George Bellairs was the nom de plume of Harold Blundell (1902–1982), a crime writer and bank manager born in Lancashire. This is the first of his works that I have read.

The Dead Shall be Raised was first published in 1942. It begins with London-based Inspector Thomas Littlejohn going to spend a quiet Christmas holiday in the small town of Hatterworth where his wife is staying after their house in London was destroyed in the Blitz.

The story begins cozily enough, with a warm welcome from the local police superintendent and a visit from the village carolers. But the Christmas night performance of Handel’s Messiah (with the local superintendent in a starring role) is interrupted by the announcement that members of the Home Guard have dug up a skeleton while practicing maneuvers and fortifications on the moor.

A ring found with the skeleton identifies the victim as Enoch Sykes, a man thought to have murdered his former friend and run off after a falling out over a young woman over 20 years ago.

The book is one of the reprints in the British Library Crime Classics Series edited by Martin Edwards. I have reviewed a few other titles in this series and have a vague notion of trying to read them all at some point.

The positives of this mystery are clearly the location, moors in winter, and the odd characters that inhabit the small village. The mystery itself, though, was a bit of a disappointment.

I can’t say I was blown away by this, my first George Bellairs mystery. But I will certainly be giving him another try down the road.