A-Z Blogging Challenge: Letter I

Day number 8 on the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be doing a post for each letter of the alphabet. It is my plan to make most of my posts reading &/0r book-related. April 11th is brought to you by the Letter I.

My choice for today's letter is The Innocent Bottle by Anthony Gilbert. This is one of my vintage mysteries--first published in the US in 1949 (original British title: Lift Up the Lid [1948]). This one is on my TBR list for this year--fulfilling several of my reading challenges, so I don't have a review--but I will provide a synopsis. But first, a little about Anthony Gilbert. Gilbert is a pseudonym for Lucy Beatrice Malleson. She was a prolific British mystery writer (over 70 novels written under this pseudonym alone--she had several others) whose most famous creation is Arthur G. Crook. Her novels are know for skillful plotting, entertaining dialogue and interesting action. Arthur G. Crook is known for the fact that his clients are always innocent. Always.

The Innocent Bottle is a story about money, marriage and murder. "Everybody" knows that Rose East had only married james for his money and so, when he winds up dead, "everyone" knows that she must have killed him. But while he was alive, he not only had a beautiful young wife, he also had a jealous nurse and an ambitious doctor. When he died, he left behind a fortune and a scandal. Once Rose is accused of murdering her husband, Arthur Crook is sure she is innocent--because all his clients are. After his investigations, he offers up the police a blackmailer, a poison pen, and another corpse. But that isn't enough. If he is to save Rose, he will need to find a dangerous killer.