The Mirror Crack'd

 The Mirror Crack'd (1962) by Agatha Christie

This story takes Miss Jane Marple into the world of movie stars and a local modern Development when actress Marina Gregg buys Gossington Hall from the widowed Dolly Bantry and brings her director husband and American entourage to live in St. Mary Mead. Jason Rudd, the husband, hopes that living in the small English village will give Marina a bit of quiet and stability--something that has been missing in her life. Marina decides that St. Mary Mead is just perfect and that she wants to really be a part of village life--so she agrees to host the annual fete in aid of the St. John's Ambulance. The party is going well--lots of games and entertainment on the grounds and Marina invites some select guests to come inside to be greeted and to see the house.

It's all going well that is until silly Heather Babcock, connected to the St. John's Ambulance, is introduced to her idol, Marina Gregg. Heather launches into a long and enthusiastic story about how she has already met Miss Gregg before--long ago when Marina was entertaining the troops. Dolly Bantry notices that Marina is no longer really listening to the babbling woman--she's staring over her shoulder with a "frozen" look on her face. When she later describes the scene to Miss Marple, they are reminded of Tennyson's Lady of Shalott:

Out flew the web and floated wide;
     The mirror crack'd from sided to side;
"The curse has come upon me," cried
     The Lady of Shalott.

Just moments after finishing her story and being offered a drink by her idol, Heather Babcock is dead. It doesn't take long to discover that she's been poisoned. But who would poison Mrs. Babcock? She was a self-absorbed woman; nice enough and not at all mean-spirited, but not really thinking about how her actions or words might actually affect others. There doesn't seem to be a motive to kill her, however. Then it's discovered that her drink was spilled and the drink which had the poison in it was Marina's. As Miss Marple mentions when she first hears of the poisoning..."perhaps it was the wrong murder." Now the police are racing to find the killer before they can rectify their mistake and kill Marina after all. But they're going to need pointers from everyone's favorite spinster detective before they arrive at the right solution.

This one continues to delight even after a reread (and watching the filmed versions multiple times). It is interesting to come to it knowing the solution and to watch how Christie practices her art of misdirection. The basic plot is one used in other stories, but I'm always intrigued at the many different ways she was able to use the same idea. 

She also gives us a Jane Marple who has aged and has to come to terms with her advanced years and the changes in St. Mary Mead. The novel is as much social commentary on the post-WWII-era as it is a murder mystery. Given Miss Marple's frailer health, the doctor has suggested she have a companion and Miss Marple is driven to distraction by the woman her nephew has employed for her. She has to find a way to ease Miss Knight out and find someone to live in who won't treat her like an imbecile child. This side story provides Miss Marple with a different way to approach the murder investigation--she isn't as mobile as she once was and all the information has to come to her--through Dolly Bantry and through Inspector Craddock. It is Miss Marple doing her best armchair detective work since The Tuesday Night Club stories.

★★★★  for an entertaining read and interesting social commentary.

First line: Miss Jane Marple was sitting by her window.

CIDC: One of those bossy women?
AC: Very possibly....Still, in my experience, bossy women seldom get themselves murdered. I can't think why not.
(Chief Inspector Dermot Craddock, the Assistant Commissioner; p. 61)

But marriage is not like that, Chief Inspector. There can be no rapture continued indefinitely. We are fortunate if we can achieve a life of quiet content, affection, and serene and sober happiness.
(Jason Rudd; pp. 87-8)

C: One always finds there are more questions as the case goes on.
JJ: You mean it develops, Yes, I can quite see that. Murder develops. Yes, like a photograph, isn't it?
(Craddock, Johnny Jethroe; p.139)

Last lines: He said: She has a lovely face
                  God in His mercy lend her grace.
                  The Lady of Shalott.

****************

Deaths = 4 (three poisoned; one shot)

The Last Murder at the End of the World---spoilers, spoilers spoilers

 The Last Murder at the End of the World (2024) by Stuart Turton

Emory, her family, and about 130 others live an idyllic life in an island village at the end of the world. The villagers are happy to fish and farm, celebrate births and deaths together, go to bed precisely at curfew, and obey the elders in everything. The elders are a trio of scientists who saved the last remnants of humanity when it looked like mankind was doomed to extinction. The elders always know what is best.

