The Case of the Three Strange Faces

Ludovic Travers #10

by Christopher Bush

Old Hunt slithered in the most amazing way and then fell to the floor. He lay between the seats, face upwards. Ludovic Travers is on his way by train from Toulon to Marignac. Along for the ride are several suspicious characters, two of whom die en route. Although the murders seem at first unrelated, Travers is able to prove the connection between the two, while diverting the eye of official suspicion from himself. After Travers learns that one of the victim’s country house has been burgled soon after the murderous act, the inquisitive sleuth decides to look into the case himself when he returns to England. Soon Travers, his Isotta now replaced with a Bentley, is working in tandem with Superintendent Wharton to solve one of the strangest cases which he has yet encountered. It is one in which some of the darkest of human impulses are exposed, and a twist is guaranteed in the tail. The Case of the Three Strange Faces was originally published in 1933. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Genres: Mystery

219 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1933

About the author

Christopher Bush was educated in the local school. He then won a scholarship to Thetford Grammar, and went on to study modern languages at King's College London, after which he worked as a school teacher.

He participated in both world wars.

He was a prolific writer of detective novels, wrote three autobiographical novels and nine books about Breckland life using the nom-de-plume Michael Home.

He lived in Great Hockham.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five men and one woman sit in the second class train compartment as it speeds through rural France. There are three others on the train with ties to someone in the compartment. And before the train reaches Paris, two of them will be dead. Ludovic Travers is one of the survivors, and his head is already filled with some of the mysterious happenings on the train. As the investigation jumps from England to France and back, he works with his old friend Wharton, one of Scotland Yard's sharpest minds, as they try to find out exactly what happened on that train, and why.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number 10 of the Ludo Travers series, first published in 1933, had me puzzled for much of the time
and I did find the solution a bit over-elaborate.

There are two cases here really, which start in a second class train carriage returning from the South of France, involving the deaths of several people. One is dealt with by the French police under Inspector Gallois and the other is mainly investigated by Superintendent George Wharton with some input from Travers.

The body count is high and the plots involve international drug-smuggling, poisonings and stabbings, and concealed identities.

I was, at times, somewhat confused about what was going on and I remain unsure that I fully understood why Wharton and Travers acted the way they did.

Overall, not as enjoyable a read as some of the others.

I do, however, look forward to further releases of books in the series by Dean Street Press with Curtis Evans’ illuminating Introductions.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written in wonderful English. Very complex plot with well drawn characters. Super stuff.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admit Leslie Hunt as a possible murderer of his uncle, then—excluding the dead Olivetsthere were four people who could have been concerned in the two deaths, and—far more complex—from those four there might have been every possible combination. In the syringe affair Ellman might have acted alone, but prompted by Leslie. Charles Hunt and Brown might have been the combination, or either of them and Ellman. And though apparently Leslie could hardly have worked the syringe himself, yet any of the other three might have done that murder entirely alone and wholly unsuspected by any of the others.