A Mysterious Disappearance: Detective Claude Bruce Murder Mystery

by Gordon Holmes

Claude Bruce is a barrister and an amateur detective who is caught unaware into the mysterious disappearance and the subsequent murder of Lady Dyke, his friend's wife. Together with White, in an amateurish Sherlock Holmes' fashion, Bruce must use his power of deduction to find the culprit. But unlike Sherlock, Bruce is fallible and makes some costly mistakes which results in a humorous but enjoyable murder mystery. The power of this novel lies in its expression and the layout of the puzzling case which has endeared this novel to the mystery lovers for generations!

Genres: Mystery, Classics, Fiction

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

Gordon Holmes is the pen name of Louis Tracy

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just re-read and my original review still stands. However I have reduced my rating to 3 stars as there are several outrageous coincidences which reduce credibility.

I read this quite short book in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. A really good page turner if a little predictable. Interesting insight into the life of the upper crust of English society at the turn of the 19th century.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first book by Louis Tracy and I was amused though driven to impatience at times as the
tangles of the complicated plot could have been simplified. Published in 1905; pickled in beliefs of that time; witticisms accepted then do not translate well to the present; illogical actions by Scotland Yard players portrayed as dull-witted clowns; "murder" easily solved early on by the reader but not by investigators...but then I did find it worth reading while under medication due to minor surgery. It managed to divert me.
It's likely there are other books by Tracy featuring the bachelor barrister Claude Bruce, and I would not mind following his deliberations again as he always seems to be ten steps ahead of Scotland Yard.
I may look for another book by Louis Tracy when in the right frame of mind for turn of century mystery.
[original post I used incorrect name of author...Louis Tracy books can be found under Gordon Holmes as well - Thanks to Col for catching this error!]

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1905, this isn't an especially riveting tale, but carries the reader from point to point effectively, if slowly. The pacing is not the modern, action-packed ride that one typically associates with mysteries. True to its time period, there is much talking, much description, and lots of women crying or being angry. The reader travels with the detectives point by point, and this slows the narrative down; by the final few chapters, I was starting to wish we could just get ON with it already, instead of the constant back-and-forth between characters and places. As a mystery, it's so-so. As a picture of the times in which it was written, it was absorbing.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book I've read or listened to by Louis Tracy. I will look for more of his titles.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

November 1903 when a titled lady leaves her London residence to visit her sister and disappears. She never arrives at her sister and her sister had no knowledge of her intended visit. Some days later, a body is recovered from the Thames, but neither her husband nor maidservant say it is the missing woman. This brings in family friend amateur detective upperclass man Claude Bruce to investigate. Bruce is pretty much a duplicate of the character Reginald Brett who appears in other Tracy stories. Bruce investigates with the cooperation Inspector White of Scotland Yard who is the same as the White in the Brett stories.

Lots of unexpected twists and turns along with mixed up identities taking you from London to Monte Carlo and Italy along with a character from the American Wild West!

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1901 under a different title, this was revised in collaboration with with MP Shiel and released in 1905 as by Gordon Holmes. It relates the story of the investigation of the death/ disappearance of Lady Dyke by barrister/investigator Claude Bruce who I take to be the prototype of the authors’ Reginald Brett.

The whole affair, at once quite improbably convoluted and full of coincidences is, in reality, simple of solution. It just takes an infernally long time to reach its happy-ish resolution.

It is easy to read and so recommendable for a day when something reasonably agreeable yet untaxing is required. As I have almost completed my reading of the mystery output of JS Fletcher this author may be my next port of call.

[Emilia Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book and can't wait to find more from Tracy. I don't like modern fiction--too graphic for my taste--and this 1905 book fits the bill. Intricate mystery, but I had an inkling of the ending after a while, although I was wrong about the reason and how it did happen. I read from an old 1927 American edition, a lovely book, published one year after Tracy died in 1928. Highly recommend. For a complete list of his work: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu...

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining listening 🔰😀

Another will written British romance thriller adventure mystery novel by Louis Tracy with lots of interesting will developed characters. The story line is set in England and Europe where Scotland Yard and a lawyer investigate the disappearance of a 🚹man's wife. Is it murder?You will have to 👍read the mystery to find out. I would recommend this novel to readers of British novels. Enjoy the adventure of reading 📚 or 🎶 to books 🔰🏰👑👑😮 2021🏡

[Lynette Caulkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for this old detective story, 4 stars for Carolin's narrating. (Librivox reading)

It's a good Golden Age book, not excellent, not at all bad. Plenty entertaining enough for listening during manual work - books like these keep the time from becoming drudgery.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tracy has a light, easy writing style, but MD's plot is convoluted, with a twist at the end you can't quite believe. So less than three stars, but it was a pleasant read for much of the way.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Still a mystery to me. DNF. I can’t remember caring less about solving a mystery after I was over half way through it.

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unexpectedly excellent read.

[Naticia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was convoluted and at times coincidental, but a decent classic mystery.

[Lynette Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical turn of the century (1900s) whodunit. It had enough plot twists to keep me interested. The ending was a bit obvious but was told in an interesting manner. Claude Bruce is a lawyer who gets involved in the disappearance of his friend's wife. When a body appears in the river, Bruce sets out to prove it is his friend's wife and find the person behind her murder. As he is putting the pieces of the puzzle together he helps a widow and her brother put their lives in order and plays matchmaker as well. He is however a confirmed bachelor and intends to stay that way for as long as he can. His sidekick is a police inspector named White who is an admirer of Bruce's talent and is doing his best to learn his technique of solving mysteries.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lady Dyke leaves her mansion and mysteriously disappears, but a barrister/amateur detective and a Scotland Yard officer undertake a rather exhausting investigation eventually solving the mystery...

I'd recommend this to lovers of the occasional classic mystery, the plot is an interesting and quite well developed one, I'm sure the reader will enjoy it...

The book can be downloaded here: http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book...

[Courtney Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing how a story written over 100 years ago shares so many functionally similarities to modern times: London in 1900 didn't have email or text messaging but there were multiple postal deliveries and telegrams so timely communications were available. Trains made all of Great Britain accessible and while there wasn't Uber available there were cabs. Detectives had very similar tasks as today with just as intricate processes.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't impressed with this story. I figured out who had killed the victim early on in the story. Bits of it seemed to drag making it hard to finish.

[Samantha Glasser]

Read this book for free through Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34277/...

[Quiver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, albeit a little too forceful in claiming that women are of lesser intelligence and character.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: a Scotland Yard officer and an amateur look into the same clues concerning the disappearance of Lady Dyke.

[Carol Spears · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I wonder if Tracy used this pseudonym for his so-so books. This book was so-so.