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Carolus Deene #19
Death with Blue Ribbon
Carolus Deene becomes involved in his latest adventure when a famous restaurateur is threatened by a protection racketeer and a well-known writer of cookbooks is murdered under extraordinary circumstances.
- GenresMystery
178 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 24, 2017
Carolus Deene, our ex-Commando turned senior history master and sometime amateur detective, is preparing for the break before the Michaelmas term when Mr. Rolland of the Haute Cuisine Restaurant (and hotel) comes to him for help. Mr. Rolland has been visited by two very alarming customers who have demanded protection money to keep his business operating in a healthy manner. If he doesn't pay up, they have promised him a few "unpleasant incidents" which, when publicized, will leave a bad taste in customers' mouths and send interest in his menu to zero. He's already refused once and they arranged a "frightener"--a gentleman ordered dinner and immediately got sick, swearing he would sue Rolland for serving bad food. They promise more incidents--and more intense ones if the famous restaurateur continues to hold out. It is especially imperative to get to the bottom of things quickly because Rolland is expecting a visit from Imogen Marvell, a very important food critic whose opinions can make or break a restaurant. Absolutely nothing must go wrong while she's visiting!
Deene normally doesn't get interested by anything less than murder, but he finds blackmail of any sort to be so vile that he agrees to stay at the hotel, eat at the restaurant, and see what he can do. But he makes no promises. He has barely begun to investigate when Madame Marvell arrives. She too becomes sick after eating the house specialty, Scampi à la Rolland. They manage to keep the name of the hotel out of the papers, giving Deene more time to hunt for evidence. But, again, he makes little headway before Marvell is dead--of an accidentally miscalculated drug dose (according to the inquest). However, Deene suspects murder. It's difficult for him to tell if it's a case of a "frightener" gone wrong or if there are deeper motives. After all, Marvell was quite a rich woman and there are several who expected to benefit from her death--her harassed assistant who had been promised a place in her will as well as the critic's sister, from whom Marvell learned all she knew about cooking...and, of course, her estranged husband--the actual big winner in the Marvell legacy sweepstakes. And all of these folks were right on the spot when the deed was done. Clues and evidence follow and soon Deene is able to hand both the protection gang and the murderers over to the police on a silver platter.
This particular Deene outing was not nearly as engaging as those previously read. Perhaps it is because the murder doesn't occur until late in the book. As mentioned above, murder is what really interests Deene and even though he's quite against blackmail and is willing to wade in and tackle it, the reader never feels that he is as dedicated and interested as he would have been if the investigation had begun with a murder. Also, in past reviews I've mentioned that Bruce's books are filled with "wonderfully eccentric characters." This time round, the characters seem a bit more stock and stereotypical--from the prima donna critic to her harassed, overworked assistant to the protection gang members. No one really stands out. The setting is still fairly good and Deene is a well-established character with a certain charm. These elements keep the book from being too much to wade through. ★★ and 3/4...not quite good enough to make three. [But I will round up here]
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Deene normally doesn't get interested by anything less than murder, but he finds blackmail of any sort to be so vile that he agrees to stay at the hotel, eat at the restaurant, and see what he can do. But he makes no promises. He has barely begun to investigate when Madame Marvell arrives. She too becomes sick after eating the house specialty, Scampi à la Rolland. They manage to keep the name of the hotel out of the papers, giving Deene more time to hunt for evidence. But, again, he makes little headway before Marvell is dead--of an accidentally miscalculated drug dose (according to the inquest). However, Deene suspects murder. It's difficult for him to tell if it's a case of a "frightener" gone wrong or if there are deeper motives. After all, Marvell was quite a rich woman and there are several who expected to benefit from her death--her harassed assistant who had been promised a place in her will as well as the critic's sister, from whom Marvell learned all she knew about cooking...and, of course, her estranged husband--the actual big winner in the Marvell legacy sweepstakes. And all of these folks were right on the spot when the deed was done. Clues and evidence follow and soon Deene is able to hand both the protection gang and the murderers over to the police on a silver platter.
