Picture of author.

Leo Bruce (1903–1979)

Teoksen Case for Three Detectives tekijä

99+ teosta 1,307 jäsentä 40 arvostelua 2 Favorited

Tietoja tekijästä

Sarjat

Tekijän teokset

Case for Three Detectives (1936) 128 kappaletta
Death in Albert Park (1964) 55 kappaletta
Dead Man's Shoes (1958) 55 kappaletta
Furious Old Women (1960) 54 kappaletta
Case for Sergeant Beef (1947) 50 kappaletta
Death at St. Asprey's School (1967) 48 kappaletta
Murha kävelykadulla (1963) 48 kappaletta
Death of a Commuter (1967) 46 kappaletta
Death on Allhallowe'en (1970) 45 kappaletta
Our Jubilee is Death (1959) 43 kappaletta
Jack on the Gallows Tree (1960) 42 kappaletta
Die All, Die Merrily (1961) 39 kappaletta
Case With No Conclusion (1939) 38 kappaletta
Nothing Like Blood (1962) 37 kappaletta
Death With Blue Ribbon (1969) 32 kappaletta
Neck and Neck (1951) 32 kappaletta
A Bone and a Hank of Hair (1961) 30 kappaletta
Cold Blood (1952) 27 kappaletta
Death at Hallows End (1965) 27 kappaletta
Case With 4 Clowns (1939) 27 kappaletta
Case Without a Corpse (1937) 26 kappaletta
Case with Ropes and Rings (1940) 26 kappaletta
Circus: A World History (1976) 22 kappaletta
Death in the Middle Watch (1974) 19 kappaletta
The Quest for Quixote (1959) 14 kappaletta
Death of a Bovver Boy (1974) 12 kappaletta
At death's door (1955) 10 kappaletta
A Louse for the Hangman (1958) 9 kappaletta
Exotic Food (1969) 8 kappaletta
Exiles (1970) 8 kappaletta
Wolf from the Door (1969) 8 kappaletta
The verdict of you all (1955) 6 kappaletta
English Cooking. A new approach (1960) 6 kappaletta
COSMOPOLIS. (1933) 5 kappaletta
Death of cold (1956) 5 kappaletta
Sherry (1956) 5 kappaletta
Fall of man (1976) 4 kappaletta
Death by the lake (1971) 4 kappaletta
Dead for a ducat (1956) 4 kappaletta
Death on the black sands (1966) 4 kappaletta
Conduct Unbecoming (1975) 4 kappaletta
Paper Albatross (1971) 3 kappaletta
A Few Gypsies (1955) 3 kappaletta
Thief (1960) 3 kappaletta
The Circus Book (1949) 3 kappaletta
Three in a Cell (1970) 3 kappaletta
The life for me (1952) 3 kappaletta
Death on Romney Marsh (1968) 3 kappaletta
The purple streak (2011) 2 kappaletta
Au charbon, les hommes (1983) 2 kappaletta
Cities (1951) 2 kappaletta
Under the Rose Garden (1971) 2 kappaletta
While the Iron's Hot (1971) 2 kappaletta
Ladies Gay (1946) 2 kappaletta
The numbers game 2 kappaletta
Rudyard Kipling (1948) 2 kappaletta
The Last of Spring 2 kappaletta
The Sawdust Ring 2 kappaletta
Une Cellule à trois (1969) 1 kappale
Wilkie 1 kappale
Port (1957) 1 kappale
Octopus (1945) 1 kappale
Seven thunders 1 kappale
Brass farthing 1 kappale
Troubadour 1 kappale
La nuit flambe (1963) 1 kappale
The dogs of peace (1973) 1 kappale
Wintry Sea, The (2016) 1 kappale
Nine days with Edward (1977) 1 kappale
Madeira (1961) 1 kappale
L'inconnu du train (1976) 1 kappale
Clash by night (1975) 1 kappale
Trois détectives (1998) 1 kappale
The Wild Hills (2011) 1 kappale
Das falsche Opfer (1991) 1 kappale
Kingdom Come 1 kappale
Cave of Hercules (1974) 1 kappale
The Altar in the Loft (1960) 1 kappale
The Gardens of Camelot (1966) 1 kappale
The happy highways. (1967) 1 kappale
Barbary Night 1 kappale
Darts 1 kappale

Associated Works

Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries (2015) — Avustaja — 228 kappaletta
Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries (2015) — Avustaja — 149 kappaletta
Bodies from the Library (2018) — Avustaja — 119 kappaletta
Serpents in Eden: Countryside Crimes (2016) — Avustaja — 104 kappaletta
Settling Scores: Sporting Mysteries (2020) — Avustaja — 53 kappaletta
65 Great Murder Mysteries (1983) — Avustaja — 41 kappaletta
Bodies from the Library 4 (2021) — Avustaja — 30 kappaletta
Evening Standard Detective Book: Second Series (1951) — Avustaja — 8 kappaletta
A book of shorter stories (1962) — Avustaja — 6 kappaletta
Evening Standard Detective Book (1950) — Avustaja — 5 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

A collection of short stories (some of them extremely short indeed) that Rupert Croft-Cooke aka Leo Bruce apparently wrote for various newspapers. There's a long introduction by Barry Pike that provides interesting context about the author and his creation Sergeant Beef and is worth the read. The collection is comprised of four longer stories featuring Sergeant Beef, plus a miscellany of other shorter tales, some told from the perspective of detectives, some from the perspective of the murderers themselves.

