Another Text Forthcoming

Since Leo Bruce’s Case for Sergeant Beef now seems to be out of print, we shall provide the text of that novel, chaptermeal, during August, 2017.

Later, we might consider providing the out-of-print novels in other formats.

Rupert Croft-Cooke Story Added

The text of a murder story of sorts by Rupert Croft-Cooke, “Rough Island Story” (1930), has been added.   The story was published in Under Thirty: An Anthology edited by Prof. Michael Harrison (London, 1939), pp. 134-41.  The anthology included stories from thirty British writers who were then under the age of thirty.

The full text of Under Thirty: An Anthology is available online so, though still under copyright, it seemed to the Leo Bruce Society no great offence to provide a more readable e-text of the already e-published “Rough Island Story”.

The Final Text

The next Leo Bruce text we shall post chaptermeal, A Louse for the Hangman, will be the last text of an out-of-print Leo Bruce mystery which we need to provide (at least for now) since all his other books are currently in print; we shall regularly check the availability of books and if any go out of print we shall as swiftly as possible configure an e-text thereof.

Once A Louse for the Hangman is completed, however, our work here will not be done.  We shall in the future supply articles and essays on the works of Leo Bruce.

First chapters of the texts which are available:-

Case for Three Detectives ;
Case without a Corpse ;
Case with Ropes and Rings ;
Neck and Neck ;
Cold Blood ;
At Death’s Door ;
Death of Cold ;
Dead for a Ducat ;
A Bone and a Hank of Hair ;
Death on the Black Sands ;
Death on Romney Marsh ; &
Death by the Lake.

The Next Texts

The next Leo Bruce text we shall provide, Dead for a Ducat, will be published in December.  Next year, deis volentibus, we shall haply provide texts of the Carolus Deene novels Death on the Black Sands (in January), Death on Romney Marsh (in February) and At Death’s Door (in March).

First chapters of the texts which are available:–

Case for Three Detectives ;
Case without a Corpse ;
Case with Ropes and Rings ;
Neck and Neck ;
Cold Blood ;
At Death’s Door ;
Dead for a Ducat ;
A Bone and a Hank of Hair ;
Death on the Black Sands ;
Death on Romney Marsh ; &
Death by the Lake.

UPDATE I (30 December):  we have obtained (at considerable expense) a photocopy of another rare, out-of-print Carolus Deene novel, Death of Cold; we hope to provide the chapters thereof in April. 

UPDATE II (14 January, 2015):  we have obtained a copy of another rare, out-of-print Carolus Deene novel, A Louse for the Hangman—far, far more cheaply than the few other copies available because it has, horresco referens, no dust jacket!—we hope to provide the chapters thereof in May.  With that text, should all go smoothly, we shall thereby be providing texts of all out-of-print Leo Bruce novels.

A Note on Textual Consistency

We have, for the sake of consistency between texts, altered (and shall alter in the future) some spellings and punctuation in the novels we publish, usually following precedents from the earliest Leo Bruce novels: direct speeches, for example, use double quotation marks and quotes within those speeches use single quotation marks; “Mr.”, “Mrs.” and “Dr.” retain their stops; spaces are removed before and after long dashes; “realise”, “recognise” and “apologise” (and their permutations) are severally changed to “realize”, “recognize” and “apologize” (and their permutations); “connexion” is altered to “connection”; “’phone” is used for the shortened form of “telephone” instead of “phone”; the verb “show” is modified to “shew”; “will” is capitalised when referring to a last will and testament; and hyphens are retained (or, when absent, reinserted) in “half-past”, “week-end”, “good-bye” and “shot-gun” but are removed from “note-book”, “note-paper”, “to-day”, “to-morrow” and “to-night”.  We apologize for any inconsistency which we miss (and welcome notification thereof).  Whenever we have access to first editions we shall note any additional correction or alteration we make in the pertinent texts.

The Next Text

The next Leo Bruce text we shall provide (because it too, sadly, is out of print—though second-hand copies are not so rare as Case with Ropes and Rings) will be Case without a Corpse.  Then, over forthcoming weeks, we’ll publish the last two Sergeant Beef novels, which are also so regrettably out of print, Neck and Neck and Cold Blood.  Later, if we locate copies of At Death’s Door, Death of Cold , Dead for a Ducat, Death on the Black Sands, Death on Romney Marsh and Death by the Lake, we’ll transcribe those Carolus Deene novels, as well as tother out-of-print books.

UPDATE I (9 July):  first chapters of the texts which are so far available:- 

Case for Three Detectives 
Case without a Corpse 
Case with Ropes and Rings 
Neck and Neck 
Cold Blood 
(At Death’s Door will be available in March, 2015)
(Death of Cold will be available in April, 2015)
Dead for a Ducat
(A Louse for the Hangman will be available in May, 2015)
A Bone and a Hank of Hair 
Death on the Black Sands
(Death on Romney Marsh will be available in February, 2015)
Death by the Lake

UPDATE II (13 July):  Cold Blood has been formatted and (in order not to overburden the list of July’s posts) will be published here on 1 August.  We have at last obtained (at considerable expense) one rare, out-of-print Carolus Deene novel, Death by the Lake; we shall transcribe it as soon as it arrives from the UK and publish the text soon thereafter.

UPDATE III (1 August):  list updated.  Death by the Lake will be published here on 1 September.

UPDATE IV (1 September):  list updated.

UPDATE V (1 November):  list updated.  The first chapter of A Bone and a Hank of Hair is published here, and the remaining chapters will be published during November.

UPDATE VI (3 November):  we have at last procured (at huge expense) another rare, out-of-print Carolus Deene novel, Death on Romney Marsh; we shall transcribe it as soon as it arrives from the UK and publish the text soon thereafter.

UPDATE VII (6 November):  we have bought (for a very reasonable price, for once) another rare, out-of-print Carolus Deene novel, Death on the Black Sands; we shall transcribe it soon.

UPDATE VIII (17 November):  we have successfully obtained (at great expense) scans of the pages of another rare, out-of-print Carolus Deene novel, Dead for a Ducat; we shall transcribe it soon.

UPDATE IX (30 November):  list updated.  The first chapter of Dead for a Ducat will be published here on 1 December, and the remaining chapters will be published during December.  Death on the Black Sands and Death on Romney Marsh will be published in January and February, 2015.

UPDATE X (29 December):  list updated.  At Death’s Door will be published in March, 2015.

UPDATE XI (30 December):  we have successfully procured (at considerable expense) a photocopy of another rare, out-of-print Carolus Deene novel, Death of Cold; we shall transcribe it soon and, haply, publish it in April.

UPDATE XII (14 January, 2015):  we have obtained a copy of another rare, out-of-print Carolus Deene novel, A Louse for the Hangman—far, far more cheaply than the few other copies available because it has, horresco referens, no dust jacket!—and we hope to provide the chapters thereof in May.  The list was updated.