Death in the Middle Watch

August 29, 2005
Readers looking for stylish, old-fashioned fun will find it in the late Leo Bruce's Death in the Middle Watch: A Carolus Deene Mystery, set aboard an English cruise ship on the Mediterranean. A man overboard and a subsequent murder keep gentleman sleuth Deene, his fellow passengers and the crew gossiping and guessing until the ship's return to London, where Deene can take suitable action. .

September 1, 2004
This pleasantly acerbic puzzler features a British schoolmaster/sleuth who enjoys problem-solving as a recreational activity. Carolus Deene is invited aboard a cruise ship as a preventive measure after the cruise director receives threatening letters. Despite the precaution, a mysterious man may have jumped (or been pushed) overboard at night, and a wealthy woman whose husband died on ship the previous year is murdered. First published in England in 1974, this stylish mystery should appeal to fans of traditional British fare. Bruce is the pseudonym for the late Rupert Croft-Cooke (1903-79).

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2004
Bruce, whose real name was Rupert Croft-Cooke, was a poet, playwright, autobiographer, and novelist whose first book was published nearly 80 years ago. Carolus Deene, his history teacher turned sleuth, made his first appearance almost half a century ago. This novel, originally published in the UK in 1974 (five years before Bruce's death), finds Deene aboard a luxury cruise ship, hired by the owner of the cruise line to pose as a passenger and keep an eye out for trouble (there was a murder on a previous cruise, and threatening letters have been arriving regarding this one). Naturally, trouble doesn't take long to manifest itself, when the widow of the man who died last year is murdered. The Deene novels are old-fashioned whodunits, genteel almost, but Deene himself has a modern, hard-bitten, cynical side that allows him to fit right in with today's edgier mysteries. An excellent series for fans of the classic detective story, from Hercule Poirot to Inspector Morse.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)