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Welcome to our April/May 25 buddy read of The Attending Truth Book 30 in the Bobby Owen series was first published in 1952.

"It's murder all right; no one could bash his own head in the way this chap's was."

The stranger's body was discovered by businesswoman Mrs Holcombe, the unofficial queen of Pending Dale. As if there wasn't enough gossip rife in the village, now the Queen may be under suspicion of murder.

Talk is cheap, but reputations are valuable - but were they worth buying silence at the cost of a man's life? When Bobby Owen of the Yard arrives in Pending Dale to investigate, amid a panoply of local characters and red herrings he discovers a compelling and unpredictable motive. A reason why the unassuming and anonymous commercial traveller had to die ...

The Attending Truth is the thirtieth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1952. This new edition features a bonus Bobby Owen short story, and an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

Bobby does not have to chase the murderer through the darkness in this one, so maybe he is feeling his age. He uses the technique of gathering everyone together for the grand reveal, with the exception of the murderer(s). I was surprised by the ending but, looking back, it was properly clued.

Punshon still has strange women in his characters. This takes place entirely outside London and Olive is only vaguely referred to in an offhand comment about girlfriends. I missed her.

I guessed the killers, but I had no idea what their motive was going to be.

I missed Olive, too.

I'm not sure what it was, but I had a hard time getting into this one. The suspects were interesting, and I don't have any complaints about the mystery or reveal. I just didn't feel very motivated to keep reading and kept getting distracted.

I liked this one, I thought the suspects were interesting too. I agree about the strange woman, and I didn’t understand why the killers didn’t just do away with her immediately and put her body in the cellar.

I didn’t spot the killers, I was hoping it was the Colonel!

I would have liked the Colonel to be one of the killers, but I thought he was too evil to actually be the killer. It was a bit disappointing that he gets to be rich at the end of the book.