You'll Be the Death of Me

 You'll Be the Death of Me (1979) by Miriam Lynch

 A twenty-year high school reunion is paired with the retirement ceremony for math teacher Sarah Plunkett. Mrs. Plunkett had a huge effect on the students of Belltown High School--whether for good or ill. A number of the kids seemed to get under her skin over the years and she was periodically heard to tell them, "You'll be the death of me." And now, apparently, one of them has. When comes to the podium to acknowledge the parting gift--a set of luggage for her anticipated retirement travels--she dies from what is suspected to be poison before she can say "thank you."

Nell Willard, reporter for the local newspaper, had been assigned to cover the event and of course she can't resist investigating even though her steady date, Lieutenant Gerold Holloway tells her to stay away from crime reporting in lieu of her usual society news beat. Nell just can't help wondering if Marlene Hallison, organizer of the event, had been nursing an ancient grievance against her former teacher. Or if one of the Corbett twins, owners of the downtown drugstore, used their knowledge of drugs to keep her from revealing a fatal secret. Or maybe Suzanne Dixon, young wife of the town's richest man, had a skeleton in her closet (or her husband's) that she couldn't afford to have exposed. Nell's determined to help Gerold find out...whether he wants her to or not.

This another of a series of Zebra Mystery Puzzler Books that I got in an assortment for Christmas last year. As indicated on the cover, the set-up for these books is that all the clues necessary for the reader to solve the mystery before the final reveal are given in the cover photo, various illustrations within the story, and, as with good mysteries clues given in the text. I obtained and read one of this series a very long time ago (over 30 years) and enjoyed it (thus the request for my hubby to order up the Zebra books on Ebay last year). And I read The Final Appointment earlier this year and found it to be a decent mystery as well. But Miriam Lynch doesn't do this mystery thing quite as well as Marcia Blair (Marc Baker) did.

Our protagonist Nell seems prone to immediately jump to the worst conclusion with the least amount of reason. She immediately speculates that one of the twins is responsible because she saw a light late in the pharmacy. She immediately thinks that Suzanne Dixon is having an affair with Dr. Gregory because she sees her leaving the house early in the morning. Nell is supposed to be a reporter and should be looking for facts--with a capital F. But as a reporter (and an amateur detective), she leaves a lot to be desire. One point in her favor, her relationship with Lieutenant Holloway is easier to take than that of the pair in the earlier read. At least they're not shouting at each other all the time.

But what really keeps the book from a higher rating is the solution. Which I can't discuss without spoilers, so I've encoded it using ROT13. V'z abg n sna bs gur "Bbcf, V xvyyrq gur jebat crefba" fbyhgvba. Jr fcraq gur jubyr obbx gelvat gb svther bhg jub unq n zbgvir gb xvyy Zef.Cyhaxrgg bayl gb svaq bhg gung bhe phycevg zrnag gur cbvfba sbe fbzrbar ryfr. Ner gurer pyhrf gb guvf fbyhgvba nf cebzvfrq? Jryy, V thrff. Grpuavpnyyl. Ohg V unir tenir qbhogf gung znal (vs nal) ernqref ner tbvat gb erpbtavmr gurz nf pyhrf orsber gur nafjre vf erirnyrq ng gur raq.

I have another Zebra title written by Lynch and I hope the mystery is bit better plotted and the solution more accessible (clue-wise) to the reader than it is here. Fingers crossed! ★★

First line: The banquet was to have begun at seven o'clock, but well after the scheduled time the cocktail lounge was still thronged.

Last line: But that was good enough for the present, she decided; good enough for a start.

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Deaths = 2 (one poisoned; one natural)