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Carolus Deene #7
FURIOUS OLD WOMEN
Mysterious doings in a churchyard. A catalogue of crime calls this probably Bruce's wittiest and best-plotted novel to date. A very ingenious idea...a fine surprise in the last moments. The humour and wit are of a high order....
190 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1960
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46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 27, 2016
Carolus Deene is a wealthy history teacher at a boys' public school in England. His hobby is solving crimes, especially murders. When spinster Millicent Griggs is found buried in someone else's grave, her sister, Mrs Bobbin, comes to Deene looking for answers. Feisty, strong-willed and determined, Mrs Bobbin has no faith in the local constabulary (with good reason, it turns out).
Mrs Bobbin is just one of the first furious women that Deene comes across. There is Agatha Waddell, the vicar's wife, described by Mrs Bobbin as "a lean and hungry-looking woman who seems thoroughly dissatisfied with life;" Grazia Vaillant, "the vicar's other best parishioner"; Flora Griggs, younger sister of both Mrs Dobbin and Millicent, who is "calling for vengeance like someone on Mount Sinai"; Mrs Rumble, a cleaning lady with an observant eye - and light fingers; and Mrs Fyfe, wife of Commander Fyfe, a retired naval man and the churchwarden, who makes her husband's life a living hell.
Deene quickly finds that the late Millicent Griggs was probably the most unpopular person in the village. Extremely nosy, mean-spirited and petty, she managed to antagonize everyone, even the easygoing Flo, "who doesn't mind" (usually). But did someone hate Millicent enough to kill her? And why did they conceal her body in a grave?
Deene has a knack for getting people to confide in him, but he finds that investigating this murder is a lot harder than he expected. People are holding things back and he is having issues with the local police force, such as it is. The police are really just an obstacle for him to work around. The local constable, Slatt, is more interested in people calling him "police officer" instead of "policeman" or "copper" than doing anything useful.
It is only after another death - murder or suicide? - and a mysterious accident (or was it?) that Deene finally realizes the truth and everything fits together.
I really enjoyed this mystery. Bruce did an excellent job of portraying the village, which is slowly changing with the times (early 1960s), and Grazia Vaillant and Millicent Griggs dueling over whether the church will be evangelical or Anglo-Catholic. Laddie and Naomi being unable to marry due to his inability to get a divorce because of his wife's madness seems rather cliche, but was accurate for the times. It simply was not as easy to get a divorce back then.
For all the humor in this story - and there is a lot of it - there is also something serious. There are the "furious women" of the title. According to Dr Pinton:
Superfluous women, who feel they have outlived their time without having actually lived. The anger, jealousy, and passion that rests right under the surface. Yet it never bogs the story down or gets depressing. Bruce has a light touch and the story never gets morbid. A very good mystery, and I will definitely trying more of Leo Bruce's books.
"I've been pretty annoyed for years with this silliness called modern life. It irritates me to make no progress at all except towards old age. I could strangle the self-pitying young people who moan at the mess around them and do nothing about it. But I've never yet been angry on a personal score, I mean at something which happened to me. When I hear that my elder sister has been battered to death and thrown in an open grave, I find it too much. I’m livid. So don’t take too long in solving the thing. I understand you’re clever. For goodness’ sake show it."
Mrs Bobbin is just one of the first furious women that Deene comes across. There is Agatha Waddell, the vicar's wife, described by Mrs Bobbin as "a lean and hungry-looking woman who seems thoroughly dissatisfied with life;" Grazia Vaillant, "the vicar's other best parishioner"; Flora Griggs, younger sister of both Mrs Dobbin and Millicent, who is "calling for vengeance like someone on Mount Sinai"; Mrs Rumble, a cleaning lady with an observant eye - and light fingers; and Mrs Fyfe, wife of Commander Fyfe, a retired naval man and the churchwarden, who makes her husband's life a living hell.
