To Spite Her Face

 To Spite Her Face (1971) by Hildegarde Dolson

The ladies at the Second-Run Thrift Store don't just serve up second-hand bargains to the community. While sorting the donations and mending items worth fixing, they also like to dish a little second-hand gossip. The topics change about as often as the fashions and the current trend runs on the reinvention of Marian Colter.

Marian was an ugly duckling with a squashed nose until an expensive plastic surgeon transformed her into a lovely little swan. Her loving husband had readily supplied the means and was so proud that everyone could now see how beautiful his wife is (as he had always thought she was). But then his swan got restless and the rumor mill said that the town's newest beauty queen has found herself a secret consort. And when Marian later dies from a poison-laced daiquiri at a cocktail party hosted by the consort's wife it isn't any wonder that the rumor mill start concocting all sorts of theories. Was it the cuckolded husband? Was it deceived wife? Or had the lover gotten tired of his newest mistress and killed her when she wouldn't let go? 

Lucy Ramsdale, one of the thrift store volunteers, may dispense gossip with the best of them, but she prefers the gossip to have some truth to it. When Inspector McDougal is asked to lend the local police a hand and seems to be inclined to suspect the husband. Lucy is sure he's had too much malicious gossip poured into his ear--particularly by Myrtle Pickering--Lucy's favorite suspect. Lucy  believes Tad Colter is innocent and thinks the straight-laced biddy went over the edge and decided to start wiping out sin--literally. But when Myrtle winds up throttled and stuffed in the "Odds and Ends" bin at the thrift shop, it looks like Lucy will have to find a new favorite. She just needs to make sure the culprit doesn't suspect that she's spotted them....

Lucy is an interesting and complex, if sometimes irritating, protagonist. She is like a more forceful, more blatantly opinionated Miss Marple. But she is willing to admit her mistakes and tries to make up for her abrasiveness. She also manages to subtly convey (albeit unknowingly) the most important clue. Which I challenge anyone to spot as an actual clue. Versions of it are trotted out quite plainly for the reader to see and ignore because it just doesn't seem like a clue. Dolson gives things an interesting twist and I do wonder how the trial would have played out if the first murder had been the only one. [spoiler encoded in ROT13] V zrna, fher, Gnq qvq vagraq gb xvyy uvf jvsr. Ohg ng gur ynfg zvahgr, ur qrpvqrq ur pbhyaqa'g qb vg naq chg gur qbpgberq qndhvev cnpxrg onpx va uvf cbpxrg. Rkprcg vg sryy bhg naq yvggyr Zvff Qba'g Jnfgr Nalguvat cvpxrq vg hc naq chg vg onpx ba gur fgnpx. Fb, gur bar zbfg erfcbafvoyr vf Zlegyr Cvpxvat. Bs pbhefr, Gnq qbrf qrynl znxvat n erny pnyy gb gur qbpgbe...V unir gb fnl, V jnf fhfcvpvbhf bs gur svefg cubar pnyy sebz gur zbzrag ur fhccbfrqyl znqr vg.

McDougal is an early version of the somewhat angst-ridden detective. His wife cheated on him with a fellow actor and he retired early from the force (thinking everyone was either talking behind his back or thinking "poor Inspector McDougal couldn't even see what was happening under his own nose until it was too late." He moves to Wingate in the hopes of a new start, but is struggling to fit in and find a place to call home. When the local police invite him to take on the murder investigation, it gives him just the boost he needs. He becomes far more interesting and likeable by the end of the novel and I'm looking forward the other book from the series sitting on my self. ★★★ and 1/2.

[If you'd like to decode the spoiler above, then copy the coded portion, follow the link, and paste the the code into the box for decoding.]

First line: Owing to one of those mysterious social changes that come on as suddenly as elm blight, almost every hostess in Wingate was serving sandwiches for cocktail hors d'oeuvres that summer.

Last line: "In that case," the inspector said, "you can forget about the dog."

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Deaths = 2 (one poisoned; one strangled)