Beyond the forcefield surrounding the island, there is nothing: the world has been destroyed by a fog containing insects that kill every living thing they touch. But the scientists know precisely how to keep the fog at bay and there is no danger...until one morning the villagers wake up to find their food stores gone, fields poisoned, and Niema Mandripilias, the scientist that seemed to care most deeply for them and who taught their school, has been stabbed to death in what was meant to look like an accident. Oh...and Niema's death has triggered a dead man's switch that has lowered the field around the island. The fog is headed their way

Emory has always been different from the other villagers. She has been full of questions from the time she was born. Questions that never seem to have answers. Emory is the one who points out that the fallen beam that appears to have crushed Niema's head wasn't the weapon. Emory points out the wound in Niema's chest. Emory wants to know why objects in the village have been moved during the night; why Hui's violin has been smashed and why Hui is missing. There are so many things that don't seem to fit.

Abi, the name for the omniscient voice that speaks (telepathically?) to every villager, tells the elders that the villagers have 170 hours to solve Niema's murder--find the culprit and make sure the culprit is executed. If that happens, the force field will be reinstated. If not...humanity dies. Abi also convinces the elders that Emory is the best suited to investigate. Abi has every reason to want the villagers to succeed--their primary mission is to obey every order from Niema and to protect humanity and ensure survival. But, Emory wonders, if that's true why would Niema have ordered the field lowered? There are so many questions that she will have to answer even before she answers the most important one: who killed Niema and why?

***************Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! Can't talk about this one without Spoilers!

So...I don't know how I feel about this one. I've given it three stars as a placeholder rating on Goodreads, but I'm not sure where I'm going to land. I absolutely loved Turton's debut book The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and his second novel The Devil & the Dark Water was almost as good. Both were gripping and kept me reading even if there were some portions that were disappointing. I guess you could say the same of The Last Murder at the end of the World, but... And there it is. Everything I can think of to say about the book that is positive comes with a "but..." 

The set-up is a really interesting and unusual one. An apocalyptic science fiction thriller. But. There is something that just doesn't fit for me. Obviously every piece of fiction is a construct and is made just the way the author wants in order to tell their story. But...portions of the set-up seem forced. The characters are interesting. I very much appreciated Emory's difficulties in fitting in and I enjoyed watching her work her way through the relationships with her father and daughter--relationships that have never been exactly what she would have liked. But...the initial antagonism between Emory and her father seemed very over-blown based on the information we're given. It isn't until the very end that we learn her father's backstory which explains it. So, everything about his reactions to Emory's questions and investigations seems off-kilter. [I mean everyone should want her to succeed...otherwise they're all gonna die.] And then there's the mystery...the investigation of the murder was great. I thought Emory did a terrific job given the time constraint she was operating under. But...that solution? Seemed like a cop-out to me. Very unsatisfying. Murders that wind up being suicide just don't do a whole lot for me. I would have preferred it if (as I suspected) Abi was the killer. I guess in a way Abi was...since they influenced everything that Niema did. But I actually would have been happier (as a mystery fan) if there had been an actual murderer that had been caught. 

I did enjoy the apocalyptic storyline--even though portions felt forced. I do wonder if Turton has read Doyle's The Poison Belt or M. P. Shiel's The Purple Cloud. Both involve dangerous "clouds" of a sort which destroy all or most of humanity and a brave band of survivors trying to make their way in the post-apocalyptic world. I'm not entirely sure I understand the cloud of insects in Turton's work. Is there really a cloud--or does the huge swarm of insects just look like a cloud approaching (like Emory I'm full of questions)? 

I think I'm going to stick with my ★★★ rating.

First line: "Is there no other way? asks a horrified Niema Mandripilias, speaking out loud in an empty room.

