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    Case for Three Detectives: A Sergeant Beef Mystery
    Unavailable
    Case for Three Detectives: A Sergeant Beef Mystery
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    Case for Three Detectives: A Sergeant Beef Mystery
    Ebook267 pages4 hours

    Case for Three Detectives: A Sergeant Beef Mystery

    By Leo Bruce

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Possibly the most unusual mystery ever written. A murder is committed, behind closed doors, in bizarre circumstances. Three amateur detectives take the case: Lord Simon Plimsoll, Monsieur Amer Picon, and Monsignor Smith (in whom discerning readers will note likeness to some familiar literary figures). Each arrives at his own brilliant solution, startling in its originality, ironclad in its logic. Meanwhile Sergean Beef sits contemptuously in the background. "But, " says Sergean Beef, "I know who done it!"

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChicago Review Press
    Release dateOct 1, 2014
    ISBN9781613732588
    Unavailable
    Case for Three Detectives: A Sergeant Beef Mystery

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    Reviews for Case for Three Detectives

    3.5/5

    39 ratings8 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      If you are going to parody great fictional detectives, at least do a passable job of it.
    • 3/5
      A stupid but sweet middle-aged woman is murdered in her bed in the midst of a lovely little house party. The other guests find her body within a minute, the room is locked, there are no footprints outside the window--the case seems insolvable. Three great amateur detectives show up the next day to solve the case--parody versions of Lord Peter Wimsey, Hercule Poirot and Father Brown.

      Lord Simon Plimsoll: "He stepped out of the foremost of three Rolls-Royces, the second of which contained his man-servant, whose name I afterwards learnt was Butterfield, and the third, a quantity of photographic apparatus. I happened to be outside the front door at the time, and heard him address his man. I was at first a little startled at his idiom, for it reminded me of a dialogue I had heard in a cabaret between two entertainers whose name I believe was Western, and it took me a few moments to believe that this was his natural mode of speech."

      Amer Picon: "He interrupted me. 'I know all that you know, mon vieux, and per'aps a leetle more. Oho, tiens, voila!' he ended not very relevantly."

      Monsignor Smith: "'Why, I've actually heard that an American has risen from the ground and moved through the air with wings,' he said, 'and without sharing the fate of Icarus.'
      The little cleric was staring out of the window through the thick lenses of his spectacles. 'But there are so many kinds of wings,' he murmured; 'there are the wings of aeroplanes and of birds. There are angels' wings and'--his voice dropped--'there are devils' wings.' Then he nibbled at a piece of bread which he had been crumbling.
      We were silent at once. My acquaintance with all of this remarkable man that had been made public, led me to look for something in his words which would turn out to have some bearing on our problem.
      'But there is flight without wings,' he went on, 'more terrible than flight with wings. The Zeppelins had no wings to lift them. A bullet has no wings. A skilfully thrown knife, flashing through the air like a drunken comet, is wingless, too.'
      This was too pointed for Alec Norris, who began to talk hastily of motor-cars."

      The detectives guide us through twists and turns of hidden ropes, servants with criminal pasts, and various wills, until at last, they each give their rendition of how this locked room murder was committed.

