Tour de Force

By Christianna Brand

Book Overview

First published in 1955, Christianna Brand's classic novel skewers the package holiday experience while unravelling one of the most audacious and devilish mysteries in the history of the genre. This edition includes an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger and Edgar(R) Award-winning author Martin Edwards.

"Written with much ingenuity, gaiety of colour and bright, joyful malice... Christianna Brand's readers are also taken on holiday in Tour de Force."

--Julian Symons in the Times Literary Supplement, 1955

Inspector Cockrill has finally booked a holiday, destined for a Mediterranean tour with a motley crew of fellow vacationers. By the time they have reached the island of San Juan el Pirata off the Italian coast, the tour group is a bubbling pot of rivalries and tension between friends and lovers, threatening to boil over into violence in the scorching summer heat.

As six holidaymakers relax at the beach under Cockrill's watch, the seventh of their number is slain in the hotel. Believing that the murderer must have been one of the beachgoers, Cockrill faces what looks like an impossible puzzle--one that must be solved before the island's own police force delivers the wrong suspect to their doom.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1464237670
• ISBN13: 9781464237676
• Release Date: September 2025
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Inspector Cockerill in Itlay

In this book we have Brand's Inspector Cockerill out of his element. He is on holiday in Italy, and feeling somewhat like a fish out of water. This feeling only intensifies when a murder occurs. The lady that is killed is one of their party, and the list of suspects is quite short, including Cockerill himself. Cockerill can't get over the way this murder is being investigated. Nothing like this would ever happen in "Jolly Old". He knows he has to figure it out himself because the local police are hopeless. There are a lot of twists and turns in this plot, and countless red herrings. The characters are a bit typecast, but the book is still fun none the less. Done in the tradition of the Golden Age, this book is a page-turner, and I enjoyed it.

Great fun!

This book was really a lot of fun. It's a classic whodunit with plenty of clues as well as some red herrings so that you can really try to figure it out for yourself. Well written as well.

Tour De Force is a Treat

A well-plotted, clever, fun tale of a British tour group's visit to an island near Italy but governed by Spain. One of the tourists is murdered, naturally. The local police just want to arrest *someone*; they can always arrange to hire some "witnesses" later. So Inspector Cockrill's vacation turns into a busman's holiday and he investigates, after informing the local officers "Me--Scotalanda Yard!". Lots and lots of clues, and plenty of red herrings. I correctly guessed the solution, but Brand almost convinced me I was wrong. I was impressed by the non-judgmental depiction of a gay character, pretty progressive considering that the book was first published in 1955. A witty book, and (hooray) one of several Brands currently in print.