I read this book for the 1936 Club hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings. I have had this book on my TBR for eight years so I am glad I got around to it now.
This book by Leo Bruce was reviewed in 1001 Midnights, ed. by Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller and described thusly:
Case for Three Detectives is at once a locked room mystery worthy of John Dickson Carr and an affectionate spoof of the Golden Age detectives created by Sayers, Christie, and Chesterton.
Dr. Thurston and his wife Mary are entertaining four younger men at a weekend party: Alec Noriss; Sam Williams; Mr. Townsend, and David Strickland. At dinner the first night, the vicar, Mr. Rider, is also a guest. Later in the evening, Mrs Thurston and two of the guests have gone up to bed, the vicar has gone home, and Townsend, Williams, and Dr. Thurston are still downstairs talking. While they are talking, a scream is heard from above, and the men rush upstairs to find Mary Thurston's door locked. Once they break the door down, they find her lying in the bed, covered with blood. Her throat has been slit.
Due to the nature of the crime, it is deemed prudent that Scotland Yard be called in. The local policeman, Sergeant Beef, is offended by this. He says that he has already solved the crime. However, the next morning three "indefatigably brilliant private investigators who seem to be always handy when a murder has been committed, began to arrive." The first is Lord Simon Plimsoll, a parody of Lord Peter Wimsey; his man, Butterfield, is with him. Next is Monsieur Amer Picon, representing Hercule Poirot. Last is Monsignor Smith, a comic depiction of Father Brown.
One of the guests at the Thurman's house, Townsend, is the narrator of this book. That works really well for telling the story, because he is fascinated with how the detectives work, and follows them around as they work.
My Thoughts:
I did not find this story quite as comical or the parodies as convincing as many other reviewers. I am very familiar with the Peter Wimsey series and the Hercule Poirot series, but I have read only one Father Brown story. The spoof of Hercule Poirot seemed the best of the three detectives to me; Lord Plimsoll as Wimsey seemed overdone. One thing that all of the detectives shared was an insistence that they know who did the crime, but each refuses to share that information with anyone. That does happen often in classic mysteries, and it often irritates me when they do that.
However, I did enjoy the storytelling and I was committed to staying with the story to see how the three consulting detectives (plus the local detective, Sergeant Beef) would pull it all together. I found the ending to be very satisfying.
This is also a nice variation on the country house mystery, and I enjoyed the depictions of the Thurston's servants: a butler, a chauffeur, a cook, and a housemaid.
Case for Three Detectives is the first book featuring Sergeant Beef, and there are seven more books in the series. I have learned that Townsend narrates all of the mysteries in this series. As I enjoyed him immensely as narrator of this book, I will be seeking out more books in this series.
Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1997 (orig. pub. 1936)
Length: 240 pages
Format: Trade Paperback
Series: Sergeant Beef, #1
Setting: UK
Genre: Mystery
Source: On my TBR since 2012.
25 comments:
This sounds like fun. I'm secretly hoping that it was the sergeant who got it right. LOL. Glad I'm not the only one who has books loitering on the tbr pile for 8 years. (Longer in my case.)
Oo I love a detective spoof - sounds like this one wasn't perfect, but would still be so fun to read. I haven't heard of it or Bruce - thanks so much for adding it to in the club.
Reading books from 1936 sounds like fun. When I looked at the choices other made, a few of them were familiar. Leo Bruce also sounds familiar. I'll look him up.
How nice to have found something lesser known from 1936! I have never come across this author. Now that I think about it, I have two locked room mysteries this week too!
Cath, This was a fun read. I probably have a good number of books on my shelves that have been there for ten years or more. I am glad I finally got to this one because I appreciate humor in mysteries more now than I did when I was younger.
Oh, this is one I'm not familiar with, Tracy, and it sounds interesting. I think everyone's different about what's funny and what's not, so I'm not sure how I'd feel about that, but the story itself sounds appealing.
Simon, most reviewers like the spoof of Wimsey. I like the later Wimsey novels better and I don't think he was quite so strange at that point. But still, lots of fun, as you say. I was surprised to learn that Dorothy Sayers had published most of her mysteries before 1936, including Gaudy Night.
Leo Bruce is a pseudonym of Rupert Croft-Cooke, who wrote many books under his own name, but I only know of his mysteries.
Patti, there are so many good mysteries published in 1936, and fortunately quite a few that I had not read already.
Constance, I am not a big fan of locked room mysteries, but I liked this on a lot. Maybe I should try more of them.
Margot, you really should try this one, or maybe one of the later books in the Sergeant Beef series. I actually think this one is one I would enjoy better on a second reading.
I read it years ago, and reviewed it either on Broken Bullhorn or Tip the Wink. I like Bruce, both the Sgt. Beef books and (perhaps more) his other series featuring Carolus Deene, senior history master at the fictional Queen's School, Newminster, as an amateur detective.
This is an unusual and fun choice for the club.
Rick, I found your excellent review of Case for Three Detectives on Broken Bullhorn. I also found a review there for a book of short stories by Bruce, Murder in Miniature. I will be buying that book. Carolus Deene sounds like an interesting character too.
I've read Leo Bruce's Case for Sergeant Beef but strangely I don't seem ever to have written a review of it. I have a friend who is a big fan of his writing though, so I must see if I can borrow this one.
Thanks, Whatmeread. I enjoyed your review of an Angela Thirkell book for 1936 club.
Katrina, I want to find a copy of the 2nd book in the Sergeant Beef series but I may end up just picking up whichever book in the series I can find. Order probably doesn't matter.
Sounds like a great combo! Thanks, I had not heard about this one. Here is my post for the 1936 Club: https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/04/06/my-top-6-books-for-the-1936-club/
Thanks for stopping by, Emma. I enjoyed your overview of 1936 books and the two books you reviewed, Double Indemnity and The Swedish Cavalier. That last one was totally new to me.
I read and loved this one years ago. I haven't read any of the other Sergeant Beef novels, but I probably should.
Barry, I hope to read more by this author, including the Carolus Deene series. This author published a lot of books.
I remember reading this years ago. Didn't enjoy the spoofing much but the mystery is solid.
Neeru, our take on this is similar. Maybe I am just not one to enjoy spoofing, in general. But I liked it overall, and the ending was good.
Good review. I am not familiar with this author so I enjoyed the introduction to him.
Thanks, Lisa. I was glad I finally read a book by this author. I think I was put off earlier because humorous mysteries did not appeal, but my tastes have changed a bit.
Not one which holds much appeal for me to be honest. I'm glad you enjoyed it though.
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