      And then Sergeant Beef, the ponderous, slow-witted police officer originally assigned to the case, says "But I know 'oo done it" and unravells it all.
    • 2/5
      If you are going to parody great fictional detectives, at least do a passable job of it.
    • 4/5
      Dr and Mrs Thurston are hosting a country house party, attended by a neurotic novelist, a lawyer, a hard-drinking sportsman and the narrator. There is crowd of servants with unusually murky pasts, and a very peculiar vicar, so when Mrs Thurston is found murdered there are plenty of suspects. Shortly following the murder, three famous detectives descend on the Thurston house: the Lord Peter Wimsey stand-in, Lord Simon Plimsoll; Amer Picon, who bears a strong resemblance to Hercule Poirot; Monsignor Smith, who shares many characteristics with Father Brown. Our narrator Townsend, well-versed in the rules of detective fiction, conscientiously acts as Watson (or Hastings) to all three, as they apply their giant intellects to the murder. Also investigating is the red-faced, beer-drinking, dart-playing plebian, Sergeant Beef, who is sadly underrated by the other investigators.This is an amusing locked-room mystery, particularly for fans of Golden Age detective stories. The story sags slightly when the four detectives produce their theories, but overall it's an entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      I’m beginning to like author Leo Bruce and his character Sgt. Beef. Here Beef is at his best: he knows “who done it” from the get-go, and is respectful of the more sophisticated amateur detectives working on the case, but of course shows them up in the end. This is that classic favorite, the locked room murder, and we get several possible and logical solutions to the mystery. As a fan of the three detectives parodied here (Poirot, Holmes, Wimsey) I found this book amusing but not brilliant. I’m not much of a fan of the multiple solution ending. The only exception is The Poisoned Chocolates Case, which I thought was beautifully done. In fact, The Poisoned Chocolates Case is very much like this book in plot and tone, but is a much better book.Still, Sgt. Beef is a comical, sly fellow and makes this book worthwhile.
    • 2/5
      „Ich kann nicht behaupten, dass etwas Besonderes, Unheimliches an diesem Abend in der Luft gelegen hätte. Nichts von alledem, was einem Verbrechen vorausgehen, es andeuten könnte. Niemand ging finsteren Blickes umher, keine geflüsterten Streitigkeiten, die plötzlich abbrachen, kein sonderbarer Fremder, der ums Haus geschlichen wäre. Im Nachhinein ließ ich mir die Ereignisse dieses Tages, wie Sie sich denken können, wieder und wieder durch den Kopf gehen, aber auch dabei stieß ich auf nichts, was als Warnung hätte dienen können, nicht die geringste Ungewöhnlichkeit im Verhalten aller. Wohl daher war das Ganze ein so abscheulicher Schock für mich.“Ein Mord in einem verschlossenen Raum: Die gutmütige Mary Thurston, Gastgeberin einer Abendgesellschaft, wird mit durchgeschnittener Kehle in ihrem Schlafzimmer gefunden. Fenster und Türen waren von innen verriegelt, vom Täter fehlt jede Spur.Der herbeigerufene Dorfpolizist Sergeant Beef, "ein großer, rotgesichtiger Mann von achtundvierzig oder fünfzig Jahren mit einem stacheligen rotblonden Schnurrbart, der eine wohlwollende Bierruhe ausstrahlt“ agiert zwar äußerst kompetent, wird aber von den Anwesenden recht herablassend behandelt. Dies ist ein Fall für Scotland Yard, - da scheint man sich einig, und selbst da bleiben Zweifel, ob jene ihn überhaupt werden lösen können.Aber Hilfe kommt von unerwarteter Seite: Bald erscheinen drei illustre Herren, jeder von ihnen ein berühmter Detektiv, der als offensichtliche Parodie eines bekannten Vorgängers angelegt ist.„Schon sehr früh am nächsten Morgen trafen einer nach dem anderen diese unfehlbaren, brillanten Privatdetektive ein, die anscheinend immer auftauchten, wenn es einen Mordfall aufzuklären gilt. Ich kannte mich recht gut mit ihren Besonderheiten aus und konnte mir gleich denken, was passiert war, dass sie hier erschienen. …Lord Simon Plimsoll war der erste von ihnen. Er entstieg dem ersten einer Kolonne von drei Rolls- Royces, in dem zweiten befand sich sein Diener, dessen Name Butterfield war, wie ich später erfuhr, und in dem dritten Wagen wurde eine fotografische Ausrüstung von respektablem Umfang transportiert.“Als nächstes folgte Amer Picon: „Sein Körperbau wirkte schmal und zerbrechlich, wurde jedoch gekrönt von einem großen, eiförmigen Kopf, so eiförmig, dass ich überrascht war, an ihm überhaupt eine Nase und einen Mund zu entdecken. Eher hätte ich erwartet, dass die Eierschale zerspringt und ein Küken ausschlüpft.“Schließlich findet sich auch der Geistliche Monsignore Smith: ein kleiner menschlicher Pudding mit einem grünen Regenschirm, am Tatort ein. Die Art wie Leo Bruce die berühmten Ermittler seiner Autorenkollegen hier durch den Kakao zieht ist anfangs durchaus amüsant. Lord Simon ist freundlich und unbekümmert, ein lustiges Liedchen summend untersucht er den Tatort, Amer Picon spickt seine Rede mit französischen Ausdrücken und der kleine Priester schwadroniert alles mögliche seltsame Zeug. Aber 205 Seiten lassen sich damit nicht ausfüllen. Vielmehr quält sich …Drei Detektive mit Mühe und Not über die Ziellinie und das Ende kommt einer Erlösung gleich. Für die Leser der 1930-er Jahre mag die derartige Veralberung ihrer geliebten Krimihelden noch mit dem Reiz des Neuartigen gewirkt haben, heute wirkt die Satire wenig subtil und nutzt sich schnell ab.Im Finale darf dann jede der berühmten Spürnasen ihre eigene Auflösung des Falles präsentieren, welche sich selbstredend allesamt als falsch erweisen; während es dem unscheinbaren Dorfbullen Sergeant Beef als einzigem gelingt, den wahren Täter zu entlarven.Die Auflösung bietet jedoch keine besonderen Überraschungen, vielmehr wird hier einer der ältesten Tricks des Genres variiert.Ein Fall für drei Detektive ist weder als Komödie noch als klassischer Rätselkrimi wirklich überzeugend.Der britische Autor Leo Bruce schrieb noch weitere Romane mit Sergeant Beef, ob sie besser gelungen sind als diese langatmige Persiflage vermag ich allerdings nicht zu sagen.
    • 3/5
      An entertaining pastiche that, unfortunately, deflates badly at the very end with one too many twists and an irrelevant epilogue. Good fun is to be had, though, with the spoofing of Wimsey, Poirot and, especially, Father Brown. Shooting ducks in a barrel? Maybe so, but, heavens! what quacking!
    • 4/5
      It's the mystery of three off the wall detectives trying to solve a murder. Each comes up with a completely different yet plausible scenerio for what could have happened. You find yourself saying, "but, of course!" until you hear the final Who Really Did It story.