delightfully understated and imply so much more than is actually said and very in keeping with the times it was written in. The involvement of the amoral Miss Lucilla Teatime adds an extra layer as the reader tries to work out her latest scam.

The Flaxborough Crab is an elegant, witty and quintessentially British novel which I have no hesitation in recommending as a good read.

Was this review helpful?

DI Purbright is going fishing for the "Flaxborough Crab" ,with Miss Lucy Teatime to make sure this isn't a case of the one that got away!

Was this review helpful?

'My God, Sid! The whole bloody town's infested with sexual maniacs! What the hell are we going to do?'

Another brilliantly comic take on the traditional English village mystery from Watson. Here over-60s men turn into rather inept sexual predators and peeping toms, with Mr Grope demanding his 'conjuggling rights' - and, as ever, the fragrant though decidedly dodgy Miss Lucilla Teatime joins forces with Inspector Purbright to Restore Order.

Watson's comic eye is as sharp as ever - a veritable delight!

Was this review helpful?

The discovery of Colin Watson's Flaxborough novels has been a joy. They are compact gems of wit, acute observation and plotting and every one so far has been an absolute pleasure.

The Flaxborough Crab is the sixth in the series, in which women of the town are subjected to thoroughly inept attempted sexual assaults (which they are often amusingly well able to deal with), apparently by an elderly perpetrator. Things, naturally, become more complex and Purbright and Love find themselves widening their investigation as the magnificent Miss Lucy Teatime also becomes involved.

It's typical Watson – and I mean that as the highest compliment. His portraits of the characters of the town are as shrewd and acerbic as ever and the writing is a masterclass in beautifully crafted prose and dry wit. This, as a "Treat" is being inflicted on the elderly by some of the town's worthies, will give a flavour:
"The chief organiser of the treat bustled into the room, rubbing his hands and saying "Fine! Fine!" over and over again. He hosed the Darbys and Joans with his smile and inflicted a vigorous handshake upon as many as lacked the presence of mind to feign earnest search for something on the floor." ("Hosed". Brilliant!)

Flaxborough Crab is a hugely enjoyable instalment in a wonderful series. Very warmly recommended.

(My thanks to Farrago Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Was this review helpful?

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Reading these novels in order, I really appreciate the various characters; the kind but astute Inspector Purbright, the youthful-looking and long-suffering Sergeant Love, Chief Constable Chubb, who has to be "managed" by Purbright, and of course Miss Teatime, who manages to be on the side of the angels, even while pursuing her less than legal activities.

This was an enjoyable story, although its attitude to sexual harassment/assault on women is very much "of the time". The women here fight off their attackers wth contemptuous ease and take things in their stride, but I don't think this storyline would be written today. A satisfactory plot and resolution.

I'm very much enjoying this series.

Was this review helpful?

“Something or other is sending half the over-sixties round the twist” in the Flaxborough Crab.

A rash of panty theft, quick grope and runs, and window peeping has befallen Flaxborough. The perps are described as elderly men who scuttle away sideways like a crab. When an esteemed villager is accidentally killed while perpetrating an attack, the police rest easy. But hours later, two more incidents are reported. What is causing the disruption of the usual calmness of Flaxborough life?

This is the sixth book in the Flaxborough Mystery series but it can easily be read as a stand-alone. By using metaphors, the Flaxborough Crab successfully combines naughty details with a totally clean story line that is fine for all ages. Some of the metaphors, especially at the senior picnic using flowers, are laugh-out-loud funny. The mystery is more of a whydunnit than the traditional whodunnit.

The Flaxborough Crab is highly recommended for 20th century police procedural and British cozy mystery fans. It could be likened to a 1950’s precursor of the Stephanie Plum series with the elderly women of the village playing a clean version of Lula. Seriously, this book is funny! 5 stars!

Thanks to the publisher, Farrago Books, and NetGalley for a copy. I can’t wait for the next in the series!

Was this review helpful?

DI Purbright is back in this sixth book in the Flaxborough series. This time he is after a man referred to as the Flaxborough Crab. The man has attempted to accost several women, who are sharp-witted enough to have escaped his clutches. By a surprising turn of events, the case seems to have suddenly solved itself. However, there is much more to be discovered.

What a quick and smartly humorous book! I look forward to reading all of the books in this series by Colin Watson.

Many thanks to Farrago Books and to NetGalley for this book for review.

Was this review helpful?

This is the sixth novel in the humorous crime series written by Colin Watson and featuring Detective Inspector Purbright and Sergeant Love. Originally published in 1969, this is a charming and witty police procedural book set in Flaxborough, a town filled with eccentric characters and strange events.

This novel focuses on a spate of rather inept attacks on young women. Various culprits and theories are presented, leading Purbright back to Miss Lucilla Edith Cavill Teatime, a regular in this series (and a favourite of mine).

This is an easy read and one that fits into the category of cosy crime. There's nothing particularly grim here, even if the subject matter (sexual attacks) has the potential to be disturbing - it's all handled with a light touch and Watson's gentle humour and there never seems to be real threat to the women. It's probably not the strongest plot of the series, but enjoyable nevertheless.

Was this review helpful?

Another good story by Colin Watson. I like the fact that the same people turn up, I'm getting agood mental image of Flaxborough, which is something I like when reading. These are lovely gentle stories. This one is humerous, exciting and has a devilish murder. I think we'll be seeing more of Miss Teatime too.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: