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Inspector Quill #2
Murder a la Stroganoff
Sequel to A BULLET IN THE BALLET. the Ballet Stroganoff is back!
274 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
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33 people want to read
About the author
Caryl Brahms
49 books15 followersCaryl Brahms, born Doris Caroline Abrahams was an English critic, novelist, and journalist specialising in the theatre and ballet. She also wrote film, radio and television scripts.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 11, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in July 2001.
The second Brahms and Simon collaboration is a sequel to A Bullet in the Ballet, and is once more a humorous murder mystery set in the chaotic Stroganov ballet company. The eternally optimistic Stroganov, seeing an advert for a casino for sale in a minor resort in the south of France, decides that his fortune is made. Buying it, he transfers his ballet company there and is immediately plunged into rivalry with the casino owned by the English Lord Buttonhooke.
There is very little difference between A Bullet in the Ballet and Casino for Sale. Both are amusing, affectionately ridiculing the pretensions of the edges of the professional ballet world; both are filled with eccentric caricatures; and both have a murder mystery entirely subsidiary to the humour. A Bullet in the Ballet is perhaps more consistently funny, but like one and you will like the other.
The second Brahms and Simon collaboration is a sequel to A Bullet in the Ballet, and is once more a humorous murder mystery set in the chaotic Stroganov ballet company. The eternally optimistic Stroganov, seeing an advert for a casino for sale in a minor resort in the south of France, decides that his fortune is made. Buying it, he transfers his ballet company there and is immediately plunged into rivalry with the casino owned by the English Lord Buttonhooke.
There is very little difference between A Bullet in the Ballet and Casino for Sale. Both are amusing, affectionately ridiculing the pretensions of the edges of the professional ballet world; both are filled with eccentric caricatures; and both have a murder mystery entirely subsidiary to the humour. A Bullet in the Ballet is perhaps more consistently funny, but like one and you will like the other.
September 9, 2015
Vladimir Stroganoff buys a struggling casino in the South of France, as a home for his ballet company. He finds himself competing with the wealthy press baron, Lord Buttonhook. It's fortunate that he's invited Adam Quill, formerly of Scotland Yard, when a ballet critic is found dead in Stroganoff's securely locked office. Of course, the police arrest both Stroganoff and Buttonhook, leaving Quill free to investigate the various conmen, grifters, gamblers, and members of the ballet company.
March 18, 2018
Returned to charity shop
January 29, 2019
This is not just a mystery, it is a comedy of errors too. The characters are painted broad and quirky. The action is a little Keystone Kop, Laurel and Hardy and Marx Brothers. But there is a murder, a murderer, a ex Scotland Yard detective, a French policeman, a cynical, blackmailing critic, a baron, the members of the ballet troupe, and other colourful characters.
Vladimir Stroganoff, impresario of the Stroganoff Ballet, sees a casino located in La Bazouch for sale. He reasons that the income from the casino could help finance and promote his ballet to even a higher level. He dashes off, meets up with Baron Rabinovitch and buys the place sight unseen. Thinking it is the glamourous casino he sees as he enters the town, he is definitely unhappy to find that it is a run down place not in the best part of town. But he prefers to see the positive and sets up shop.
Citrolo is a known cynical ballet critic who also makes his living blackmailing. Stroganoff tries to get a good review out of Citrolo but finds he can't. At that point, Stroganoff slips sleeping drops into Citrolo's drink and then writes his own glowing review, signing Citrolo's name to it. When Stroganoff is finished, Citrolo is still asleep, so Stroganoff leaves Citrolo to sleep it off in the office. The next day Citrolo is found to be dead. There are multiple clues/red herrings found in the office, along with the fact that Stroganoff left the room locked when he left. Yup, locked room mystery.
Quill, the ex-Scotland Yard detective, is in town for a vacation but is pulled in to investigate for Stroganoff. Meanwhile, Stroganoff is arrested and thrown in jail along with his business rival Buttonhooke. Quill is left to investigate on his own, interviewing a cast of strange and unusual people.
Even though this has the trappings of a standard mystery (is there such thing) I think reading it and being open for the character personalities, madcap situations and actions is more in line with what the authors intended. Brahms and Simon were well known in the 1920s and 1930s. It may have been the "golden age" of mysteries, but there was also quite a bit of comedy and humour too.
Vladimir Stroganoff, impresario of the Stroganoff Ballet, sees a casino located in La Bazouch for sale. He reasons that the income from the casino could help finance and promote his ballet to even a higher level. He dashes off, meets up with Baron Rabinovitch and buys the place sight unseen. Thinking it is the glamourous casino he sees as he enters the town, he is definitely unhappy to find that it is a run down place not in the best part of town. But he prefers to see the positive and sets up shop.
