The Books of Leo Bruce: The Blurb for A Louse for the Hangman

From page 1 of the first (and only) edition of A Louse for the Hangman by Leo Bruce, published by Peter Davies (London, 1958):

Mr Gorringer, headmaster of the highly-respected Queen’s School, Newminster, disapproved of the publicity brought to his school by the extra-curricular activities of its amateur-detective history master, Carolus Deene. But when Lord Penge, a friend of long standing and a very rich one too, started to receive threatening letters, the headmaster decided to make an exception, and asked Carolus to investigate. The letters threatened death to Lord Penge, but it was Michael Ratchett, his secretary, who was found shot in the park of the Penges’ luxurious house, Highearth [sic*] Manor, Ratchett was found to be wearing Lord Penge’s overcoat—had the murderer made a mistake and shot the wrong man?

From the front flap of the dust jacket of the same edition:

Mr Gorringer, headmaster of the highly-respected Queen’s School, Newminster, disapproved of the publicity brought to his school by the extra-curricular activities of its detective-cum-history master, Carolus Deene. But when Lord Penge, the Meat Paste King, a friend of long standing and a very rich one too, started to receive threatening letters, the headmaster decided to make an exception, and asked Carolus to investigate. The letters threatened death to Lord Penge, but it was Michael Ratchett, his secretary, who was found shot in the park of the Penges’ luxurious house, Highearth [sic] Manor, Ratchett was found to be wearing Lord Penge’s overcoat—had the murderer made a mistake and shot the wrong man?

Inevitably, Carolus found that practically everyone connected with the household could have committed the crime: and motives abounded, assuming that the killer had made a mistake. When mysterious faces were seen looking through the Manor windows, and Lord Penge’s medicine was found to be poisoned, tension increased, and Carolus warned Lord Penge that he would be in grave danger if he left the house. But next morning Lord Penge was found shot, in the garage, and Piggott, the footman, was arrested and charged; and the police were satisfied.

It was left to Carolus to explain to everyone what had happened: but it was a solution that frankly revolted him, as well as shocking Mr Gorringer.

* Lord Penge’s country residence is Highcastle Manor.

Synopses of Sergeant Beef novels:

Case for Three Detectives

The morning after the mystifying murder of Dr. Thurston’s wife in a locked room, three famous, eccentric, amateur sleuths arrive to investigate the baffling crime and, of course, ultimately, to provide ingenious solutions therefor; meanwhile, stolid Sergeant Willam Beef, the village policeman, considers the case a simple one.

Case without a Corpse
A young man bursts into the pub wherein Sgt. Beef is playing darts, loudly confesses to having committed a murder, drinks poison, dies, and leaves everyone wondering whom he killed and where the body might be.

Case with No Solution
Feeling unappreciated by Scotland Yard, Sgt. Beef quits the police force and becomes a private investigator in London; he is hired to prove that a young man’s brother, a prime suspect, is not a murderer.

Case with Four Clowns
Sgt. Beef travels with a small circus, hoping to prevent a murder therein, after he receives a letter from his nephew revealing a fortune-teller’s dire prophecy.

Case with Ropes and Rings
Sgt. Beef believes that the younger son of the Marquess of Edenbridge, found hanging in his exclusive school’s gymnasium, did not commit suicide.

Case for Sergeant Beef
A retired watchmaker plans a perfect, motiveless (and therefore, he gloats, unsolvable) murder, but after the murder is committed Sgt. Beef plans to identify the killer.

Neck and Neck
Sgt. Beef is enlisted by Lionel Townsend, his Watson, or Boswell (and also—as an heir to a substantial legacy—a suspect), to find his aunt’s killer.

Cold Blood
Sgt. Beef is hired to discover who killed, apparently with a croquet mallet, a rich and elderly recluse—a cuckold or even, perhaps, a wittol—at his country house.