Last lines: "At the start," she says, crying happily. "You've arrived just in time."
***********************

Deaths = 9 (one drowned; two natural; one hit on head; three stabbed; one poisoned; one destroyed by insects)

Castle Skull

 Castle Skull (1931) by John Dickson Carr

The great magician Maleger found the perfect house--the eerie, gothic Castle Skull sitting atop a rocky crag overlooking the Rhine River. The house was full of secret passages, hidden stairways, and false walls & windows. The atmosphere was perfect for the master of a creepy act. But not long after, Maleger travels alone by train in carriage that could only be entered or exited by passing a train guard. No one does, but when the train reaches its destination, Maleger is gone. When his body is found in the Rhine, it thought that it must have been accident or suicide. He either fell out of the train carriage and rolled down the embankment to drown in the river or he deliberately threw himself from the train. 

Seventeen years later, his friend Myron Alison who had a home across the Rhine from Castle Skull dies. He was shot several times and then set on fire atop Castle Skull. Jerome D'Aunay, friend of both men, comes to Henri Bencolin to ask the detective to come sort everything out. It isn't long before Bencolin realizes that Alison's death is tied to the events of seventeen years ago. But will he be able to discover the truth behind both deaths before his old rival, Baron Von Arnheim. Von Arnheim has been called in by the local magistrate who doesn't want to his German police force be outdone by an upstart Frenchman.

The case is made difficult by the apparent impossibilities in the deaths, but there are also ghosts and legends that inhabit the castle. Not to mention a host of interesting suspects: a bizarre duchess with a mania for poker; an actor obsessed with Hamlet; a musician who plays his violin in the dark outer reaches of Alison's house; a young woman with modern ideals; a self-absorbed Belgian financier and his beautiful, straying wife; and a news reporter on a trip to report on Europe's haunted castle who has ties to Maleger. The clues include a pistol with no fingerprints and an awkward grip; muddy footprints; the sound of a motor boat; the man who rose up out of the ground; and a photo from Maleger's younger years. Bencolin and Von Arnheim see the same things but come up with slightly different solutions. The German will get the credit...but Bencolin will get it right.

Given how atmospheric this is--a castle shaped like a skull!--I expected to like it a lot more than I did. The characters are great--I particularly like the Duchess who seems to me to be a female version of Sir Henry Merrivale. She swears like a sailor, smokes like a chimney, and drinks like a fish. But has all her faculties when it matters most. But after the great build up, the interesting setting, and a nice cast of characters, the mystery just kind of gets solved. There are few clues that the reader is given full access to up front and we find out the meaning of the most important one only in Bencolin's wrap-up--we certainly can't know what it means just from what we're given when it shows up. I was also a bit disappointed in Bencolin in this one. Von Arnheim does most of the speechifying and I was beginning to wonder if our hero was going to solve anything. For most of the book he just serves as a foil to the Baron. Definitely not Carr's best, but interesting for the atmosphere and setting. ★★★

First line: D'Aunay talked of murder, castles, and magic. 

Last line: "Cards, ladies and gentlemen?"
*****************

Deaths = 4 (one fell from height; one smoke inhalation; one shot; one natural)

 

 

Dance of Death

 Dance of Death (1938) by Helen McCloy

This is McCloy's debut novel as well as the debut of her detective, Dr. Basil Willing whose specialty is psychology. Oh...and the crime setting is the debut party for a debutante. Debuts all over the place. 

The story begins with Butch and Buddy, two street repair workers who have been enlisted to help in the removal of the drifts of snow lining the streets of New York. They get the shock of their life when their shovels uncover a frozen corpse. Or...a corpse they expect to be frozen. And as we find out...

"B-But it ain't froze!" Buddy choked. "It's--hot!"

Not only is the body very warm, the face is stained a bright yellow. So, that's the puzzle that confronts the New York Police Department: how can a girl's body be hot to the touch when it's been buried in snow all night? And by the time the Commissioner tells the story to Willing, who is a consultant for the District Attorney's office, they have little hope of finding out. They haven't even been able to identify the girl. Despite the Commissioner's belief in solid clues over psychology, it's Basil Willing who is able to put a name to the face and put the medical examiner on the track of the murder method. 

