Death Goes to School

by Q. Patrick

The Edgar Award–winning author of the Peter Duluth Mysteries (as Patrick Quentin) "keeps the reader guessing" in a mystery set at a British boys' school (The New York Times).
 
Patrick Quentin, best known for the Peter Duluth puzzle mysteries, also penned outstanding detective novels from the 1930s through the 1960s under other pseudonyms, including Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge. Anthony Boucher "Quentin is particularly noted for the enviable polish and grace which make him one of the leading American fabricants of the murderous comedy of manners; but this surface smoothness conceals intricate and meticulous plot construction as faultless as that of Agatha Christie."
 
The lads at Craiglea, a preparatory school on the Bristol Channel, are unimpeachable young men. The faculty? Unflappable. Until a student is found smothered in a linen closet. The son of a controversial American judge, Eric Moss, along with his brother, had already been a victim of a botched kidnapping back in the States. Ironically, they'd been enrolled at Craiglea for their own safety. But if it was an inside job, who did it? The suspects number a staff of sixteen and sixty-eight boys. But one precocious student might know more than he's letting on . . .

Genres: Mystery

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge were pen names under which Hugh Callingham Wheeler (19 March 1912 – 26 July 1987), Richard Wilson Webb (August 1901 – December 1966), Martha Mott Kelly (30 April 1906–2005) and Mary Louise White Aswell (3 June 1902 – 24 December 1984) wrote detective fiction. In some foreign countries their books have been published under the variant Quentin Patrick. Most of the stories were written by Webb and Wheeler in collaboration, or by Wheeler alone. Their most famous creation is the amateur sleuth Peter Duluth. In 1963, the story collection The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow was given a Special Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

Reviews

[Theunis Snyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Quentin is one of my favorite authors. He always has an interesting situation with mysterious happenings and incredible characters. It’s so nice that this book is now available as an e-book. I searched a long time at all second hand book stores, but couldn’t find a copy. But now I have it and devoured it in nearly one sitting. Two brothers are killed in a school and the search for the killer is on! Many secrets are revealed before the culprit is finally caught. This book is a bit shorter than his other books, but is perhaps even better because of that.
I only hope that Quentin’s other hard to find books will soon also become available as e- books. Mysterious Press is doing us a great favor in republishing Quentin’s books under his own name and the pseudonym of Jonathan Stagge.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crossing the pond to meet a charming and surprisingly efficient detective.

This is my fifth stand-alone mystery by "Q Patrick" and the best so far. The history is murky, but Richard Webb seems to have given up on female writing partners and found his permanent literary-and-romantic partner - Hugh Wheeler. Wheeler was also an English ex-pat and the two men produced a large quantity of work in the next two decades.

This story is set in an English boys' prep school, although the trouble originated in the U.S.A. You know it's a school for young English gentlemen because the maids out-number the teachers. Academics might be sketchy, but the boys' shoes will be shined to a high polish and their white cricket uniforms will be dazzling.

Two new boys have arrived - twins from America. Their father is a judge who's made vicious enemies sentencing a Nazi-wanna-be to death for staging a lethal riot. The deader's family has sworn revenge against the judge's sons. Moving them to an English school is supposed to make them safe, but their distinctive double-barrel name wouldn't be hard to trace.

It's Parents Day at Craiglea Prep and a lovely, sophisticated young woman shows up to visit the twins. The judge is busy at home, but their new step-mother has come over to check on them. She's a show-piece, but a bust as a security agent.

I don't want to give away the plot, but the judge better plan on siring a new family with his much-younger wife if he wants heirs for his fortune. Golden Age mysteries usually have unlikable murder victims and rarely are they children. Perhaps a couple of old bachelors like Webb and Wheeler didn't think their readers would mind. And really, I didn't.

As usual, almost everyone involved is a suspect at some point and many of them aren't what they were thought to be. The school porter (general handyman) gives himself away with his American slang. He has a good explanation, claiming to be a detective sent over to protect the boys.

The aristocratic Oxford graduate (recommended by the Master of All Saints' College!) who teaches English seems to have ties to the U.S., too. The dishy step-mom is an ex-chorus girl who's landed a wealthy older husband. She and the English master are on suspiciously chummy terms. AND she gets the loot if the judge and his sons are croaked.

The French teacher ISN'T from Paris (as she claimed) and gets letters from the U.S. under a different name. The man who teaches everything but English took leave of absence the previous year due to a nervous breakdown. But was he really traveling and recovering?

It's 1936 and the German Nazis are flexing their muscles. Most people are appalled, but Hitler has fans in England and the U.S. Mention is made of Minnesota, home state of aviator Charles Lindbergh. He was Uncle Adolf's BFF and led the fight for a U.S. isolationist policy.

