Fallen into the Pit

Sergeant George Felse and his son Dominic investigate the murder of a hated Nazi worker in their English village shortly after World War II, leading to another tragedy and a grave threat to Dominic's life

Originally published in 1951, but just now making its first American appearance, this mystery launched Peters's Inspector Felse series. Set in Britain just after WW II, the main sleuth here is not actually George Felse but his 13-year-old son Dominic. He and his best friend, Pussy Hart, are playing when Dom finds the body of Helmut Schauffler, an ex-P.O.W. who had stayed on after the war in the Comerford area. An autopsy indicates that Schauffler's skull was fractured by blows that were "precise, neat and of murderous intention." Helmut, a loathsome blend of cruelty, cowardice and anti-Semitism, is hardly mourned, but his death so rends the village's social fabric that solving the case is imperative. In his first murder investigation, George has difficulty viewing his neighbors as suspects, although the area does have its share of demobilized veterans, i.e., trained killers. Even more distressing to George and his wife Bunty is the proprietary--and potentially fatal--interest that Dom takes in the case. By giving the youth a finely balanced blend of doggedness, good luck, ingenuity and foolhardiness, Peters sets out a very effective mystery while expressing, through the gradual unfolding of the character of Helmut,her own serious skepticism that aperson--or a country--can change his--or its--spots. In 1991, Mysterious reissued Flight of the Witch , a Felse mystery written in 1964.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In postwar England, the village of Comerford--home to Police Sergeant George Felse--has its share of returned heros: Quiet teacher Chad Wedeerburn; decorated paratrooper Jim Tigg, now sheepherding on Chris Collins's farm; and Charles Blunden, who fought his way across Italy, now back to his father Selwyn's substantial land holdings. There are also a few POWs in Comerford- -helping where needed. Helmut Schauffler is one of them--hard- working, outwardly meek, but Nazi to the core. He's finally been placed with a group of coal-mining workers but continues his secret verbal torture of Gerd, the stoic Jewish refugee wife of farmer Chris. When Sergeant Felse's clever young son Dominic finds Schauffler's body in a shallow brook, the suspects are many, but the case is still unresolved when a second murder stimulates Dominic to a burgeoning flood of logic and courage beyond his years, forcing the solution to a puzzle deep-rooted in the past. The first of the Sergeant Felse series to appear in the US (it was published in England in 1951), joining the author's Brother Cadfael stories. The leisurely, introspective style so well suited to the life and times of a 12th-century monk seems excessively slow and wordy here, but there are rewards for the patient reader. Others may find it a bit of a slog. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The debut novel in Peters' long-running Inspector Felse series was originally published in 1951 but never appeared in hardcover in the U.S. Set in a small English town just after the end of World War II, it finds the stolid, intelligent Felse coping with walking his normal beat, dealing with minor traffic violations and the mate who's had one too many at the pub. With the end of the war, though, an influx of refugees disrupts the usually tranquil village of Comerford. When a young Nazi begins causing trouble in unobtrusive but nasty ways, Felse fears reprisals and trouble ahead. It turns out he's right, as both the Nazi and the son of Comerford's wealthiest citizen are found murdered. Unbeknownst to Felse, his teenage son, Dominic, takes it upon himself to solve the case single-handedly and puts himself in great peril. Setting the pattern for the 12 Felse stories that have succeeded this one over the last 43 years, Peters combines a jolly good mystery with unerring insight into the darker recesses of the human soul. Highly recommended. Emily Melton

Widely known for her Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries, Peters also built a series around British detective George Felse. This title, which initiated that series, is now published in the United States for the first time.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.