Catherine "Kitty" Jocelyn had recently appeared in ads for Sveltis, a slimming concoction containing an ingredient which raises the basal temperature...and which can be quite deadly, even in small doses. And the corpse has Kitty's face. Willing tells the Commissioner who his hot corpse is. There's just one problem--Kitty has been seen out in public after the corpse was found. Then...Ann Jocelyn Claude, Kitty's cousin, comes walking into Willing's office seeking his help. She says that her cousin has disappeared. Ann resembles her cousin so much that she could have been mistaken for Kitty. And that's just what happened.

The night before the body was found was Kitty's debutante ball. Just before the party, Kitty falls ill and her stepmother--who cannot afford to cancel and hold another party for the girl--comes up with a brilliant plan. Since Ann looks so much like Kitty, they ask Kitty's maid to style Ann's hair to match her cousin's and to use the art of make-up to complete the look. Ann will pretend to be Kitty and then, once Kitty has recovered, she can make the circuit of other debutante activities. All goes well until after the party is over and they discover that Kitty is gone. Ann's step-aunt insists that she continue the masquerade until Kitty has been found, but Ann senses that something is wrong. Having heard of Basil Willing, she comes to him to ask him to help find Kitty. He's certain that he already has....Now all he has to do is figure out who slipped Sveltis into Kitty's drink and killed her.

I really enjoyed this introduction to Basil Willing. McCloy does an excellent job of laying the background in short descriptive passages. Even though we dive right into the plot, she still manages to give us enough information about the characters that we feel like we know them. The setting, method, and motive are all interesting. I will say that as soon as one particular clue was brought on stage, I pinpointed the culprit. But even though that was fairly early in the story that didn't detract from my enjoyment. It was interesting to see McCloy reveal the psychology behind the motive--which went a little deeper than what I was able to pick up on. Overall, a very nicely done debut. ★★★★

First line: The snow began to fall Tuesday, about cocktail time--huge flakes whirling spirally in a north wind.

In half our murder cases we have no way of identifying the body at the beginning. It isn't like detective stories where a man gets murdered in his own library while there are a dozen convenient suspects in the house (General Archer; p. 6)

BW: How did she die?
GA: Heat stroke.
BW: But--that's impossible!
GA: That's the trouble with police work. The impossible is always happening.
(Basil Willing; General Archer; p. 7)

The laboratory fellows can always tell you what a thing isn't. But they can't always tell you what it is. (General Archer; p. 8)

"But, I warn you, we can't do anything without more evidence."
"And how are you going to get more evidence if you don't do anything?" asked Basil sweetly.
(General Archer, Basil Willing; p. 20)

MS: If you'd only begin at the beginning!
AJC: But that's so hard, isn't it? Because nothing ever really has a beginning. There's always something before that and something before that and so on.
(Morris Sobel; Ann Jocelyn Claude; p. 26)

GA: It can't be murder!...Because--well, really! Edgar Jocelyn belongs to my club!
MS: I'm afraid that's not evidence.
(General Archer, Morris Sobel; p. 54)

[about the slimming product's beautiful lady on the label]
A skull and crossbones would be more appropriate. But the modern buccaneer doesn't sail under the Jolly Roger. He would regard it as the wrong kind of publicity. (Basil Willing; p. 120)

Last line: There was a howl of static, and then came a clear, resonant voice: "...you have just been listening to Stravinsky's 'Fire Bird" through the courtesy of Sveltis, the reducing method of the sophisticate. Science says..."
*******************

Deaths = 4 (two poisoned; two natural)

The Widow of Bath (spoilerish)

 The Widow of Bath (1952) by Margot Bennett

Hugh Everton, who has served a short prison sentence for a dud check he never should have written, is adjusting to life after prison by working as a dreary food/hotel critic making his way along the coast. He's made his way to a particularly dreary little hotel with really bad food and extraordinarily bad waiters. But Everton's life is about to get more exciting. In the hotel bar, he meets Jan who he once thought he was in love with. Then his old flame Lucy comes in with her husband, the ex-Judge Gregory Bath. Bath is Jan's uncle. In their entourage is a man named Gerald Cady and another man named Atkinson, who Everton is sure he knows by an entirely different name. It's such a cozy little get-together. Lucy turns on the charm and invites Hugh back to the house for some drinks. As soon as he gets in the house, Hugh realizes there is an air of tension and everyone seems to be waiting for something to happen. 

