#Leo Bruce

[o-uncle-newt]

A lord, a Belgian and a priest walk into a manor house

I mentioned in my previous post about the book Enter Sir John that next I might write about Leo Bruce's classic murder mystery pastiche Case for Three Detectives next- et voila, as Amer Picon Hercule Poirot might say, I am doing it! In this book, after a gruesome locked room murder in a manor house, three detectives who are SUSPICIOUSLY SIMILAR TO Lord Peter Wimsey, Hercule Poirot, and Father Brown arrive on the scene freakishly quickly to each attempt to solve the case (and one up each other just a bit while doing so), all the while talking over Sgt Beef, the very straightforward cop just doing straightforward police investigation who keeps trying to tell them that he's solved it.

VERY GENERAL SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK BELOW- as in, no names or specifics but describing some broad plot points

***

Spoiler-not-spoiler- Beef solves it. I promise it's not a spoiler, it's the point of the whole book! That said, I'm not going to focus so much on the actual mystery, its IRL solution, and its mechanics because they don't end up being really relevant (to say further would be a spoiler)- all I'll say is that the solution is fascinating. I'm also not going to talk much about Sgt Beef, who, because he is there to be routine and boring with his investigation, doesn't make much of an impact IMO except to be somewhat sarcastic and speaking in some very phonetic Cockney (or whatever "'e got 'im by the froat" et al is meant to sound like). He also has one MASSIVE and consequential fuckup that I won't spoil and that annoys me a lot from a plot perspective.

What I really want to talk about are the detectives, because they are the fun part. First I'll say that the book is narrated by the natural sidekick- a man named Townsend (if his first name is mentioned it passed me by) who is, essentially, a wannabe Watson/Hastings. He finds himself at the scene of the crime, is thrilled to discover that he gets to hang with these amazing detectives, and gets annoyed by the presence of the wet-blanket Sgt Beef and his attempts to spoil the fun. He shadows all the detectives, becoming first awed and then disenchanted and then awed again as he moves from detective to detective, seeing their amazing deductions and then seeing their fellow detectives shooting them down in turn. Seeing his journey as the eager sidekick who gets slowly disillusioned as he realizes that maybe the amateur sleuths aren't all they're cracked up to be is very fun.

Who are the sleuths? We have Lord Simon Plimsoll, Amer Picon, and Monsignor Smith, and if you couldn't figure out who they're parodying just from the names then basically everything else about them will fill you in. They're all very good pastiches, though my favorite was Monsignor Smith just because Bruce got exactly how to write a Father Brown parody. I've seen people say it's a bit too nasty, but as someone who's enjoyed Father Brown stories for nearly two decades I thought that he captured his speaking style and mannerisms perfectly- with lots of vague allusions and parallelisms and odd mystical statements. One of my favorites:

"If there was only one [rope], it would be better. It would be much better. But I'm afraid there are two. And yet- who can say? One rope makes a noose."

It kinda sorta means something, but doesn't actually, or if it does we're not being told what, and it sounds ominous and wise. That's basically Father Brown in a nutshell.

Amer Picon as Hercule Poirot is fun- there isn't a lot of meat to the parody besides him basically just talking exactly like Poirot (and like Poirot, who had his Hastings, Poirot seems to be the most oka with having Townsend following him around), but Bruce is so good at it that it doesn't matter, as the mannerisms and speech patterns really make you think you're reading Poirot. And the fact that the narrator is SO incredibly Hastings-like makes Picon even more Poirot-esque, which is great.

Lord Simon Plimsoll... well, as a fan, I'm of two minds. He has a very entertaining entrance, where he rolls up in style-

"He stepped out of the first of the three Rolls Royces, the second of which contained his man-servant, whose name I later learned was Butterfield, and the third, a quantity of photographic apparatus."

Clearly this isn't Wimsey, who would never show up anywhere without some iteration of his Daimler, Mrs Merdle, but it's what you'd write about a PARODY of the kind of character Wimsey is. After that he's mostly just cheerful, droppin' gs, and using whatever random slang he has the opportunity for. On the one hand, it's pretty much what someone observing Wimsey from the outside would see (though there could have been more arcane French quotations), and so it can't be faulted for that- one difference between the Wimsey books and the Father Brown/Poirot books is that in the Wimsey books we frequently get in Wimsey's own head and see him behind closed doors, which gives him more depth; it's fair enough in that case that in a book narrated by a looker-on he would only see the outer quippy shell. On the other hand, for a fan, that made the parody seem more one-dimensional and less apt. It doesn't help that Bunter Butterfield isn't really around much in the book; that might have helped a bit.

(I would note- if Bruce wanted, given the tone of the parody particularly of Father Brown, I bet he could have done some really blistering parody of Wimsey being all overwhelmed by his nerves and his conscience, and I'm not sure if I'm glad he didn't because I would have resented it or if I'd have loved it as it would have made the whole thing feel more Wimseyish.)

All that is good, but what's REALLY great in this book is that Leo Bruce gets not specifically the detectives themselves, but the way that the detective stories they star in function. This is, again, something that I think is less the case with Wimsey than the other two, but the following quote is reasonably illustrative:

"Lord Simon, gently sipping his brandy, so obviously considered it all to be a most absorbing game of chess, 'something to occupy a chap,' that for a moment I lost all patience with him. And the brilliant little Picon, whose humanity was more evident, he too could not help enjoying his own efforts- and that disturbed me. Certainly I had never known Mgr Smith actually hand a man over to the Law, but even that was partly because the criminals he discovered had a way of committing suicide before he revealed their identity."

This has the same issue as the rest of the Wimsey parody- Wimsey from the outside is not especially interesting, and Wimsey from the inside is generally imperceptible by narrators who don't know him, so while a Wimsey fan will read this and say "not true!" it's pretty reasonable for an outside observer seeing him try to solve a crime. The Picon description rings pretty true- he shakes his head at things that bother him, but he still gets a lot of pleasure from the chase. And the nature of Father Brown's investigations is well summed up here- as is another section where the narrator observes that Mgr Smith was probably losing interest because there were no supernatural things that would turn out to be even more horrible because they were natural, and no demons or symbols of human evil.

...or were there?

Because my actual favorite thing here is the ending, and this is where the semi-spoilers come in because I will be mentioning some very general plot points from the book. The genius thing here, essentially, is that each of the solutions posited by the three parodic detectives is exactly the kind of solution that would occur in a book by their counterparts.

Plimsoll's solution is first, and it's classic Sayers- it's about a woman's inheritance and the complex web of relationships and personal circumstances that compel a person to kill that woman in order to get her money. Sayers returns to the inheritance plot frequently (including in three books in a row, crazily enough) and it's nearly always a woman who has a rapacious relative who will scheme for her possessions.

Picon's solution comes next, and it's, if anything, even more classic Christie- a love triangle and collusion between lovers. Whether because of her own life experiences or not, love triangles are very, very common across Christie's work, and this is a classic example of the kind that she wrote.

Mgr Smith's solution is just as classic Chesterton- it involves the weakness and evil in the heart of a clergyman, who Smith says is possessed by devils and/or insane. That clergyman is, of course, Protestant. I rest my case.

Writing this book was clearly a feat- Bruce had to not just figure out the essence of each of these detectives' stories, but also to construct a mystery and setting which could provide the clues that could be used to construct a murder along the detectives' usual lines. And not only does it indicate a lot of skill, it also is entertaining to read, and those things don't always manage to go together.

Anyway, while I do have some quibbles overall, if you're a fan of any of these detectives, I highly recommend this one!

[elatril]

Una cabeza en la arena, a novel

Novelitas policiales. Siempre entretenidas y un buen descanso de textos más complejos. En idioma original o traducidas, no importa. Conseguí esta de Leo Bruce (Rupert Croft-Cooke). La traducción tiene momentos de tanta literalidad que el inglés brota como en un palimpsesto.

Su ausencia de la casa no fue descubierta hasta que vino la policía con la noticia de que se había hallado su cadáver en la playa. En la casa se mantenía estrictamente la orden de no molestarla hasta que llamara, cosa que solía hacer a veces muy entrada la mañana. Sin embargo, cuando llegó la policía entraron en el dormitorio y hallaron que el lecho indicaba haber sido usado.

[dilfgifs]

BRUCE WILLIS as Korben Dallas in The Fifth Element (1997)

[mistergreatbones]

I think Alfred “the Butler” Pennyworth absolutely drilled good manners into Bruce he just consciously chooses to ignore them. This means that you can tell when he’s really and truly sleep deprived by when he’s relying on instincts and he pulls out the chair for Clark

[spiderliliez]

They will live a blessed, privileged life, and depart the stage together. [+] CARLA GUGINO 🥀 [+] ..more on “The Fall of the House of Usher” 🎬

[drbatsponge]

If I wasn't convinced that Cassandra Cain is that man's literal biological child before, I am now. 😭

Can't believe he was pregnant for 9 months with her.

Covers done by Skylar Patridge and Leonardo Romero.

[noassamoas]

when theyre all mamas boys but none of them have mothers

[were-wolverine]

batfamily ages

as of April 2024

alfred: August 16, 1943-2019 (died at 76)

bruce: February 19, 1979 (45)

babs: September 23, 1992 (31-32)

dick: March 20, 1995 (29)

cass: January 26, 2001 (23)

jason: August 16, 2001 (22-23)

tim: July 19, 2004 (19-20)

steph: August 11, 2004 (19-20)

duke: August 13, 2006 (17-18)

damian: ???, 2010 (13-14)

i tried to be as accurate as possible to canon but some stuff just. isn’t ever revealed. the birth DAYS are what is generally accepted as canon but the years/ages are mostly up to interpretation. also i have no fucking clue when damian was born so

[ofhouseusher]

The Fall of The House of Usher + text posts

2/?

[person25]

‘What’s wrong with him?’ He’s just a little silly.

[starfall-isle]

Cast party // Happy 2 years Balan wonderworld!

[shardkn1ght]

OK YALL HEAR ME OUT!!!

PEPINO IS LOOKING FOR A SECOND PARENTAL FIGURE.

AND HE MIGHT JUST HAVE ONE!!!

I have so many ideas for these two. I imagine that they were young lovers, then Hueso tried to put his dark past behind him, but couldn't do that with Bruce being a maphia boss. So they broke up and were enemies for a while. But then gradually realised they still loved each other.

AAAAAAA SO MANY IDEAS

[mistergreatbones]

Steph, taking a photo: c’mon B, it’s for insta! Hit the brucie just this once

Bruce: *deep sigh*

Bruce: *cocks his hip out*

[fragrantblossoms]

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, Bruce Nauman, 1968.

[drbatsponge]

This entire panel shows so much respect to Cassandra Cain, like my God, this is what we've been asking for DC, literally the bare minimum. 😭

[nanaonmars]

just finished watching batman vs the teenage mutant ninja turtles and tumblr you have failed me. WHERE IS THE CONTENT. i have so many feelings about this movie and they may be incoherent but here we go. bit of a longer post so i cut it here

first of all this is probably my new favorite piece of batman media i loved almost everything about this movie.

starting the movie off strong with my wife barbara gordon. she was so funny in this movie and i loved how much of her smarts and fighting skills were shown cause she can do it allll.

bruce was a little grumpy but when he eventually came around and listened to raph’s speech and agreed that they’re a family i was like 🥹🥹 this is the batman i wanna see.

mikey and alfred’s friendship 💗💗 would love to see alfred actually using mikey’s skateboard.

speaking of mikey I LAUGHED SO HARD THE ENTIRE TIME CAUSE OF HIM 😭😭 his entire vibe killed me lmfao. he was so unserious and i love that about him.

donnie came through as usual and him and babs being the smart duo who wear purple was very nice it made me smile. also it was very cute how often he hid in his shell.

raph was impulsive as usual but he also came through like always. i didn’t expect him to be the one to give the speech but i realized it was actually very fitting.

damian was a little whitewashed unfortunately but his very obviously going through puberty voice was adorable cause he kept trying to be intimidating but i couldn’t take him seriously. i thought he would mention that ra’s was his grandfather to the turtles as a shock factor but it didn’t bother me all that much. i liked his team up with raph bc they’re both secretly softies on the inside.

leo i love you sorry i don’t have a lot to say but keep being eldest daughter coded.

i do wish the rest of the batfamily had been there cause i think it would’ve been nice to see how similar they are to each other and also just explore their dynamics but if we get a sequel maybe they can do something about that. i wanna see jason and raph team up (if jason is red hood in this universe). and maybe HOPEFULLY (not very hopeful at all 😔) we can get the ENTIREE batfamily introduced. i know it’s based on comics and stuff though so i don’t know how they would work that out i’m just rambling. oh i also think we should see splinter!! he and bruce could bond over their teenage vigilante children.

idc about everyone else but i will say ra’s saying “maybe another needs to die” in reference to jason was UNCALLED FOR.