Jack on the Gallows Tree

by Leo Bruce

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 204
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating:

Synopsis:

“If Carolus Deene catches so much as a whiff of murder he will be on the scent with all the persistence and gusto of a dachshund in search of truffles.”

While Senior History Master of Queen’s School, Newminster, Carolus Deene has a troubling hobby as a criminologist and sometime sleuth. Even more troublingly, he has jaundice. But with the papers shouting of the crimewave sweeping the seaside resorts of England, sending him to the coast to recover is too risky for the Headmaster – he will be much further from trouble in the inland spa resort of Buddington.

But before long Buddington is rocked by a twisted double-murder – two elderly women found dead on the same night at the same time, each with a white lily by their side. Perhaps things are looking up for the curious Deene?

First published in 1960, Leo Bruce’s classic mystery hums with his trademark wit and comedic flair, centred around an intelligent puzzle and a memorable cast of Buddington’s best.

I wasn’t sure if I’d like Jack on the Gallows Tree, as Leo Bruce is also the author of the Sergeant Beef stories, which I’ve never enjoyed much when I came across them in British Library Crime Classics collections. Fortunately this one is based around his other series detective, Carolus Deene, who I find more enjoyable as a character, with his sense of civic duty and the sense that he genuinely suffers strain during a case, and genuinely feels conflicted about pointing to a murderer.

In many ways it’s a pretty typical classic crime story, and I quickly figured out the motive in the same way as the character does — that part wasn’t exactly a mystery, though I think there’s a biiit of a dearth of clues pointing you to the right character (since three have motives which fit the bill). Possibly I missed something, but it felt to me like we didn’t have all the evidence until the circle of suspects was convened in classic mystery style, and then it was starting to feel a bit ponderous.

Still, I enjoyed it overall: Deene works quite well as a detective, some of the character observations are funny, along with the rather metafictional bit where Priggley tells Deene the circle-of-suspects thing is why he’s not one of Julian Symons’ top detectives. I’d definitely read more Carolus Deene books, though I still hope I won’t have to subject myself to a whole novel of Sergeant Beef.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)