Böcker av Leo Bruce

Contains twenty-eight stories about the detectives - Sergeant Beef and Sergeant Grebe.

Carolous Deene is summoned to a small Kentish village where the presence of a possible coven of witches lends an eerie aura to the presumed 'accidental' death of young local boy a year ago on Hallowe'en. Before his work is completed, Carolous Deene has the answers to this and two other deaths.

Someone very, very clever planned this murder. The place: a remote shelter on the promenade at Selby-on-Sea; the occasion: a stormy evening in late November; the victim: somebody ready-made for a crack-of-doom from a coal hammer. However, the murderer had not counted on the clever, tenacious mind of Carolus Deene.

There are strange goings-on at St. Asprey's, an expensive boys' preparatory school: footsteps in passages at night...strange lights...rabbits with battered skulls...a face in the window...a puppy found in a pool of blood...and even worse to come. In a tense, chilling atmosphere Carolous Deene has some spine tingling experiences before he solves the mystery of these curious and sinister events.

Mysterious doings in a churchyard. A catalogue of crime calls this ""probably Bruce's wittiest and best-plotted novel to date. A very ingenious idea...a fine surprise in the last moments. The humour and wit are of a high order..."".

In a gloomy London suburb a modern Jack the Ripper stalks at night, killing at random with brutal knife thrusts from behind. Three women fall victim, and the terrorised residents wait to see who will be next. Was it a method in these murders? Although the police resent his presence, only Carolus Deene can solve this puzzler.

Within an hour or two the dead bodies of two elderly ladies are discovered in the vicinity of Buddington-on-the-Hill; both had been strangled. Each is found lying full-length, clasping in her hand the stem of Madonna lily. The work of a maniac? Two murderers working together? It's up to Carolous Deene to find out.

This is vintage Leo Bruce, enhanced by the effortless humour that is a hallmark of all his mysteries. This time, Carolus Deene is enjoying himself on a holiday cruise. On the first night aboard the Summer Queen, there is a shout of ""Man Overboard!"" From that point on to the moment of Deene's unexpected revelations, the reader will find that unique mixture of artless fun and grim terror Bruce devotees savour.