Jack on the Gallows Tree by Leo Bruce

 

I've not read anything by Leo Bruce before--another author who wrote under several different names and published LOADS of books--so I went in skeptical that he could live up to the likes of Cristianna Brand or Carter Dickson.  But having finished this, I think he's easily on a par with them.  Apparently Leo Bruce was hugely successful until the public discovered he was homosexual and from that point on he became extremely private, choosing to not publish any more books. There are no overt "homosexual tones" in this book, but the main character is a single, young man who seemingly has no interest in women and who has a younger male student as his sidekick and lackey. If that is a signal to gay readers that Bruce thinks they are morally acceptable, they are more sensitive readers than I am since I only thought about that once I read a bit of Bruce's life history.

Ok, so what's going on here? The book was published in 1960 events take place at that time. The main character is Carolus Deene (yes, really) who has solved many mysteries before so by the time this book starts his methods and personality are assumed to be known by the readers.  He's a senior history master at a fictional school or university for males only and, to the shame and humilation of his adminstrators, solves murder mysteries for intellectual exercise. Carolus works with a police detective who tolerates him well enough and this enables Carolus to attain a perfect success record, but that doesn't make it an acceptable pastime according to the headmaster. The novel begins with Carolus having jaundice just before the end of the term. The headmaster, eating breakfast and reading his newspaper, sees headlines refer to a crime wave that is "sweeping" the nation--and (horror) one murder just happened in the same spa town that Carolus has been ordered to go to for his jaundice treatments. Imagining the negative publicity as Carolus attempts to solve yet another murder, the headmaster leaps into action and convinces the school doctor to order Carolus to a "less murdery" spa town. And off Carolus goes to a boring town where no one ever gets murdered. BUT just after Carolus arrives, an especially grusome pair of murders occur and Carolus is delighted to have something to fill his boring days spent in large rooms with territorial old people who gobble up all the tea treats. And into this situation arrives Rupert Priggely, one of the older boys, who is supposed to be staying with a retired teacher to get desperately needed tutoring, but decides to assist Carolus in his investigations instead.  Carolus doesn't actually want Priggely getting under his feet, particularly since Priggley's contributions to conversations focus on how little progress Carolus has made and griping about how many errands Carolus orders Prigglety to complete in a day. But, Priggley gives Carolus an opportunity to explain things which helps us readers see into his thinking immensely.

Carolus sets to work by pumping the locals for information. Bruce's description of all the characters in this book is masterful: while the novel is told from Carolus's point of view (slightly--we aren't actually in his head but are seeing the world through him), the personalities of the characters are entirely revealed through their conversations--by their speech patterns, word choices, resentments, hints and allegations. One parking lot attendant is a hopeless hypochondriac and an older couple are nudists who eat nothing but seaweed stew and "nutloaf".  According to them, everything, from television and movies to having pets to attending church "poison minds and bodies."  Excellent story telling.  And, of course, none of their stories fit together as everyone has their own perspective on what happened and why.  What did happen?  Well, two elderly ladies were strangled in one night, their dead bodies arranged in a sort of funereal pose, and each holding one long stemmed white lily. One lady was killed in her own living room and the other in her car, and then carried to a local quarry where she was arranged.  Ok, that's grisly, so what's the deal with these two ladies?  Nothing.  That's the mystery part: neither are rich, neither have huge inheritances, neither have enemies or remotely interesting histories, and neither even have anything to do with the other!  None of the prime suspects for one are prime suspects for the other. So who would possibly do this?  Of course the local police and everyone in town think it's a madman from the city who acted on inexplicable impulse--because that's the way the world is now.

For the next two weeks Carolus and Priggley travel hither and yon all aorund the tiny spa town, interviewing witnesses, eavedropping on gossip in the local bar, checking footprints and exchanging information with his old friend, Inspector John Moore who was assigned to the case by London. I won't give it away as it's actually an incredibly simple and straightforward solution, only mysterious because the town is full of cranks and rubes who don't understand the significance of anything in front of their eyes and so are TERRIBLE witnesses to events--exactly what a cozy murder mystery should be.