Deadly Is the Diamond

 Deadly Is the Diamond (1942) by Mignon G. Eberhart

The Chabot family are diamond importers. Henry Chabot brings home a fabulous gem dubbed the "Chabot Diamond" and in a joint deal with his sister, Hermione; nephew, Charles; and partner, Pieter Van der Hof, he plans to have the huge stone cut into gems worth two and a half million dollars. Hermione is opposed to having the stone cut. She just "feels" that the stone is cursed and if it is split then even more bad luck will follow it. Henry scoffs and says that the only reason she's fear-mongering is that she wants to wear the large diamond as is. 

But it seems that Hermione may have had a true premonition, for as soon as the expert stone cutter Albert de Burghe finishes splitting the diamond, he drops over dead...apparently poisoned. Was the poison in the milk brought to him by his own niece? Or perhaps in the coffee given to him by Van der Hof? Or the gum he chewed just before his task? When all three are given a clean bill of health it becomes quite a puzzle for the police. How was the man poisoned in front of eight witnesses in a locked room? When two more men in the building die by poisoning as well, the police must decide what the motive must be. They also need to find out what the mysterious dark man who has been shadowing the Chabot family has to do with it.

Another fun novella in the Dell 10 cent series. Eberhart likes to give us female narrators with varying degrees of amateur detective skills. Our narrator here is a writer (not entirely sure what type--journalist, novelist, poet [nah, most likely not a poet]--but I have to say she's not the most observant of women. However, she has an absolutely marvelous butler who loves playing amateur detective and seems to know everything about everything. Mr. Bland is, I believe, my second favorite mystery-related butler. Bunter, Lord Peter's manservant (butler, valet, chauffeur rolled into one), is, of course, number one. But Bland gives Bunter a run for his money. He notices little tidbits that escape his mistress. He follows villains with the best of them. And...he effects the rescue of the damsel in distress--just in the nick of time. Top marks to Eberhart for characterization and atmosphere and for creating a rather nifty impossible crime. ★★★★

First line: Hermione looked out the window, shrugged, and said quite unexpectedly, "It's the little black man that really worries me," and then refused to tell me what little black man; yet that was not really the beginning of the story.

...there's no getting around the fact that murder demands a certain intimacy between the murderer and, so to speak, the murderee. (p. 16)

It was, of course, physically impossible for [Bland, the butler] to put the car away, waft himself up the service elevator (besides almost certainly pausing to inform Mrs. Bland of the stirring events of the day), and appear in the library, tray in hand, in the few moments that had elapsed since I entered the apartment house, leaving him and the car at the door. But there he was, however, large as life. (p.21)

Last line: "I believe dinner is served."

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Deaths = 4 (one natural; three poisoned)