The Widening Stain

 The Widening Stain (1942) by W. Bolingbroke Johnson (Morris Bishop)

Death comes to the university library at a New York college that may remind readers of Cornell. When Mademoiselle Coindreau, the beautiful and alluring French assistant professor, is found dead below the balcony of the library, it is put down to accident. Why the woman left the President's party and went to the library after hours is a mystery. Why she climbed the step ladder in an evening gown and high heels is also puzzling. But most mysterious of all...at least to Miss Gilda Gorham, the Chief Cataloguer of the library...is how she managed to topple off the steps and over the balcony's railing. Even if she caught her heel in the long gown, she should have landed on the balcony floor...but when Gilda starts putting (what she thinks are) innocent questions, she's told to leave well enough alone. The police think it's an accident, so an accident it is. But when a second professor is found strangled to death in the locked room where rare books and erotica are kept and a very rare book has gone missing, it becomes apparent that Gilda is right. Something nasty is going on among the stacks of books. Does it have more to do with the romantic interludes between the professors or the missing Filius Getronius of Hilarius?

This is a delightful send-up of academic life in the 1940s. It comes complete with debonair Professor Parry and his just-barely-printable (at the time) limericks. And lots of funny repartee between the professors and between Gilda and Parry. Given when the book was written there are, of course, many references that are dated--and possibly mildly offensive, especially to women. But Gilda is a woman who knows her own mind and though romance may be in the air, the outcome may not be quite what readers expect. The plot is serviceable, but not brilliant nor is Gilda's detective work. There is just a tad too much thinking about who might have done what and little actual sleuthing going on. If the plotting and detection had been more solid, this would easily have garnered five stars. What carries the book for me are the characters and the verbal play--as well as the academic setting. Johnson/Bishop certainly knew what he was doing when it came to setting the academic scene and I do love me an academic mystery. ★★★★

First line: In the women's rest room of the University Library, Miss Gilda Gorham, Chief Cataloguer, looked at her face.

Last line: He then set off for the O. K. Diner, for a late and solitary supper.

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Deaths: 3 (one fell from height; one strangled; one natural)