The Sound of Insects

 The Sound of Insects (1966) by Mildred Davis

Johnny MacLeod, a big-time, small-town blackmailer, has extracted hush money from nearly everyone in town--from his boss, the owner of a big computer company, to the neighbor across the street. But after his latest round of "house calls" on his "customers," Johnny is found dead from an ice pick stab wound and suspicion falls first on five women and then narrows to focus on Stacy and Angela Hubert. There's a whispered telephone campaign to spread suspicion, a little mater of jewelry, a kidnapping, two suicides, and a final dramatic confession before the truth is known and life can get back to normal. But can it ever be normal again after what has happened?

For me, an academic mystery and psychological suspense just don't mix well. I love a good mystery with an academic bent and here we have Stacy who teaches biology involved in the murder of Johnny, a blackmailer. But I'm not a huge fan of suspense and this book just has an overall icky feel with all the secrets, the high-pressure blackmail, and the whisper campaign that starts after the murder. It is usual for me to have some sympathy with those who kill a person who has been putting the blackmail screws on them. Not nearly as much here. Once the reason the killer was being blackmailed was brought out in the final confession, it was more difficult to sympathize. I still think blackmail is a horrible thing--making money or just gaining a feeling of power through other people's weaknesses is despicable, but the sympathy level is much lower than, say, the woman in the Holmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton."

I do have to give Mildred Davis credit--she is very good at suspense and human relationships. But it wasn't at all pleasant watching the disintegration of a small town's network of friendships when a slimy little blackmailer increases his pressure and winds up stabbed with an ice pick for his trouble. Instead of banding together, relationships are broken, the women in Stacy's family come under suspicion and are treated like pariahs, and her fiance dumps her. Even when Stacy and her mother are cleared, nothing is ever the same again. How do you forget that all your "friends" dropped you like a hot potato before there was any proof of guilt? ★★★

Peggy at Peggy's Porch has also read this one and liked it much better than I did, so your mileage may vary. Her review can be found at the link.

First line: A cicada gave an anguished screech just as Stacy stepped out on the terrace for air.

Last line: "I never did believe the one about 'the sins of the fathers...'"

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Deaths = 3 (one stabbed; one gas/poisoned; one natural/cancer)