Kirjahaku

"If Carolus Deene catches so much as a whiff of murder he will be on the scent with all the persistence and gusto of a dachshund in search of truffles." While Senior History Master of Queen's School, Newminster, Carolus Deene has a troubling hobby as a criminologist and sometime sleuth. Even more troublingly, he has jaundice. But with the papers shouting of the crimewave sweeping the seaside resorts of England, sending him to the coast to recover is too risky for the Headmaster he will be much further from trouble in the inland spa resort of Buddington. But before long Buddington is rocked by a twisted double-murder two elderly women found dead on the same night at the same time, each with a white lily by their side. Perhaps things are looking up for the curious Deene? First published in 1960, Leo Bruce's classic mystery hums with his trademark wit and comedic flair, centred around an intelligent puzzle and a memorable cast of Buddington's best.

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 to prove Stewart is innocent of the murder of Dr. Benson, who has been found stabbed in the throat in the library of Peter's gloomy Victorian mansion, The Cypresses. An ornamental dagger with Peter's fingerprints on it has been left on a table near the dead man's armchair.

Master crime writer Leo Bruce wrote the majority of these tales for the ""London Evening Standard"" where they appeared between 1950 and 1956. There are twenty-eight stories in this book. They add to our knowledge of Sergeant Beef, one of the most colourful fictional detectives; we are also introduced to an unexpected second detective, the astute and resourceful policeman Sergeant Grebe; and they offer a last chance to encounter anew their author's characteristic wit and ingenuity.

In the cleverly plotted Case for Sergeant Beef, Mr. Wellington Chickle, a retired watchmaker, plans the perfect murder, but he chooses the wrong victim. The dead man's sister refuses to accept the idea that her brother committed suicide and calls in the unprepossessing Sgt. Beef who unravels the plot with the aid of the local police. Meanwhile, Townsend, Beef’s indefatigable chronicler, comes to a completely different—and completely wrong—conclusion. A delightful read by one of the best mystery plotters who ever lived.

One of the rarest mysteries in the author's Sergeant Beef series, Case with Four Clowns, which has only been published once in the US - more than fifty years ago - is now available in paperback for the first time. It is regarded by critics as one of Leo Bruce's most baffling mysteries. A murder is yet to be committed - that much is certain - but who will be the victim? And who will be the murderer? It is Sgt. Beef's job to discover these facts, if he can, in time to prevent the deed from being done. But when he reaches the small traveling circus where the murder is to take place, he finds that practically everyone there is seething with hatred, each has a motive which might make him a killer; and any one of a dozen people could easily be the victim. The doughty Sgt. Beef has broken some pretty tough cases, and this one - with mystery entagled within mystery - stirs the bulldog within him. The clues are there, but unless the reader is very astute, he or she will overlook them; but Sgt. Beef misses nothing.

This is one of Sgt. Beef's most interesting and perplexing cases. It involves a murder, but one in which no body can be found. Young Rogers announces to Beef and others assembled in a local pub that he has committed a murder—then takes his own life. But where is the victim? How did it happen? "I always supposed," says Beef. "a murder case started with a corpse, and then you had to find out 'oo done it. This time we know 'oo's done it, but we can't find the corpse.

Possibly the most unusual mystery ever written. A murder is committed, behind closed doors, in bizarre circumstances. Three amateur detectives take the case: Lord Simon Plimsoll, Monsieur Amer Picon, and Monsignor Smith (in whom discerning readers will note likeness to some familiar literary figures). Each arrives at his own brilliant solution, startling in its originality, ironclad in its logic. Meanwhile Sergean Beef sits contemptuously in the background. "But, " says Sergean Beef, "I know who done it!"