A Silver Spade

photo credit

 A Silver Spade (1950) by Louisa Revell

Miss Julia Tyler was polite but firm--No, she couldn't come and teach Latin at a summer camp in Maine for extremely bright young ladies. It didn't matter how light the duties, how beautiful the location, or how good the pay. She was very sorry that Mrs. Turner had made a trip to Pennsylvania to try and persuade her, but Miss Tyler has remodeling to do in anticipation for a new addition to the family. Wait a minute...what did you say about anonymous letters? Come back here and sit down...

You see, Miss Julia Tyler has a thing about mysteries. She reads them--a lot. And, she's been mixed up in two murders previously and couldn't resist playing amateur detective. As soon as she hears that faculty at the camp have been receiving nasty anonymous letters, she decides that a few weeks teaching Latin at Camp Pirate Island is just what she needs to do. The remodeling can get down without her supervision. But once the murders start and there seems to be no end in sight, she begins to think she made a mistake.

The first death seems almost straight-forward. Captain Benesch was a blackmailer and it looks like one of his victims just had enough and decided to silence him. But who was being blackmailed and for what? Well--there's the late-night activities on the beach which may be covert Nazi-sympathizers. There's talk of a faculty member previously tried and found innocent of murder--but was she really innocent? There's also speculation that Mrs. or Mr. Turner may have hurried Mrs. Turner's aunt to her grave in order to inherit the camp. And one of the faculty might be in the States with false documentation. There's also stories of pirate treasure to be dug up and just who is the camp nurse keeping hidden in the isolation ward? 

When more deaths follow, it begins to look like there might be other motives beyond disposing of a blackmailer and tidying up loose ends. We have all kinds of clues--from heavy black gloves (in the middle of summer) to a Coke bottle stamped "Terre Haute, IN" to a smooth seashell-shaped object. And when we're ready for the wrap-up, we have confessions and semi-confessions and an elaborate theory involving two of the little girls. And, then a final twist to the whole kaleidoscope.

my copy

This was a great book for a couple of reasons. First (and best--to me, anyway), it is an interesting twist on the academic mystery. Instead of being set at a school or university, we have a bunch of highly intelligent campers learning Latin and Greek and Astronomy and music on an island off the Maine coast. I love academic mysteries and it's always fun to find one with an interesting or different setting. And, second, I figured it out! I knew who and I knew the basic reason why (though I wasn't completely sure of the details of the initial motivation for the first murder in the camp). This didn't detract from the story because I was wondering when our sleuths would figure it out.

The ending is done quite nicely too. If the reader doesn't spot the killer, then it's quite fun to see the various theories explained and then shot down until we get down to the final (correct) solution. ★★★★

John over at Pretty Sinister Books reviewed this one back in 2016 (and I've shamelessly stolen his posted cover photo--credited above--since my copy comes in an unadorned 4-in-1 mystery book club edition). Check out his review too.

First line: My great-niece Anne is going to have a baby, and after I got home from Louisville I was busy getting the house ready for him.

Oh, Miss Tyler, but they all do that. Didn't you know? The person who writes the anonymous letters always writes one to himself....Don't you read detective stories? My dear, you really should. The most relaxing things in the world. (Miss Randle; p. 34)

Murderers aren't easily discouraged, Sally. As soon as Miss Randle came out with what she said about seeing somebody in the woods--well, that was when that person made up his mind." (Miss Tyler; p. 127)

Last line: We walked on.

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Deaths = 5 (one shot; two poisoned; one stabbed; one hit on head)