They sit down for a nice little round of bridge, the judge invites him to the balcony to look at the sea--and to have an uncomfortable little chat. The judge heads to bed and Hugh returns to the bridge game where everyone keeps glancing at their watches. And then something does happen. They all hear a shot and Lucy decides she ought to go see what it's about. The judge's room is a mess and Bath lies shot in the middle of the room. Hugh gets curious about what happened, why Lucy insisted he be there, and what all those poor waiters at his hotel have to do with everything. He'll get knocked out a couple of times, someone else will die, and the police will be pretty exasperated by his meddling--but in the end, he'll figure out whodunnit. 

*******Spoilers abound ahead--though nothing explicit about who did it. Read at your own risk******

I seem to be an outlier amongst my Golden Age mystery friends here in the blogging world. Both Kate at Cross Examining Crime and Sergio at Tipping My Fedora have given this very positive reviews. Martin Edwards (of Do You Write Under Your Own Name) sings her and its praises in his introduction to the British Library Crime Classics edition which I read.

Margo Bennett was one of the finest British crime writers of the 1950s, and The Widow of Bath, first published in 1952 is one of her most impressive books. The mystery puzzle is intricate, the characterization strong, the setting evocative, and the prose elegant and witty.

I hate to disagree with such eminent reviewers and writers, but Bennett's book doesn't do a whole lot for me. I may agree that most of the characters are well-drawn--but none of them are engagingly well-drawn. The judge, though his time on stage is brief, is possibly the strongest character. We get a solid sense of his commitment to law and order...the foundation of why he had to die. Our "hero" (I use the term loosely) Hugh is well-drawn as a conflicted, bitter, goop. He just oozes along getting himself into all kinds of trouble--mostly because he has some sort of fatal attraction Lucy, but also because he just can't seem to stop meddling in police business. [You'd think with his background, he'd want to fly under the police radar--but, no.] Lucy is supposed to be some sort of femme fatale luring Hugh to his doom. She's definitely not a nice woman to know and Bennett makes that plain enough through her descriptions. What one wonders is with all the pointers about what a bad girl she is why on earth does it take Hugh so long to catch on? Hugh and Jan seem to go out of their way to be as unpleasant as possible to each other. Even after Hugh "sees the light" about Lucy and seems to think he's really in love with Jan. Then, at the end, the two kiss and suddenly declare themselves engaged. But there's  no sense at all that these two people are really getting along and will ride off into the romantic sunset together. In fact, as the book ends, the two aren't even in the scene together. The other guests on the night of Judge Bath's death are less distinct. Other than descriptions of what they look like, I have no real sense of Atkinson and Cady at all. I know that Cady is an unpleasant fellow, but if you asked me to describe him right now without referring to the book at all, I couldn't tell you a thing about him as a person. [And I just finished the book.] And don't get me started on Inspector Leigh. Yes, he's described perfectly for the type of policeman he is: "Inspector Leigh was a shadowy, yawning figure....a flabby, loose man, with a truculence that suggested he was not the perfect bureaucrat." And not the perfect detective either. He's hardly seen and when he is we don't see him doing a whole lot of detecting. He has two moments--in the beach dressing shed and in regards to the balcony--but that's it.

And elegant and witty prose? Um, no. Unless I'm totally missing something. Dorothy L. Sayers managed to be both elegant and witty when she had Lord Peter and Harriet interact during Have His Carcase. Harriet is still bruised and struggling with her feelings of debt and gratitude (and attraction to Peter, though she doesn't want to admit it). She lashes out at him--much as Hugh and Jan lash one another--but Sayers' prose is everything Bennett is reported as being, but isn't. Even at her most bitter, Harriet is far more elegant and witty than Hugh or Jan will ever be. They are dreary, bitter, and cruel. Beyond the interactions between the two, the prose style is just, quite honestly, confusing to me. For example, when Hugh isn't being outright unpleasant to Jan, he speaks in this supposedly lyrical, literary style--throwing in quotes here and there like a chef who has no clue how to cook, but knows one should toss in some herbs and spices (what kind doesn't really matter) to make things flavorful. There is no flow and the quotations and allusions a) make no sense to this reader and b) don't seem to have much to do with what he and Jan are talking about. The same thing happens when he speaks with Mrs. Leonard--except they both do it.

