Paula Messina Reviews: Die All, Die Merrily by Paula Messina

 

Please welcome back Paula Messina to the blog today…

 

  

Die All, Die Merrily

by Paula Messina

 

 

Why should amateur sleuth Carolus Deene spend his holiday investigating a suicide? That’s exactly what the senior history master at Queen's School, Newminster, does at the behest of Headmaster Gorringer. The headmaster usually begs Deene not to disgrace Queen’s by undertaking another sordid murder investigation.

This time is different. None other than Lady Drumbone, “that remarkable woman whose personality dwarfed those of other female politicians,” practically begs Mr. Gorringer to convince Carolus Deene to investigate her nephew’s suicide.

Well, Drumbone doesn’t exactly beg. Her request is more a not-so-thinly-veiled threat. After all, Lady Drumbone will soon be asking “a number of questions in the House about the public schools which she considers degrading, demoralizing, a hotbed of vice, the canker of modern decadence….”

Gorringer is quick to grasp the subtext. Deene is not as swift in acquiescing. Not to put too fine a point on it, Deene does not admire Drumbone.

The lady is in a pickle. Her nephew Richard killed himself. Suicide is bad enough, but Richard made a recording that states unequivocally he murdered an unidentified woman. Heaven knows how the public will react once it learns the contents of the recording.

After Deene listens to the confession, he insists Lady Drumbone immediately turn the recording over to the authorities. Deene, Drumbone, and her relatives agree there was a murder. However, Drumbone et al. define “immediately” on a par with foot dragging.

Everyone agrees Richard murdered a woman. Where’s the body?

You can bet with Carolus Deene on the job it’s only a matter of time before he discovers the victim’s corpse. As stated in the confession, the woman was strangled to death.

Deene is an unusual amateur sleuth. He’s not as irascible or lazy as Nero Wolfe, and he has far fewer peccadilloes than Sherlock Holmes. Deene doesn’t resort to experiments to solve crime. His approach is rather casual and tight lipped. The reader isn’t reminded repeatedly that Deene is a genius.

Bruce creates a world filled with eccentric characters. The credulous Drumbone rushes to Parliament to rage against any injustice, regardless of its absurdity. One might say the deceased Richard is the only normal one in the entire Drumbone family, and he’s a confessed murderer. Richard’s widow makes no effort to hide that she’s been shacking up with a man other than her husband. An adrift nephew wants to marry his aunt’s personal assistant and open a theater. The lawyer in the family, who possesses a gun without a permit, doesn’t need to be told the recording should be turned over to the police. Why does he fail to do so?

Carolus Deene doesn’t have a sidekick. He has Rupert Priggley, a student at Queen’s whose parents seem to be on a never-ending world tour. Deene explains that Priggley “has planted himself on me for the holidays again.” It’s difficult to define exactly what role Priggley provides. He’s not the steady, faithful Dr. Watson, nor is he the witty Archie Goodwin. Although he does share one trait with Archie. Priggley has an eye for beautiful women. He also has a predilection for suggestive dancing and a penchant for beer. When Deene isn’t relying on the student to do his legwork, he’s ordering Priggley to make himself scarce.

Even the minor characters shine here. Bruce is deft at painting a character with dialogue. One character cannot finish a sentence. Another cannot begin one. A witness speaks in newspaper headlines, and Drumbone’s housekeeper spews hatred for each and every authority figure in her life.

Die All is laced with humor and plants a big thumb in the eye of authority and its meddling ways. Drumbone is responsible for turning a “sleepy village, with a pub, a church and a shop” into Maresfield, “the latest and brightest of the new towns,” where its inhabitants are buried under an avalanche of rules and regulations.

Leo Bruce is the pseudonym of Rupert Croft-Cooke (1903-1979). Croft-Cooke was an unbelievably prolific writer. He wrote more than twenty non-fiction books, twenty-plus autobiographies, and numerous articles, poems, plays, and short stories. It seems Croft-Cooke tried his hand at just about every kind of writing. Croft-Cooke is most remembered for his two mystery series, Carolus Deene and Sergeant Beef, which are still in print.

Bruce doesn’t have the name recognition of Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Rex Stout. His writing is every bit as enjoyable as theirs and well worth a place near the top of the to-be-read pile.

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Paula Messina ©2025

Donatello Laguardia, the main character in Paula Messina’s novel in progress, will appear in print for the second time this fall in Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories 2025. A Massachusetts-based writer, Paula Messina’s work has appeared in various publications, including Black Cat Weekly, Wolfsbane, and Devil’s Snare.