Reviews for A bone and hank of hair

The average rating for A bone and hank of hair based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-01-30 00:00:00 Harish Bhatia "Gentleman Detective Carolus Deene is called to investigate the disappearance of Mrs. Rathbone, and perhaps the second Mrs. Rathbone, and the third. With little more than the title clues to aid him, Deene tracks a man who seems to have a habit of murdering his wives -- a man on the order of John Reginald Christie or Wives-in-the-Bath Smith. Bizarre, richly comic and sometimes sinister characters lead him to a remote region of East Kent, to London and to an art colony in Cornwall on the way to a surprising conclusion." ~~back cover Another elegant mystery that pulls the reader into suspecting exactly what the author wants them to suspect: here's another wispy, dreary little man. Atmosphere, stories recounted by neighbors and former acquaintances all point to that conclusion: meek little Brigham Rathbone's a serial wife killer. "' There isn't the smallest doubt,' said the tall woman in black, 'that my cousin has been murdered.' 'And the corpse?' 'Destroyed. Obliterated. Buried. Burnt. Anyhow, beyond discovery.' 'Perhaps you know the identity of the murdered?' asked Carolus Deene innocently. 'Of course I do. It was her husband. He has completely disappeared.'" And the plot thickens from there. A delicious, keep-the-reader-guessing foray into the labyrinth minds and secret passions of seemingly ordinary people. What's not to love?

Review # 2 was written on 2009-05-10 00:00:00 Alan Hillan Reading mysteries is one of my passions and Leo Bruce is partly responsible for this. His books are witty, sparse, and always, always interesting. They are never gory nor are they "cozy" and safe. I just reread "A Bone and a Hank of Hair" for the umpteenth time and fell in love with it all over again. Carolous Deene, the gentlemen detective in his tales, is hired to discover whether a man has murdered his wife. He begins his search for the truth and is confronted with more than he bargained for. There are always a lot of laughs in these books but they remain great examples of a classic mystery.