Citrolo is a known cynical ballet critic who also makes his living blackmailing. Stroganoff tries to get a good review out of Citrolo but finds he can't. At that point, Stroganoff slips sleeping drops into Citrolo's drink and then writes his own glowing review, signing Citrolo's name to it. When Stroganoff is finished, Citrolo is still asleep, so Stroganoff leaves Citrolo to sleep it off in the office. The next day Citrolo is found to be dead. There are multiple clues/red herrings found in the office, along with the fact that Stroganoff left the room locked when he left. Yup, locked room mystery.
Quill, the ex-Scotland Yard detective, is in town for a vacation but is pulled in to investigate for Stroganoff. Meanwhile, Stroganoff is arrested and thrown in jail along with his business rival Buttonhooke. Quill is left to investigate on his own, interviewing a cast of strange and unusual people.
Even though this has the trappings of a standard mystery (is there such thing) I think reading it and being open for the character personalities, madcap situations and actions is more in line with what the authors intended. Brahms and Simon were well known in the 1920s and 1930s. It may have been the "golden age" of mysteries, but there was also quite a bit of comedy and humour too.
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September 14, 2021
I don't even know what to say about this book... I felt like it was written while someone was smoking something. Even the cover is quite crazy. The novel was a wild ride. I think my challenge is that it's supposed to be a satire, a genre I am quite unfamiliar with. Maybe if I was more versed in satire it would have been a more interesting novel.
July 17, 2023
Great fun
November 18, 2023
Learned a little French reading this book.
March 12, 2014
Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon's Murder à la Stroganoff (1938; U.K. title Casino for Sale) is the second of three novels to feature the Ballet Stroganoff and inspector Quill, late of Scotland Yard.
Malcom J. Turnbull in “Inspector Quill: Sleuthing in the Ballet and the Balkans” quotes Jane W. Stedman, “It is likely... that readers of these works find less pleasure in clues and unravelment than in the ebullient collusion of fantastically comic characters.”
Turnbull continues, “Certainly the authors persistently subordinate puzzle and sleuthing to humour, yet all three books contain orthodox whodunit properties and conform in a number of regards to classic and Golden Age norms. Brahms and Simon offer readers the obligatory corpses, circles of suspects (all with motives for mayhem), recountings of the investigation process, and climactic revelations of the culprits’ identities.”
Brahms and Simon even poke a little fun at those classic norms, "Quill sighed. Here he was at last presented with one of those cases with all the doors and windows locked which every hard-pushed author resorts to sooner or later."
Brahms and Simon have a great time with characters such as impresario Vladimir Stroganoff, who seems to have succeeded in spite of his efforts, and Quill, who succeeds because of his hard work and in spite of obstacles continually thrown in his path.
Stroganoff speaks in tortured English with a soupçon -- rather a large soupçon, actually -- of French phrases tossed in: "To call the police tout de suite it is not wise. They will ask the question, they will learn that it is I who see Citrolo last and then I will be in prison. At all costs, I say, I must prevent that. The Ballet Stroganoff it need me too much."
Brahms and Simon proceed from the premise that if a joke is funny the first time it will be even funnier the third or fifth time.
Towards the end of the book, as various plot threads begin to come together, I was reminded of John Kennedy Toole’s Confederacy of Dunces. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Toole has a Brahms & Simon fan.
I bought a Polygonics International, Ltd. reprint via Half.com for 75 cents plus shipping.
Three-and-a-half daggers out of four.
Malcom J. Turnbull in “Inspector Quill: Sleuthing in the Ballet and the Balkans” quotes Jane W. Stedman, “It is likely... that readers of these works find less pleasure in clues and unravelment than in the ebullient collusion of fantastically comic characters.”
Turnbull continues, “Certainly the authors persistently subordinate puzzle and sleuthing to humour, yet all three books contain orthodox whodunit properties and conform in a number of regards to classic and Golden Age norms. Brahms and Simon offer readers the obligatory corpses, circles of suspects (all with motives for mayhem), recountings of the investigation process, and climactic revelations of the culprits’ identities.”
Brahms and Simon even poke a little fun at those classic norms, "Quill sighed. Here he was at last presented with one of those cases with all the doors and windows locked which every hard-pushed author resorts to sooner or later."
Brahms and Simon have a great time with characters such as impresario Vladimir Stroganoff, who seems to have succeeded in spite of his efforts, and Quill, who succeeds because of his hard work and in spite of obstacles continually thrown in his path.
Stroganoff speaks in tortured English with a soupçon -- rather a large soupçon, actually -- of French phrases tossed in: "To call the police tout de suite it is not wise. They will ask the question, they will learn that it is I who see Citrolo last and then I will be in prison. At all costs, I say, I must prevent that. The Ballet Stroganoff it need me too much."
Brahms and Simon proceed from the premise that if a joke is funny the first time it will be even funnier the third or fifth time.
Towards the end of the book, as various plot threads begin to come together, I was reminded of John Kennedy Toole’s Confederacy of Dunces. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Toole has a Brahms & Simon fan.
I bought a Polygonics International, Ltd. reprint via Half.com for 75 cents plus shipping.
Three-and-a-half daggers out of four.
September 12, 2017
For my full review click the link below:
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews