This image is the cover for the book Such Is Death, Tales of the PanCosmos

Such Is Death, Tales of the PanCosmos

Someone very, very clever planned this murder: the place, a remote shelter on the promenade at Selby-on-Sea; the occasion, a blustery evening in late November; the victim, somebody ready-made for a crack-of-doom from a coal hammer. Diary notes indicate someone had been planning the "ideal" murder, one which no police, no detective could solve. The murderer's gratification would be wholly cerebral, a triumph of mind over matter. However, the murderer had not counted on the clever, tenacious, unpredictable mind of that unique schoolmaster, Carolus Deene.

Leo Bruce

Leo Bruce was the pen name of Rupert Croft-Cooke, who wrote more than twenty highly praised mysteries featuring Carolus Deene. He also wrote eight mysteries featuring Sergeant William Beef, a cockney police detective who invariably knows who done it.

Chicago Review Press