Death at Hallows End: A Carolus Deene Mystery

Leo Bruce is the pen name used by Rupert Croft-Cooke, who lived between 1903 and 1979. Bruce wrote two separate mystery series: the Sergeant Beef series, which was published between 1937-1952, and the Carolus Deene mysteries, written between 1955-1974. Croft-Cooke also wrote a book of short stories under his own name. Bruce's Carolus Deene is a school teacher who solves mysteries in his spare time. It is almost time for another school term when Carolus Deene is summoned by the solicitor Lionel Thripp, whose partner Duncan Humby has disappeared while delivering a will to be signed to an old man who thought he would never die and who didn't particularly like his own family. By coincidence James Grossiter is also dead, leaving his fortune to his two nephews, Holroyd and Cyril Neast. There is rumor of an illegitimate son names Hickmansworth. They farm neighboring pieces of land. Grossiter went to Hallows End, the home of his nephews, just before his death. Are these deaths just a coincidence? And where has Humby gotten to? It is up to Carolus Deene to sort through several layers of smokescreens put up by the families to get at the truth: "Yes, it was possible for a car to be in to the side here and for another car to pass it. But only just. If Duncan Humby was still at the wheel of his car when it stopped here, he must have deliberately pulled it in to leave room for others. There was no sign of any wheel tracks on the grass edges, but that meant nothing, for it had rained since. If there had been anything of the sort, presumably the police would have seen it when they were first informed. He was accustomed to coming too late into an investigation for that sort of evidence and knew that it was not, in any case, his strong point." Leo Bruce is just the sort of author who would have made Agatha Christie proud. Not only does he write "whodunits" that are nearly impossible to fathom, but he does it with a relaxed style that is as relaxing to read as it is confounding. Bruce's books no double had an impact at the time he wrote them, just as Hollywood was tuning in to how much fun the guessing game could be. Leo Bruce was a masterful writer. Shelley Glodowski Senior Reviewer