In the quiet village of Brimberly, the only concern seems to be the upcoming choir competition – it’s very important that they beat Bramshott after all. But when an explosion shatters the peace – taking the leading tenor in the choir with it – and it seems that a killer is in the community. And not a particularly subtle one.

As war-time grudges begin to resurface it, it falls to the crack team of the choir-mistress, her ex-commando son and a retired general to get to the bottom of things. But with a master thief hiding in the shadows and an explosives expert with a very twitchy trigger finger waiting to strike again, will things ever be the same again in the village?

The latest reprint from the British Library – it was published in the US as The Country-House Burglar, by the way – and it’s the eighth book writer by Michael Gilbert, author of the excellent Smallbone Deceased and Death In Captivity (both reprinted by the BL) and The Night Of The Twelfth (not reprinted, but it was recommended to me by this year’s surprise guest at the upcoming Bodies From The Library conference).

It’s an interesting tale as it blends espionage tales, wartime reminiscences and a village whodunnit. What sets this apart is the investigation – no one character takes the lead, but the trio mentioned above all investigate, mostly independently, each discovering something different about the crime using their own skill sets.

As a picture of life after the war, it’s an excellent read. As an out-and-out mystery. perhaps less so. Given that a good chunk of the cast are investigating, that doesn’t leave much space for the suspects but, to be fair, I don’t think Gilbert was trying to write a clued whodunnit, so I can’t criticise that aspect really. There is a whodunnit here, to be clear, but I think it’s a bit of a guessing game.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances, I had to read this book in small chunks and I think I’d have got more out of it if I’d been able to read long chunks at a time. All in all, this is a satisfying read, and a good start to 2026 for the British Library.