Murder & Blueberry Pie

Murder & Blueberry Pie (1959) by Frances & Richard Lockridge

Synopsis from my previous review (9/3/13): Lois Williams is a  recent widow--getting over the loss of her airline pilot husband.  She's been trying to distract herself with involvement in the community and is helping to organize a tour of historic houses on the occasion of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Glenville, her home town.  When she stops in to ask Mrs. Abigail Montfret, 84 year old descendant of a leading Glenville family, for permission to place her home on the tour list, she is asked to serve as a witness to the elderly woman's will.  Not a half hour after Lois leaves, the woman dies.

Then the odd things begin to happen.  Lois will hear the woman's voice again....but this time from the mouth of a much younger woman.  The attorney who drew up the will seems to have taken extreme precautions to be sure that the signature is accepted as genuine.  When Lois shares her doubts with Bob Oliver, owner and editor of the town paper, his reporter's instincts kick in and they begin an investigation.  Soon Lois is the recipient of phone calls with no one on the line and someone is lurking outside her patio doors.  One of the tires on Bob's car is cut--by the villain in the case or by a gang of hoodlums in Greenwich Village?  

When a woman Bob knows who just happens to be an actress who excels at portraying older women just happens to die in a "mugging"--and coincidentally just happens to die the same night Bob and Lois pay her visit, Bob winds up taking their theories to Detective Nathan Shapiro.  Shapiro's superior, Bill Weigand, sends Shapiro to Glendale to nose around "just in case." Between Shapiro's apparently purposeless questioning and Bob's nose for news, it isn't long before the culprit is revealed.

Murder and Blueberry Pie is one of the lightest of the "light and breezy" mysteries by Frances and Richard Lockridge and features even less of the detection and intricate cluing that classic mystery fans may long for in their detective fiction. There isn't even a lot of suspect interviews. Nate Shapiro comes late to the scene and conducts what seems to be very lackluster "interrogations." Those interviewed can't see how he makes his way on the police force--and we may be tempted to agree. I'm used to Shapiro's methods and even I have difficulty figuring out how he managed to come to the correct conclusion based on the clues we're shown and the questions he asks.  

A further note: normally the any item or items mentioned in Lockridge titles have somerelevance to the mystery--given that track record, one might expect the corpse in question to have died by poisoning courtesy of the titular pie. But not this time. Lois using pie-baking to distract herself from the fact that someone has apparently tried to kill her and Bob for being to inquisitive about a certain actress and all the other odd little details that her busy imagination keeps dwelling on. It also makes for a nice little scene between Lois and Bob--but relevant to the mystery? Not really.

So, for detective story purists, this isn't going to be your cup of tea--there are no Golden Age, fair-play rules being followed here. But for character and fun, it a good read--and it's a quick read. I was able to finish it in a single day.  No heavy (mental) lifting involved--just a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.  ★★★

First line: A jet-fighter, on routine training flight, knifed out of the white innocence of a cloud over Arizona at a little after two o'clock on an afternoon in mid-October.

Last line: "Bob," she said. "At least let me put the pie down first."

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Deaths = 4 (one plane accident; one natural; one hit on head; one fell from height)