The plot is fine--nothing spectacular--and the motive makes perfect sense, given the character of the judge. Though how we were supposed to know that particular person would have that kind of motive before we're told at the end, I don't know (or I missed it as I worked my way through the supposedly elegant prose). I'm hoping that The Man Who Didn't Fly (which is waiting on the TBR pile) provides a more entertaining mystery. ★★ Though, as noted above, others have liked The Widow of Bath much more than me, so your mileage may vary.

First lines: "I've eaten this meal so often," the young man said to the waiter. "I know it's face, but I forget its name."

Last line: When he came to the road he turned inland, leaving Mrs. Leonard alone forever with the birds and the sea. 
*******************

Deaths = 2 (one shot; one drowned)

Murder at the Boat Club

 Murder at the Boat Club (2019) by Lee Strauss

Ginger Reed, the former Lady Gold, has never seen a boat race before. So when her husband, Chief Inspector Basil Reed, invites her to join him as he watches the son of one of his close friends race, she is eager to attend. The races between the London Universities are always competitive and exciting. But who knew that rowing could be such a dangerous sport? 

When the race is over (and the Reeds have backed the winning team), Ginger and Basil find themselves at a celebration party for the young man and his mates. But celebration turns to tragedy when Gerald Edgerton collapses and dies. The team doctor is all set to assume an undiagnosed weak heart, but Basil insists on calling the team from Scotland Yard. Lord Egerton has said that his son had no history of heart problems and the chief inspector isn't comfortable with healthy young men who collapse and die suddenly. 

His instincts are proven correct when the autopsy reveals that the young man drowned. Wait...what? How does a healthy young man drown on dry land? Well...there's this thing called secondary drowning. Usually affecting small children, it occurs when someone has a near-drowning experience and the lungs don't clear properly. The young or those with weakened lungs are susceptible--and Gerald had a serious bout of bronchitis when he was young, resulting in scar tissue in the lungs that prevented him from properly getting rid of the water inhaled. Now Basil and Ginger have to discover who tried to drown Gerald in the last two days and why. There are several suspects among his racing set--from those with drug secrets to hide to the man whose place he took on the rowing team to the young man who just "likes to cut things up." When another member of the team dies, the Reeds have to look at the case from a new angle and will have to hurry to prevent any more deaths.

Another fun entry in the "Lady Gold" mystery series. I enjoyed the new setting among the boat race set. Strauss captures the excitement of the race and the British tone of the period very well. The motives are a bit murky and the supposed surprise at the end wasn't as surprising as she intended, but the characters and time period are so enjoyable and well drawn that I didn't mind much. I am interested to see how things develop with Scout. And I look forward to the next adventure for Ginger and Basil. ★★★ and 1/2.

First line: One never knew what might happen at a boat race, but Mrs. Ginger Reed--the former Lady Gold--hadn't expected murder.

Last line: "Consider it sealed," she said, then settled her lips on his.
*************************

Deaths = 2 (one drowned; one poisoned)

What Rhymes with Murder?

 What Rhymes with Murder? (1950) by Jack Iams

Stanley "Rocky" Rockwell, city editor for the Record, has problems. His fiancee, Jane Hewes, and the ladies of the Tuesday Ladies' Club have invited the notorious British poet, Ariel Banks, to come to town and speak at their club. Banks is a hot poet both politically and morally and the menfolk belonging to the ladies are not happy to have the Great Lover speaking to their wives, intendeds, and girlfriends. The friction caused by the intended visit causes misunderstandings left, right, and center as well as between Rocky & Jane. Then, there's the rival newspaper, a scandal sheet that is feeding directly into the discord. The Eagle has brought in some heavy-hitters to take down the Record in way they can, fair play or foul. They try to poach Rocky for their own paper and when that doesn't work, they prepare to play dirty.

