Josh

Josh, the landlord of the Mad Boar, occupies an uncertain place in the human investigation of two killings: he is named among the possible suspects in Weasel McCarthy’s murder, and Ham later identifies him as the person who took a chain that could be used to frame Ham for George’s death. The evidence presents Josh less as a solved culprit than as a figure moving through a community where suspicion has spread in every direction.

Identity and Public Role

Josh is associated with the Mad Boar, the village pub, and is among the people whose conduct the flock watches as it tries to understand George’s murder. At the Smartest Sheep in Glennkill contest, Inspector Holmes recognizes the pub’s landlord as one of the people present; the inspector recalls that Josh and Abraham Rackham were among those who found George’s body. Josh is thus not an outsider to the investigation: he has been close to its central discovery and remains part of the village’s public life.

The sheep’s observations make his movements significant without resolving their meaning. Miss Maple reasons that the humans are not acting together to conceal a shared crime; instead, they suspect one another and seek information. In that pattern, Josh goes to Gabriel to find something out. Gabriel also watches Josh enter the meadow at night with Tom O’Malley and Harry the Sinner, while Eddie comes along in the surrounding sequence. The flock can see the activity, but the evidence does not establish what Josh hoped to learn or why the group entered the meadow.

The McCarthy Case and Ham’s Accusation

When George and the butcher discuss who might have had a reason to kill Weasel McCarthy, the butcher names Josh first, alongside Sam, Patrick, Gerry, Michael, and Healy. George adds Eddie, Dan, Brian, O’Connor, Sean, and Nora, and the butcher adds Adrian and Little Dennis. Josh is therefore one name in a broad field of possible suspects, not the sole focus of the inquiry.

Ham supplies a more pointed connection. He recalls that Josh told him Weasel McCarthy had been at the Mad Boar the previous day and that McCarthy’s plans had passed the authorities, leaving nothing to be done about them. Ham remembers Josh as sour about that outcome. This establishes Josh’s interest in McCarthy’s plans and his negative reaction to their approval, but it does not by itself prove a motive or involvement in McCarthy’s killing.

Later, God tells Ham that someone had recognized how useful it would be if Ham’s chain were found at George’s crime scene, and that he had gone to retrieve it after the person confessed. Ham immediately identifies Josh. He says he had still been wearing the chain when Tom called him to the pub; after returning from George’s body, he found it gone. Ham concludes that someone meant to pin the crime on him and names Josh as the likely thief, adding that Josh disliked him. God’s surprise at Ham’s identification confirms that he understands whom Ham means, although the exchange gives the accusation through Ham rather than presenting an independent account of Josh taking the chain.

The Will and Village Gatherings

Josh is present when George’s will is due to be opened beneath the village lime tree at noon. The lawyer reads the location specified in the will, then pauses to establish whether they are actually beneath the village lime. Josh impatiently confirms that they are and urges him to begin. The lawyer nevertheless refuses to proceed until the location is settled, and Lilly challenges the delay. Josh’s intervention shows his impatience with the formal obstacle, but the scene gives no further explanation of his interest in the will or its provisions.

The Contest and the Sheep’s Revelation

At the Smartest Sheep in Glennkill contest in the Mad Boar, Josh is among the people gathered as the sheep take the platform. Inspector Holmes has come partly because he does not want to return to the office and its unsolved cases, though he doubts the sheep can supply a crucial clue. After the landlord’s lengthy address to the spectators, the contest begins and the sheep fall quiet. Their performance changes the room: Tom calls out George’s name, and Josh sternly tells him to sit down because he is drunk. Tom refuses and points to the stage, recognizing that the sheep are trying to communicate something about the murder.

The moment also catches Josh in an ordinary, physical detail: beneath the table is Cuchulainn, Josh’s old sheepdog, howling after Tom accidentally kicks it. Against the contest’s ceremonial speeches about tradition and Glennkill’s pride in its sheep, the animal’s cry and the audience’s sudden recognition turn the event into an unsettling public encounter with the murder. Josh tries to contain Tom, but the sheep’s display redirects attention from the contest to the unresolved crime.