The stories are competently told and, despite their extremely limited length, often contain multiple suspects, multiple motives, and even a red herring or two, which takes some skill. Other than that, though, I'm not sure there's a lot to recommend them: after the first couple, they begin to feel repetitive and unimaginative; also, more often than not, their solutions rely on information that isn't shared with the reader in advance, so they don't even work as puzzles. They were apparently good enough for newspapers, but as a collection I'm not convinced (despite Pike's protestations) that they provide any useful new insights into Bruce's cleverness or craft.

Not a bad read - just not an especially rewarding one. If you have a choice, definitely invest your time in one of Bruce's full-length Beef novels (The Case for Three Detectives is a hoot) rather than this rather banal collection.
… (lisätietoja)
½
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
Dorritt | Mar 20, 2024 |
During a weekend party at the Thurston’s the conversation turned to crime. Norris, a writer, was the most vocal on the subject of mysteries and their solutions. Williams, an attorney, had another take on it. Strickland, a young man whose interest was fast cars, gambling and was a very close friend of the Thurstons also added to the conversation. Little did they know there would be a real murder and real detectives would be called in.

A prank concocted by the hosts became a reality. — a locked door mystery that brought in three detectives, who each came up with three different solid solutions of their own.

While the investigations were going on, Sergeant Beef, the village policeman, had already solved the case to his own satisfaction.

The three detectives: Lord Simon Plimsole, M. Amer Picon and Monsignor Smith have strong similarities to to other well-known fictional detectives. Sergeant Beef has respect for them and their sophisticated solutions, but he relies on what his knowledge is from regular police investigation.

This is a fun read of a parody of the mystery genre. Written during the 1930s when the mystery was coming into its Golden Age.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
ChazziFrazz | 12 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Dec 25, 2023 |
Carolus Deene, a teacher at an English public school, has had jaundice and is off to a waterside resort to rest and recuperate.

And then two older women are strangled on the same night. They are found in the same position, each with a small spray of white lilies on their chests. There doesn’t seem to be any connection, other than the murder circumstances, between the two. Is a maniac at work? Is there in fact a hidden connection? Carolus takes on the case, first reluctantly and then with an increasing sense of urgency. Is he clever enough to prevent a third murder?

Don’t look for complex character development here. The characters are interesting, but this is a straightforward old-fashioned mystery, very much in the style of the Golden Age classics. Smart dialogue and good plotting make this one a winner.
… (lisätietoja)
½
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
Matke | 1 muu arvostelu | Jul 3, 2023 |
In any murder mystery featuring an amateur sleuth, members of the police force are almost always too quick to jump to the wrong conclusions, if they aren't portrayed as being downright stupid. This cliche gets turned on its ear in “Case for Three Detectives” (1936) by Leo Bruce.

Bruce gives us a classic locked-room mystery, so common at that time. A group of people are guests at the home of Dr. Thurston and his wife. Soon after Mrs. Thurston goes up to bed, the others hear a scream. After her securely locked bedroom door is broken open, she is found with her throat cut. There is an open window behind her, and a knife is found in the yard. How did the murder happen? How did the killer get away? Who could have done it when the others were gathered in a room below?

The next day three famous amateur detectives show up: Lord Simon Plimsoll (patterned after Lord Peter Wimsey), Monsieur Amer Picon (Hercule Poirot) and Monsignor Smith (Father Brown). Also present is Sergeant Beef, the local police officer, who immediately declares that he knows who the murderer is and how the crime was committed. Nobody believes him, however, or even asks him to explain. He has been told by his superiors to allow the three distinguished detective to complete their investigations before making an arrest, and so Beef sits in the background while Plimsoll, Picon and Smith do their thing in the manner fans of Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and G.K. Chesterton will be familiar with.

In the end, each of the three detectives names a different murderer and explains a totally different manner in which the crime was committed. And each brilliant deduction seems entirely convincing. But then Sgt. Beef tells what really happened, and offers the proof that the other three lacked.

Bruce gives us four -- make that five -- possible solutions to a crime that seems to have no solution at all. His novel is a treat for any fan of classic mysteries, and especially for fans of Wimsey, Poirot and/or Brown.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
hardlyhardy | 12 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Aug 30, 2022 |

Listat

Palkinnot

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Tilastot

Teokset
99
Also by
13
Jäseniä
1,307
Suosituimmuussija
#19,642
Arvio (tähdet)
3.8
Kirja-arvosteluja
40
ISBN:t
202
Kielet
10
Kuinka monen suosikki
2

Taulukot ja kaaviot