Meanwhile, Ariel Banks arrives in town and barely has time to get settled  before someone decides the world would be a whole lot better off without him and then the Record's mobster strongman is also killed. And, somehow, the police get the idea that Rocky is the culprit. Rocky and Jane find themselves in danger, but the irrepressible and sometimes prickly society editor, Mrs. Pickett lands on their side and the three of them manage to get to the bottom of the mystery. 

Mrs. Pickett, know to newspaper subscribers as Debbie Mayfair, is by far the standout character in this particular mystery. I didn't find Rocky and Jane nearly as engaging as I did in Do Not Murder Before Christmas and I'm at a point where I'm not terribly enamored with the whole "main character is suspected in a murder they obviously didn't commit and must spend the rest of the book proving that" trope. That's where the tension is supposed be in the story, but it's obvious that the police don't seriously believe Rocky did it. So why not just go about the business of finding out who really did rather than putting our hero and his girl in danger? I wasn't really sold on the culprit and the motive either. I don't want to spoil things, but I don't see how I (and readers in general) was supposed to figure that out. All the star points go to Mrs. Pickett, who is really quite delightful. ★★★

First line: The news that a British poet was going to lecture before the Tuesday Ladies' Club would normally have caused something less than a ripple among the ninety-nine percent of our city's eight-odd thousand inhabitants who did not belong to, or give a hoot about, the Tuesday Ladies' Club.

Last lines: "It was nothing, dear. Nothing's too good for you."
***********************

Deaths = 2 (one hit on head; one shot)

The May Week Murders

 The May Week Murders (1937) by Douglas G. Browne

[note: cover says "murder" while the spine and various sources says "murders]

May Week at Cambridge is a pretty hectic time of year--nightly balls and a huge influx of visitors. This makes a prime setting for a Golden Age mystery. This particular May Week brings together the surviving members (and children of deceased members) of a university club which started before the first world war. The club, known as the Nine Bright Shiners also instituted a trust fund for any children of the original members. A trust fund that seems to operate somewhat along the lines of a tontine. The children earn an equal share of the trust as soon as they graduate from Cambridge. If any don't survive to graduate (or are sent down, one supposes), then the shares get larger for the remaining children.

Sir Vyvyan Roswell-Hogg hosts an annual dinner for them all to get together. But this year the dinner doesn't end well. Roswell-Hogg is found stabbed in the lane running behind his hotel and the diamond pendant presented to his wife by the club is stolen that same night as well. Suspicion soon lands on Wilfred Lanham, one of the founding members and the originator of the trust fund idea. Lanham had fallen on hard times and had applied to trustees of the fund for assistance from the fund (pointing out that exceptions had been made for widows of original members who had been lost in the Great War). But there had already been ill-feeling between the trustees and Lanham and they turned him down. Lanham particularly blamed Roswell-Hogg because he had great influence over the other trustees. Lanham was supposed to be in Cambridge--though to visit his daughter, not to attend the dinner--but when the police go looking for him, he's nowhere to be found.

Then several children of the survivors are murdered as well and it begins to look like someone either has a vendetta against the club in general (Lanham again) or is trying to make the shares bigger...or both. The police are making little headway in either finding Lanham or finding any evidence that will point to someone else. Added to the mix is a mysterious man from Chicago who is on the hunt for someone else from America but who doesn't seem quite clear on exactly who that is...Does this connect with the murders or is something else going on? Fortunately the Chief Constable, Colonel Nugent, is good friends with Major Maurice Hemyock, a well-known amateur detective, and Hemyock arrives to sort things out.

This is not the strongest mystery by Browne that I have read (see What Beckoning Ghost or Too Many Cousins). It takes a while to get into the swing of things and it was a bit disconcerting not knowing who exactly our narrator was and how they were connected to Hemyhock until we were well into the thick of it. The plot and motive are fairly well-worn (definitely now and, I suspect, even at the time of first printing). And, it may be that I was just having a particularly bright moment when the first clue to the culprit was presented, but I did see where everything was headed from that point. On the plus side, I do enjoy Browne's characters (once I had the chance to get everyone sorted properly) and our narrator--Myra--is quite charming. A decent mystery, but perhaps not the best introduction to Browne's work. ★★★

First line: I had been staying with the Nugents at Clayhythe since the beginning of May Week.

