Cold Bed in the Clay

 Cold Bed in the Clay (1947) by Ruth Sawtell Wallis

FBI agent Eric Lund has come to a Midwestern university town in search of a wanted criminal. At the university's commencement ceremony he sits in the stands of the stadium and spends more time looking at others in the crowd than at the graduates. One of these innocent-looking townspeople of faculty is the man he's after, but which one? You see, there is no detailed description of the wanted man. Was Lund's presence the catalyst that put events in motion that ended in tragedy? Or was it the arrival of young Mr. and Mrs. Adriance? Don Adriance is a recent addition to the faculty--returning to academia after a few years absence? What happened in those missing years? And why does Audrey Adriance watch him so closely with apprehension and what appears to be fear? And why does she seem unsurprised when he doesn't come home one night?

When Don Adriance is finally found--a victim of a hit-and-run driver, Audrey's lack of surprise seems suspicious to Chief of Police Peterson. If he could find a way to link her to a car (the Adriances had none), then he'd arrest  her in a minute. But Lund, who is staying with Professor Dexter under cover of a lecture of crime he's giving to the university, has met a small group of people at a party which introduced the Adriances to Don's faculty colleagues and he picked up on certain nuances that lead him to believe that someone other than Audrey is responsible. And it just might tie in with the real reason he's come to the State University town.

So, this started slow. And even though I'm a sucker for academic mysteries, the setting and the characters never really reeled me in the way this subgenre should be able to. This was also another case where I often felt like I had missed part of the conversation. I'm not sure if Covid-brain was still kicked in at that point or if the story itself was at fault. Things did seem to pick up in the second half--in part because things started happening. It helped that Lund took a larger role in the lead-up to the big reveal. Chief Peterson just didn't do much for me. He seemed very apt to stick with stereotypical answers than to really investigate. I'm glad he was willing to let Lund help out. And, like Kate over at Cross Examining Crime, I was disappointed that the werewolf clue led nowhere--despite coming up several times. The solution did hold my interest, if the first third or so had been stronger, I would have upped my rating. ★★★

First line: Seated high on a cement ledge, the man with the scars around his mouth looked down, down into the enormous blue eye.

Last line: "My wife is going to have a baby."
**************

Deaths = 2 (one hit by car; one poisoned)