This particular Deene outing was not nearly as engaging as those previously read. Perhaps it is because the murder doesn't occur until late in the book. As mentioned above, murder is what really interests Deene and even though he's quite against blackmail and is willing to wade in and tackle it, the reader never feels that he is as dedicated and interested as he would have been if the investigation had begun with a murder. Also, in past reviews I've mentioned that Bruce's books are filled with "wonderfully eccentric characters." This time round, the characters seem a bit more stock and stereotypical--from the prima donna critic to her harassed, overworked assistant to the protection gang members. No one really stands out. The setting is still fairly good and Deene is a well-established character with a certain charm. These elements keep the book from being too much to wade through. ★★ and 3/4...not quite good enough to make three. [But I will round up here]
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
February 6, 2019
"Carolus Deene -- the clever schoolmaster-sleuth -- becomes involved in his latest adventure when a famous restaurateur is threatened by a protection racketeer. Then a well-known writer of cookbooks is murdered under extraordinary circumstances. Carolus's investigations in the pretentious world of haute cuisine lead him into great personal danger -- horrifically so when a second murder occurs, that of a member of the protection-racket gang.
Discovering the connection between two seemingly disparate murders, and extricating himself fro tricky situations, Carolus Deene exploits his penchant for solving mysteries in masterly fashion.
~~back cover
Another complicated mystery solved by means of seemingly unrelated clues by the great Carolus Deene. Exciting as usual, and not easy for the reader to figure it out, at least it wasn't for me.
Discovering the connection between two seemingly disparate murders, and extricating himself fro tricky situations, Carolus Deene exploits his penchant for solving mysteries in masterly fashion.
~~back cover
Another complicated mystery solved by means of seemingly unrelated clues by the great Carolus Deene. Exciting as usual, and not easy for the reader to figure it out, at least it wasn't for me.
February 13, 2025
Carolus Deene may be a schoolmaster at a prestigious boys’ school, but he also has an excellent reputation for his sleuthing to solve murders. This time, he is approached by a restauranteur-owner of the upscale Haute Cuisine Restaurant in the Fleur de Lys Hotel. There is a matter of pressure from a protection racketeer who is in possession of blackmail information. To keep the “information” private there needs some money to be sent to the racketeer.
Carolus’ specialty is murder, but blackmail is a very serious matter, so he takes on the case. Turns out that a couple of murders become part of the case!
The restaurant owner, Yves Rolland, has just a snobbish, pretentious façade as his restaurant, which makes it difficult for Carolus to tolerate.
When Imogene Marvell, a renowned gourmand, cookbook writer, restauranteur, writer, and an even more pretentious person than Rolland, comes to visit and review Haute Cuisine, things don’t go well. While enjoying “Scampi à la Rolland,” the restaurant’s signature dish, she becomes violently ill and declares she’s been poisoned. Taking to her bed to recover, she is found dead the following morning. Food poisoning or murder?
Sorting out the restaurant staff and Marvell’s connections gives Carolus a long list of suspects. He also has to find out who the extortionists are, if there are any other victims and if there is any connection between these events.
Not a simple case but one that Carolus handles with aplomb.
Carolus’ specialty is murder, but blackmail is a very serious matter, so he takes on the case. Turns out that a couple of murders become part of the case!
The restaurant owner, Yves Rolland, has just a snobbish, pretentious façade as his restaurant, which makes it difficult for Carolus to tolerate.
When Imogene Marvell, a renowned gourmand, cookbook writer, restauranteur, writer, and an even more pretentious person than Rolland, comes to visit and review Haute Cuisine, things don’t go well. While enjoying “Scampi à la Rolland,” the restaurant’s signature dish, she becomes violently ill and declares she’s been poisoned. Taking to her bed to recover, she is found dead the following morning. Food poisoning or murder?
Sorting out the restaurant staff and Marvell’s connections gives Carolus a long list of suspects. He also has to find out who the extortionists are, if there are any other victims and if there is any connection between these events.
Not a simple case but one that Carolus handles with aplomb.
July 19, 2019
C-: By far the worst of Bruce's books that I've read (16/23). I usually enjoy the brisk tempo of the books, but this felt very rushed. There are at least three characters who divulge far too much information with barely any encouragement, and it veers too much from mystery into crime for my liking. Disappointing.
May 13, 2015
After reading "Such Is Death" and enjoying it so much, I plunged into "Death with Blue Ribbon" with high expectations. Unfortunately, the book didn't deliver for me. It seemed too much about extortion and protection money and not enough about murder to make me care. It won't keep me from reading other titles in the Carolus Deene series as I do like the style of writing.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews