Both mysteries good examples of murder in a small town investigated by perceptive detective. In Dead shall be Raised the body of a man believed to have murdered his friend twenty years earlier is discovered. Now the killer of both men must be found after many witnesses and neighbors have died. In Murder of a Quack the victim is a respected alternative healer . Inspector Littlejohn solves both cases through careful questioning and intuition.

The Dead Shall Be Raised (1942) by George Bellairs. This is yet another fine Christmas story set in the small English village of Hatterworth. Detective Inspector Littlejohn is traveling there to be with his wife at the holidays. She is staying with old friends of hers, the Haworths, the husband being the local inspector. There is some delightful descriptions of a “typical” quaint town where everyone knows everyone and secrets usually don’t stay buried long.
But in this case, a body is found buried on the local moors. The dead man, Enoch Sykes, disappeared twenty years before. He was suspected in the murder of, Jeremy Trickett, who had been his life-long friend, at least until just a short time before he was killed. Now it looks as if they were both murdered by a third party and the case has to be reopened.
The book’s current time is 1940, deep into Britain’s war, while the murders happened during WWI. This gives the author plenty of contrasting views between what was happening in and to England at the time he wrote the mystery, and what had happened, including the views of the average citizen, between the present and the “War To End All Wars”.
The mystery is handed off to Littlejohn when the local detective pulls up lame. There are some colorful local characters including the retired investigator who handled the original investigation, and the man’s father-in-law who had been the town’s police force prior to the murders. For the modern reader, there are views expressed in this novel which were consistent with the time but which are frowned upon now. Please put your biases away, accept the book as a look with a window to a different time, and try to enjoy the book for what it is.
There are several interviews that look into the past, many opinions offered, and some endearing stories of what has occurred to the locals during the spanning two decades. In all this is a quality mystery placed in a charming setting. This would make a fine reading for any mystery aficionado during the holiday season. Keep in mind readers, this is not so much a the search for a ruthless killer as it is a ride through the years to a time both far away yet near to heart. ( )

Note: I accessed digital review copies of this book through NetGalley and Edelweiss. ( )

Ok but didn't really find them all that interesting or involving. ( )

This book contains a pair of Scotland Yard Inspector Littlejohn murder investigations. Each story is set in the English countryside during World War 2, although the war effort plays little or no role in the stories.
They are essentially police procedural whodunits narrated by Inspector Littlejohn. The inspector's thorough and slightly plodding sleuthing results in the unmasking of the killers in each of the stories.
For me, Bellairs excels in his descriptions of the people the inspector interviews in the course of his investigations and the communities in which the crimes have occurred. The characters make the plots secondary to the storytelling.
Martin Edwards's Introduction is as usual interesting background to the stories as well as the author
The stories are good but relatively unexciting reading. ( )