Death in the Middle Watch

Carolus Deene #22

by Leo Bruce

Death in the Middle Watch is vintage Leo Bruce, enhanced by the effortless humour that is a hallmark of all Leo Bruce mysteries. This time, Carolus is enjoying himself on a holiday cruise. On the first night aboard the Summer Queen, there is a shout of Man Overboard! From that point on to the moment of Deene's unexpected revelations, the reader will find that unique mixture of artless fun and grim terror Bruce devotees savour. The reader will also be glad to welcome once again Mr Gorringer (Deene's public school Headmaster) and Mrs Stick (Deene's intrepid housekeeper and cook who is always in a state of horror at Deene's involvement in the solution of crimes).

Genres: Mystery

1948 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Pseudonym for Rupert Croft-Cooke.

Reviews

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The summer cruise line has been receiving threatening letters, so they hire Carolus Deene to investigate. There was a death on a previous cruise that was treated as a heart attack and the body was buried at sea. But was it a heart attack or was it murder? Will there be a repeat on this new cruise? The whole story doesn't really make a lot of sense and the murderers are pretty obvious from the beginning.

Personally I find Carolus Deene dry as dust. There's just something missing from his character and he doesn't ring true. It could be the lack of empathy and personality. It's just that every time I read one of these books by Leo Bruce, I'm always thinking, Christie did it better with Poirot.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

" is vintage Leo Bruce, enhanced by the effortless humor that is a hallmark of all Leo Bruce mysteries.

"This time, Carolus is enjoying himself on a holiday cruise. On the first night aboard the Summer Queen he hears a should of 'Man Overboard!' From that point on to the moment of Deene's unexpected revelations, the reader will find that unique mixture of artless fun and grim terror Leo Bruce devotees savor. The reader will also be glad to welcome once again Mr. Gorringer, Deene's headmaster and Mrs. Stick, Deene's intrepid housekeeper and cook who is always in a state of horror at Deene's involvement in the solution of crimes."
~~front flap

A nice little mystery, with the usual panoply of clues that the reader doesn't recognize as clues before the end. Or if the reader does think "Aha! That's a clue," it's impossible to determine where it fits in the jigsaw puzzle of this mystery. Once explained of course, it's hard to understand why you couldn't have sorted the mystery for yourself. But of course, not all clues are readily recognizable as such ...

[Swathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Resembles a lot of Golden age detective fiction. Its a treat to mystery lovers like me. Quick and easy to read. I liked Carolous Deene, though I would have preferred to see more of his allies- his housekeeper and the history teacher. Otherwise it was a great find to mystery lovers.

Though this is no Poirot and Christie, this is a replacement if we run of out her books. Hey, something is better than nothing isnt it ?

[Scott Drake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty simple solution (explained way too lengthily) but the ride was worth a second star.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The owner of the Summer Queen cruise lines has been getting threatening letters, so he asks Carolus Deene to go along on the next cruise and make sure there's no trouble on board. But Deene becomes aware that there are a lot of things wrong on the cruise, from the "man overboard" scare his first night, to the many strange rumors that circulate on the ship. Two murders, one on shipboard and the other on shore, sorely test the owner's efforts to keep things quiet, and it's not until Carolus is back in London that the culprits are revealed.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very believable at all. In fact this book is really quite daft.
I very nearly abandoned it half way through. It's difficult for me to believe that other reviewers have been reading the same book.