Deene quickly finds that the late Millicent Griggs was probably the most unpopular person in the village. Extremely nosy, mean-spirited and petty, she managed to antagonize everyone, even the easygoing Flo, "who doesn't mind" (usually). But did someone hate Millicent enough to kill her? And why did they conceal her body in a grave?
Deene has a knack for getting people to confide in him, but he finds that investigating this murder is a lot harder than he expected. People are holding things back and he is having issues with the local police force, such as it is. The police are really just an obstacle for him to work around. The local constable, Slatt, is more interested in people calling him "police officer" instead of "policeman" or "copper" than doing anything useful.
It is only after another death - murder or suicide? - and a mysterious accident (or was it?) that Deene finally realizes the truth and everything fits together.
I really enjoyed this mystery. Bruce did an excellent job of portraying the village, which is slowly changing with the times (early 1960s), and Grazia Vaillant and Millicent Griggs dueling over whether the church will be evangelical or Anglo-Catholic. Laddie and Naomi being unable to marry due to his inability to get a divorce because of his wife's madness seems rather cliche, but was accurate for the times. It simply was not as easy to get a divorce back then.
For all the humor in this story - and there is a lot of it - there is also something serious. There are the "furious women" of the title. According to Dr Pinton:
"Old women! You never stop to think of them, do you? I don’t mean only those from middle-class families but working class as well. Thirty, forty years ago the better-off ones had companions and went down to death selfishly, perhaps, but decently and without humilations. The poor ones, even the old widows of farm-workers, kept their own cottages to the last, when a cottage cost half-a-crown a week. Yes, and tottered round their little bits of garden and had visits from their grandchildren and perhaps their great-grandchildren, and made jam and homemade wine if they lived in the country and crept round to the pub sometimes with a jug sometimes if they lived in town. Now what happens? Herded into homes to sleep in dormitories and obey the rules like children. Or, if they’ve got enough money to keep them out of that, have the pestered, anxious, artificial existences that these old women here had. Do you blame old Mrs Bobbin, who has character, for being angry? Do you blame her sister for getting a sort of religious mania? Do you blame Grazia Vaillant for taking to the bottle, as apparently the old girl did, lately?"
Superfluous women, who feel they have outlived their time without having actually lived. The anger, jealousy, and passion that rests right under the surface. Yet it never bogs the story down or gets depressing. Bruce has a light touch and the story never gets morbid. A very good mystery, and I will definitely trying more of Leo Bruce's books.
February 23, 2025
Carolus Deene, a school teacher at an English boy's school and a detective on the side, is called to the village of Gladhurst at the behest of Mrs. Bobbin to solve her sister's murder.
The murder of Millicent Griggs is a ghastly affair, but no one is truly mourning such a loathsome woman. However, Deene does his best to unravel the mystery and makes a shocking discovery of what really happened to Ms. Griggs.
This was a true who-done-it mystery and one that was hard to put down.
The murder of Millicent Griggs is a ghastly affair, but no one is truly mourning such a loathsome woman. However, Deene does his best to unravel the mystery and makes a shocking discovery of what really happened to Ms. Griggs.
This was a true who-done-it mystery and one that was hard to put down.
January 24, 2019
"Another in the series of mystery novels featuring Carolus Deene, the 'Gentleman Detective' who teaches history at a boys' public school in England and has a private income. The solution of baffling crimes is his hobby and his passion and he brings to it a sophisticated intelligence and a dry sense of humor.
"This novel is considered one of Bruce's cleverest and best plotted. The reader is misled by clues until the last moment and then is brought up short."
~~ back cover
The reader certainly is misled and brought up short in this ingeniously plotted mystery. But what I most enjoyed was the character names: Mrs Bobbin, sister of the first corpse; Rumble & Mrs Rumble, the church sexton & verger & his wife; Mr. & Mrs Stick, who "do" for Carolus; Muggeridge, the school porter; Breadman, another professor at the school; Slatt, the local bobby; Mugger, the local Don Juan; Father Slipper, the curate; Dundas Griggs; nephew of the three Griggs sisters; Lovibond, the electrician; Champer, the Detective Inspector; etc. A wonderful English mystery in the old tradition -- guaranteed to stump the reader into great enjoyment.
"This novel is considered one of Bruce's cleverest and best plotted. The reader is misled by clues until the last moment and then is brought up short."
~~ back cover
The reader certainly is misled and brought up short in this ingeniously plotted mystery. But what I most enjoyed was the character names: Mrs Bobbin, sister of the first corpse; Rumble & Mrs Rumble, the church sexton & verger & his wife; Mr. & Mrs Stick, who "do" for Carolus; Muggeridge, the school porter; Breadman, another professor at the school; Slatt, the local bobby; Mugger, the local Don Juan; Father Slipper, the curate; Dundas Griggs; nephew of the three Griggs sisters; Lovibond, the electrician; Champer, the Detective Inspector; etc. A wonderful English mystery in the old tradition -- guaranteed to stump the reader into great enjoyment.
May 22, 2021
This is a 1960 book by prolific English author Rupert Croft-Cooke, writing using the pseudonym Leo Bruce. Leo Bruce has two famous detective series, the Sergeant Beef series from 1930s to early 1950s, and the schoolmaster and amateur detective Carolus Deene series from mid-1950s to 1970s. Furious Old Women is the 7th book in the Carolus Deene series and is widely regarded as one of Bruce’s best books. It is a very solid cozy mystery with a surprise ending. Deene is a rich independently wealthy gentleman who drives a Bentley Continental and lives a luxurious lifestyle. He splits his time between his two interests in life: crime and history. Therefore, it is no surprise that he is the Senior History Master at Queen’s School, a public school in Newminster, England. In his spare time, he plays amateur detective. Deene has a knack of getting witnesses to open up and talk to him. The book is well written. It is like a police procedural book (except it is amateur detective procedural). It is filled with witness interviews and alibis checking. Bruce does plant the clues to the solution of the three crimes throughout the book, with a fair share of red herrings.
Spoiler alert. The setting of the book is in late 1950s in a small English village called Gladhurst which is a hotbed of scandal and malice. The village has many domineering and hot-tempered women (hence the title of the book). The two prima donnas in the village are both old rich ladies who are arch-rivals of each other: Miss Millicent Griggs and Miss Grazia Vaillant. Both are very religious and are major benefactors to the local church. However, Millicent believes the church should be run as a low church whereas Vaillant holds the opposite view and believes the church should be run as a high church. The vicar is caught in the middle and constantly has to walk a tight rope to keep his two key benefactors happy. Millicent is also a mean, controlling and inquisitive person who likes to intrude into people’s personal lives and is therefore not liked in the village. When one day her dead body was discovered with a cracked skull and buried in an open grave in the churchyard, his sister brought in Deene to investigate. Deene conducted various interviews to understand the local population and to check out alibis for all concerned. Ten days after Millicent died, Vaillant was found dead in her home. The police believe it was a suicide caused by an overdose of sleeping pills mixed with alcohol (Vaillant is a closet drinker). Later, Millicent’s sister, Flora Griggs, was injured when she fell when climbing up the bell tower of the church.