Sadly, the judge's family is caught in the crosshairs. Looks like the murders were committed by the condemned man's brother and sister, but either could be at the school disguised as someone else.

The local police are bumfuzzled, but one of the suspects has recruited an assistant detective - schoolboy St John Lucas. St John is an ordinary boy, if the boy's father is a bishop. Life in the church has given him confidence and some knowledge of human nature. Most boys fancy themselves as detectives, but young Lucas shows real talent. He's especially good at cracking codes, which comes in very handy.

It's not great literature, but the insider's look at an exclusive English boys' prep school is charming. It's likely both Webb and Wheeler attended such schools and had fond memories. The Wild West portrayal of American politics and justice (feuds, lynchings, revenge murders, and all) is overdone. Still, it WAS an uneasy time in the U.S. and German sympathizers were kicking up dust.

I normally dislike mysteries that end with the brilliant detective gathering the suspects and explaining how he's eliminated most and settled on the guilty party. But this one has a neat twist that makes it great fun. It's a good Golden Age mystery with interesting characters and lots of humor. I enjoyed it.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pokračuju ve svém retro koutku a dohánění Patricka Quentina. U nás hodně vycházel po dvou, takže najednou hodnotím dva jeho romány, z opačné strany spektra a kvality
Smrt ve škole (Death Goes to School)… je divná. Je to skoro dobrodružný příběh pro mladé jinochy, kdyby se tam s celkem milou lhostejností ti mladí jinoši nevraždili. Je to až skoro jako z nějakého skeče Monty Pythonů, kdy na škole umírají děti a kantoři (a i rodiče těch dětí) na to koukali spíš jako na nepříjemnou patálii. Plus si člověk opravdu uvědomí, že Patrick Quentin (ať už pod tím jménem zrovna psal kdokoliv) není detektivkář, je autor thrillerů. (Ale může hrát i roli to, že jak už je to starší, člověk automaticky vytipuje nejméně podezřelou osobu a ta bude pachatelem.)
Ono ani v druhém příběhu, Do náruče smrti, nemůžete čekat zapeklitou záhadu. Ale příběh to dohání obrovským tempem. Výhoda starých knížek je v tom, že není nutné se držet reality, skutečných emocí a prostě všeho, co přidává knize na stránkách. Opět se vrací Peter Dulluth, který se zaplete do něčeho, čemu sám nerozumí… a kvůli čemu po něm jdou. Kdo, to úplně přesně neví. Tady se hodně zábavně a dobře pracuje s jojo efektem, kdy je sice omezený počet postav, ale pořád se střídá jejich důvěryhodnost s nedůvěryhodností. Hrdina někoho podezřívá, pak se stane něco, na základě čeho mu začne věřit, aby se vzápětí přihodilo něco, po čem je jasné, že je to padouch… než se to zase změní. Je to překvapivě zábavné a vyvolává to správně paranoidní pocity.
Jasně, je to jednoduchý a přímočarý, ale svým retro způsobem překvapivě zábavný. Má to tempo a daří se tu poměrně jednoduchými způsoby vyvolávat napětí.

[J. Rubino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs. Bernard-Moss, the beautiful second wife of an American judge travels to England to visit her step-sons, Eric and Irving, at Craiglea school. The boys were sent abroad for their safety, while their father oversees the trial and sentencing of the notorious Heller gang, convicted for their involvement in anti-Semitic crimes. At Craiglea, it is visiting day, and while the visitors engage in a series of Parents-versus-Boys games, their attention is focused on the enigmatic Myra Bernard-Moss.
An attack on Mrs. Bernard-Moss is followed by a double tragedy, when one twin, and then the other, is murdered. Called in to investigate the case is Sir Wilfrid Pemberly, Chief Constable, but a quartet of amateurs - the headmaster's daughter, Sophonisba Dodd, the English master, Harvey Nettleton, an American detective working undercover as the school's porter, and a clever student, St. John Lucas - take on an investigation of their own. (I confess, "Sophonisba" was a new one on me.)
Written in 1936 by "Q. Patrick" who best known for his post-Doyle amateur sleuth Peter Duluth. Q Patrick was a pseudonym used by two pairs of writers, Hugh Wheeler and Richard Webb, and Martha Kelley and Mary Louise White, Death Goes to School is a cut above the post-Doyle mysteries of the era, with a cast of interesting characters and a neat double-twist at the end.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

So curiously callous about the deaths of two small boys, the whole rigmarole becomes meaningless. I guess there's a reason the victims in these things are usually crusty old men..