Death at St. Asprey's School

Carolus Deene #17

by Leo Bruce

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.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

222 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Pseudonym for Rupert Croft-Cooke.

Reviews

[Kate]

"There are strange goings-on at St. Aspey'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.

"Who is the most logical choice to investigate these strange phenomena but Carolus Deene, the Senior History Master at Queen's School? In a tense, chilling atmosphere of blackmail among the blackboards ... when the ghostly charades prove to be only a prelude to murder -- Carolus has some spine-tingling experiences before he solves the mystery of the curious and sinister happenings at St. Aspey's School."
~~back cover

Carolus adopts a whimsical attitude to all "these strange phenomena", realizing of course that they're man made, not supernatural. The plot boils thicker and thicker until reaching its logical apex of murder. And also as usual, the least likely with the least likely motive turns out to be the murderer. I didn't guess this one ... did you?

[Kathy]

Carolus Deane, a man of "independent means," is the hero of a series of amateur detective stories, the kind that tend to irritate me. St. Asprey's is a boy's prep school in Gloucestershire, and the setting for a number of strange events which Deane is asked to investigate. As a substitute school master he fits in and is on hand (of course) when one of his colleagues is murdered. He works it out predictably and summarizes his conclusion to a gathering a la Agatha Christie. A waste of time.

[Catherine Mason]

I enjoyed reading this mystery. Lots of red herrings. Unfortunately there was a bit of an editing blunder where Carolus Deene revealed some important information to a character twice, and the second time was said to be the first time he had mentioned that information. I liked the school setting.

[Calum Reed]

B-: It was difficult to care too much about this one, but the puzzle is still very well-devised. Bruce is the definition of consistent.

[Susan]

Schoolmaster and amateur sleuth Carolus Deene leaves the school where he normally teaches to investigate some strange incidents at a preparatory (younger children) school. Then the man considered by some a victim of the prankster and by some the most likely suspect, is found murdered. Even Deene finds the dramatis personae unlikeable.

[Alexia Gordon]

Originally published in 1967, it seemed dated. Much heavier handed with the exposition than modern mysteries. Decently plotted mystery, the killer wasn't obvious, however, the detective did use some knowledge that the reader couldn't possibly have known to reach his conclusion. Somewhat cynical view of life in an English boys' prep school.

[Elena]

It felt pretty silly to me, but it's hard to judge a book when one reads it in such a poor translation (English into Italian)