The book has a surprise ending and brilliant plot twist. It turns out Vaillant was actually murdered by Millicent (who is already dead by the time Vaillant was poisoned). Millicent set the sequence of events in motion by visiting Vaillant’s home with the pretext of having a reconciliation meeting. While Millicent was there, she replaced Vaillant’s bottle of gin with a bottle of the same brand but infused with an overdose of sleeping drugs. Unfortunately for Millicent, soon after she completed setting the poison trap for Vaillant, she was in a quarrel in her home with her domestic help Naomi Chester on the staircase. Naomi threw a bucket of water at Millicent in anger. Millicent slipped on the wet staircase and fell to her death. Chester than have her boyfriend help her bury Millicent’s body in an open grave in the graveyard. Ten days after Millicent died, Vaillant took a drink from the poisoned gin bottle. As a result, she died as well. The third case in the book, the fall of Flora on the staircase, turns out to be a failed suicide attempt and was nothing but an accident. So, while the police believe Millicent was murdered, she in fact died in an accident. Whereas in the case of Vaillant, the police believe she died as a suicide but in fact it was murder. In the end, Deene decided that since the police was not willing to work with him and the murderer is already dead herself, there is no reason for him to publicly reveal his conclusions and the cases therefore officially remain unsolved.
Spoiler alert. The setting of the book is in late 1950s in a small English village called Gladhurst which is a hotbed of scandal and malice. The village has many domineering and hot-tempered women (hence the title of the book). The two prima donnas in the village are both old rich ladies who are arch-rivals of each other: Miss Millicent Griggs and Miss Grazia Vaillant. Both are very religious and are major benefactors to the local church. However, Millicent believes the church should be run as a low church whereas Vaillant holds the opposite view and believes the church should be run as a high church. The vicar is caught in the middle and constantly has to walk a tight rope to keep his two key benefactors happy. Millicent is also a mean, controlling and inquisitive person who likes to intrude into people’s personal lives and is therefore not liked in the village. When one day her dead body was discovered with a cracked skull and buried in an open grave in the churchyard, his sister brought in Deene to investigate. Deene conducted various interviews to understand the local population and to check out alibis for all concerned. Ten days after Millicent died, Vaillant was found dead in her home. The police believe it was a suicide caused by an overdose of sleeping pills mixed with alcohol (Vaillant is a closet drinker). Later, Millicent’s sister, Flora Griggs, was injured when she fell when climbing up the bell tower of the church.
The book has a surprise ending and brilliant plot twist. It turns out Vaillant was actually murdered by Millicent (who is already dead by the time Vaillant was poisoned). Millicent set the sequence of events in motion by visiting Vaillant’s home with the pretext of having a reconciliation meeting. While Millicent was there, she replaced Vaillant’s bottle of gin with a bottle of the same brand but infused with an overdose of sleeping drugs. Unfortunately for Millicent, soon after she completed setting the poison trap for Vaillant, she was in a quarrel in her home with her domestic help Naomi Chester on the staircase. Naomi threw a bucket of water at Millicent in anger. Millicent slipped on the wet staircase and fell to her death. Chester than have her boyfriend help her bury Millicent’s body in an open grave in the graveyard. Ten days after Millicent died, Vaillant took a drink from the poisoned gin bottle. As a result, she died as well. The third case in the book, the fall of Flora on the staircase, turns out to be a failed suicide attempt and was nothing but an accident. So, while the police believe Millicent was murdered, she in fact died in an accident. Whereas in the case of Vaillant, the police believe she died as a suicide but in fact it was murder. In the end, Deene decided that since the police was not willing to work with him and the murderer is already dead herself, there is no reason for him to publicly reveal his conclusions and the cases therefore officially remain unsolved.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2019
This was one of the funnier Carolus Deene mysteries I've read. Carolus Deene, full-time schoolmaster and part-time amateur detective, is asked by Mrs. Bobbins to look into the death of her sister, Miss Griggs. Describing herself as a "furious old woman" (as opposed to the then-fashionable "angry young men"), Mrs. Bobbins demands to know who killed Miss Griggs and deposited her in a newly dug grave.
Carolus Deene spends every minute he can spare from his schoolmasterly duties in the village, sounding out the villagers. He soon discovers that the village is simply brimming over with furious old women : the victim had been embroiled in a years-old rivalry with another woman, Grazia Vaillant, about liturgical details in the local church services (?!). This bitter enmity, of which the vicar and his wife (another angry woman) suffered the consequences, had mysteriously been resolved in the weeks before Miss Grigg's death.
