The dead bodies of two elderly ladies are discovered; both had been strangled. Each is found lying full-length, clasping in her hand the stem of a Madonna lily.
Mysterious doings in a churchyard. A catalogue of crime calls this probably Bruce's wittiest and best-plotted novel to date. A very ingenious idea...a fine surprise in the last moments. The humour and wit are of a high order....
"Five men occupied their usual places in a first-class carriage, but the sixth place was empty..." It is most unusual for the sixth man, Mr. Parador, to be late. The five commuters are wondering what happened to him, when a strange-looking man enters the compartment, dressed in black and wearing ...
Death in the Middle Watch is vintage Leo Bruce, enhanced by the effortless humour that is a hallmark of all Leo Bruce mysteries. This time, Carolus is enjoying himself on a holiday cruise. On the first night aboard the Summer Queen, there is a shout of Man Overboard! From that point on to the mom...
Everyone knew there'd been a murder, everyone knew who the murderer was, and when this murderer committed suicide by jumping overboard from the cargo boat Saragossa, they thought "Good riddance." Everyone, that is, except Carolus Deene.
Carolus Deene is summoned to a small Kentish village where the presence of a possible coven of witches lends an eerie aura to the presumed "accidental" death of a young local boy a year ago on Hallowe'en. Before his work is completed, Carolus Deene has the answers to this and two other deaths.
Carolus Deene becomes involved in his latest adventure when a famous restaurateur is threatened by a protection racketeer and a well-known writer of cookbooks is murdered under extraordinary circumstances.
In this "rousing mystery" (Booklist), Gentleman Detective Carolus Deene, the schoolmaster created by Bruce and featured in so many of his other books, has his work cut out for him . A respectable solicitor has vanished into thin air in the remote village of Hallows End. Deene senses foul play, an...
Walking on the sand before breakfast, Carolus Deene's cousin Fay comes upon the head of Lilliane Bomberger, the celebrated and universally detested novelist. The body had been buried in the sand in an upright position with only the head protruding: at least one tide had washed over it. Before thi...
Once again Lionel Townsend, Beef's Dr. Watson, faithfully records the redoubtable Sergeant's escapades. Beef has left the Braxham police and gone into business for himself. Beef gets a client: Stewart Ferrars, who has been arrested for the Sydenham Murder. Beef is hired by Stewart's brother Peter...
There are strange goings-on at St. Asprey's, an expensive boys' preparatory school: footsteps in passages at night . . . strange lights . . . rabbits with battered skulls. Carolus Deene has some spine-tingling experiences before he solves the mystery.
In a gloomy London suburb, a modern Jack the Ripper stalks at night, killing at random with brutal knife thrusts from behind. Three women fall victim, and the terrorized residents wait to see who will be next.
Sergeant Beef was a burly, red-faced, complacent ex-village-policeman with a huge dark ginger moustache. He inspired very little confidence - in fact he himself was one of the few people who believed in his genius - but, in his own blunt and logical way, he was a remarkable efficient detective. A...
The term had finished with the school concert but he had escaped Mr Gorringer’s annual dinner party for the staff. It was a crisp morning with pale sunlight thawing the frost on the bare hedges and he felt in splendid health and spirits. He was going to an investigation which promised to be one o...