Last lines: "They won't be," said Maurice.
                  He was quite right.
******************

Deaths = 12 (four stabbed; one car crash; four in battle; one drowned; one natural; one shot)

Murder Rides the Campaign Train

 Murder Rides the Campaign Train (1952) by The Gordons (Mildred & Gordon Gordon)

Governor Wallace X. Martin (political party unmentioned) is on a whistle-stop campaign tour on his bid for the White House. The train is full of supporters, campaign team members, his daughter and son, and reporters. All friends--yes? If so, then why is someone trying to kill "the next President of the United States"? We start off with someone taking a potshot at the governor late one night while he sits up working on a campaign speech. Someone knocks his daughter out when she's roaming around in the dark trying to catch them red-handed. Then that same someone slips poison in the governor's coffee--fortunately he doesn't drink much and he gets medical attention in time. But how long can his luck hold out?

Evidence seems to point towards Jackie Moxas, one of his secretaries. Jackie has a huge chip on her shoulder and loathes her boss for reasons revealed to us along the way. But there's also Mr. Andrews, a rather shady fellow, who has supported the governor for many years and expects some return on his investment. He doesn't take kindly to finding out that he may be pushed out into the cold. There are others on the train who harbor secret resentments...are any of them strong enough to kill for? Dana Peck is the detective on the train and it's his job to keep the governor safe. Jackie decides Dana is a goop and needs help cracking the case. Besides, she can't sit idly by while everyone suspects her. She starts snooping around to clear her name and if she gets to show Peck how to do his job that'll be fine too. But the would-be killer may have other plans for Jackie Moxas.

A most appropriate title for this year's reading here in the United States and I have a mixed reaction to it. The Gordons do an excellent job representing the whistle-stop campaign tour of the early 1950s (at least from what I know of it). The train setting and their representation of all the members of the campaign--from the governor to his children to the secretaries to the campaign manager to the reporters along for the ride--are solid and realistic. My difficulty is with the characters themselves and perhaps this is deliberate on the part of the Gordons, though I think, since she's our narrator and given the background story we're gradually given for her, we're supposed to sympathize with Jackie. But I don't. I don't feel like I'm supposed to be "for" anyone. 

Jackie is very chip-on-her-shoulder, it's me against the world. No matter how nice anyone is to her, she doesn't believe it. Everyone has an ulterior motive; no compliment comes without an expectation; no kind word is what it seems. And she's so idiotic about her "I'm going to solve it before the 'goopy' detective." She's not good at detecting and she only helps them figure out who's behind it all by walking straight into the culprit's arms and putting herself in danger. The governor is the usual political dude--he's been willing enough to give quid pro quo to all sorts of questionable parties along the way, but now that he's aiming for the White House he suddenly decides that he needs to be squeaky clean. Like somehow he can give these questionable people the brush-off and they're going to take it? He's seems incredulous that they still expect to have some influence on his campaign. And I can't decide if his "rescue unfortunate young people who have had minor brushes with the law" thing is sincere or just part of his image polishing. Jackie, who has benefitted from a rescue, definitely thinks it's the latter. The governor's entourage is full of people who are just looking out for themselves...and some of them are looking out for the questionable parties. The closest I get to being "for" anyone is with Dana Peck, the detective head of the governor's security, and Charlie Lundigan, the most personable of the reporters. 

The mystery itself is okay. There isn't much chance of figuring out who did it based on clues that are hidden among red herrings as in a puzzle plot mystery. It's more police procedural in nature--we find out motives and clues straight up along with the characters. Readers may focus on the particular character, but there aren't many pointers before the author spills the beans on motive. Interesting setting and a well-done set-up carry this one. ★★★

First line: All that Jackie Moxas wanted out of life was a pale blue convertible, a silver mink, Johnny Johnson, and her boss to drop dead.

Last lines: "She's a fine young woman, Dana. As fine as they come."
                  Dana smile.
****************************

Deaths = 4 (three natural; one fell from train)

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