The best part of the book for me were the secondary characters. There's a paranoid Major (whose wife is another angry old woman), a good-natured local trollop, and the dithering vicar, who is caught between the evangelical Miss Griggs and the anglo-catholic Grazia Vaillant. Some of the compromises he came up with to reconcile the opposing wishes of these two determined ladies were hilarious. But my favorite character has to be Mugger, the lugubrious odd-jobs man. This unappetizing character somehow seems to have a way with the ladies, the descriptions of the various females that are waiting for him at all hours of the day and night, at various places in the village, and that he insists on pouring into Carolus Deene's unwilling ears, were good for a chuckle.
So, between the unusual motive for village strife (incense, confessions, a statue of the Virgin) and the village character, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.
Carolus Deene spends every minute he can spare from his schoolmasterly duties in the village, sounding out the villagers. He soon discovers that the village is simply brimming over with furious old women : the victim had been embroiled in a years-old rivalry with another woman, Grazia Vaillant, about liturgical details in the local church services (?!). This bitter enmity, of which the vicar and his wife (another angry woman) suffered the consequences, had mysteriously been resolved in the weeks before Miss Grigg's death.
The best part of the book for me were the secondary characters. There's a paranoid Major (whose wife is another angry old woman), a good-natured local trollop, and the dithering vicar, who is caught between the evangelical Miss Griggs and the anglo-catholic Grazia Vaillant. Some of the compromises he came up with to reconcile the opposing wishes of these two determined ladies were hilarious. But my favorite character has to be Mugger, the lugubrious odd-jobs man. This unappetizing character somehow seems to have a way with the ladies, the descriptions of the various females that are waiting for him at all hours of the day and night, at various places in the village, and that he insists on pouring into Carolus Deene's unwilling ears, were good for a chuckle.
So, between the unusual motive for village strife (incense, confessions, a statue of the Virgin) and the village character, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.
February 10, 2019
I bought this book in a second hand bookshop in Bloomington, In. The cover and premise of the book grabbed my attention. It took awhile to get into the book. The author uses the main charactor to interview all the people who where present or had any information about the crime but he does nto draw any conclusions. At first I though well we arn't getting anywhere and this is boring but then I realized I had to figure it out. It made it fun and during the last few pages everything was revealed. My copy was faling apart and every page I read fell out so holding it together with a rubber band now.
March 6, 2025
I’m writing this review a few days after finishing the book. I’ve been wondering what this story was all about. The fact that dear Carolus is involved means that there’s at least one mysterious death . But I was left feeling that this story was more of a debate about how the local church should conduct worship.
The death (s) were just incidentals. There’s always a need for a subplot but it should never become more than that. Even so, it was enjoyable. The murder part wasn’t necessary. I’m glad “murder” was not part of the title.
The death (s) were just incidentals. There’s always a need for a subplot but it should never become more than that. Even so, it was enjoyable. The murder part wasn’t necessary. I’m glad “murder” was not part of the title.
September 15, 2024
Carolus Deene is quite the sleuth
And he undertakes to determine the killer of a nasty old woman. And then another old woman dies and another is injured. At that point, Deene abandons his inquiry. His reasoning is eventually disclosed and is quite interesting. Worth reading.
And he undertakes to determine the killer of a nasty old woman. And then another old woman dies and another is injured. At that point, Deene abandons his inquiry. His reasoning is eventually disclosed and is quite interesting. Worth reading.
January 11, 2021
Fun and structurally sound. A good read indeed.
March 22, 2022
3 1/2 really. Quite clever.
June 11, 2008
I enjoyed it enough to search out others in the series, but not enough to buy them. Bookmooch and paperbackswap time.
Want to read
January 14, 2020Synopsis: Carolus Deene, schoolmaster and part-time detective, is asked to find the murderer of Mrs. Bobbin's sister.
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