Tue 27 Apr 2021
An Archived Mystery Review by Gloria Maxwell: LEO BRUCE – Furious Old Women.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[3] Comments
LEO BRUCE – Furious Old Women. Carolus Deene #7. Davies, UK, hardcover, 1960. Academy Chicago, paperback, 1st US printing, 1983.
Carolus Deene teaches history at a boys’ public school in England. He has a private income and also enjoys solving baffling crimes. On this occasion, Deene is called into the small village of Gladhurst to discover who murdered Millicent Griggs. What Deene discovers is a village full of “angry old women,” any of whom had good reason to intensely dislike Millicent enough to murder her.
There also prove to be several men who are likely suspects. As Deene probes, he discovers a tremendous rivalry between Millicent (Low church proponent) and Grazia Vaillant (High church promoter), with the Rector caught between both women and their money. Two more bodies will complicate Deene’s investigation, as well as the. pressure from his headmaster to take a more active role at school (which means curtailing his detective tasks).
Clues abound, and Bruce is nothing but fair with the reader in providing all the necessary facts to solve the mystery. The solution is quite clever and carefully hidden! A delight for mystery fans with a bent for the British.
April 27th, 2021 at 4:10 pm
I’m a fan of the Carolus Deene novels and this is among the best ones.
My general impression is that, these days, people tend to prefer the Sergeant Beef novels to the Deene ones, but I’ve had a hard time getting into those.
April 27th, 2021 at 4:31 pm
You’re not alone. Barzun & Taylor (Catalogue of Crime) are said to have said this is “probably Bruce’s wittiest and best-plotted novel to date.” I bought as many of Bruce’s books as I could when Academy Chicago was putting them out, but I don’t remember ever seeing this one.
April 27th, 2021 at 7:55 pm
I love both, but in some ways the Deene books are much easier to get into. It might be noted for anyone afraid a series about a schoolmaster detective might be too dry, Bruce (Rupert Croft-Cooke) was an excellent and witty writer who wrote serious and humorous crime novels (several filmed) and screenplays under his own name, a deft hand with plot and suspense, and Deene himself is a charming young man who among his other accomplishments is an ex Commando who at times is called on to exhibit his skills there as well as amateur detective.