George Bellairs was the pseudonym of Harold Blundell (1902—1982). He was, by day, a Manchester bank manager with close connections to the University of Manchester. He is often referred to as the English Simenon, as his detective stories combine wicked crimes and classic police procedurals set in quaint villages.
He was born in Lancashire and married Gladys Mabel Roberts in 1930. He was a devoted Francophile and travelled there frequently, writing for English newspapers and magazines and weaving French towns into his fiction.
Bellairs’ first mystery, Littlejohn on Leave (1941), introduced his series detective, Detective Inspector Thomas Littlejohn. Full of scandal and intrigue, the series peeks inside small towns in the mid-twentieth century, and Littlejohn is injected with humour, intelligence and compassion.
Bellairs died on the Isle of Man in April 1982 just before his eightieth birthday.
One of the subtlest and wittiest practitioners of the simon-pure
British detective story.
*The New York Times*
Mr Bellairs always gives good value.
*The Sunday Times*
Bellairs works in a comic tradition that extends from Ben Jonson…
Each character has a particular trait exaggerated to the point of
obsession or caricature.
*Susan B MacDougall*
If you haven't read George Bellairs' novels and you enjoy Golden
Age mysteries, I recommend this book.
*Amazon Reviewer*
The characters are all finely drawn, many have oddball names and
idiosyncrasies which add a touch of humour to the tale.
*Amazon Reviewer*
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