Murder Listens In

 Murder Listens In (Arrow Pointing Nowhere; 1944) by Elizabeth Daly

Someone is tossing crumpled papers out of the window at Fenway House--the home of a rather secluded family. At first, the postman just thinks someone has dropped a bit of trash on the way to the dustbin. But when the papers keep coming just in time for him to find them, he begins to think there's a purpose behind it. A little bit of sleuthing on the part of the his office soon determines that the messages written on book dealer envelopes are meant for that book sleuth cum amateur detective Henry Gamadge. But the messages are, by necessity, so vague that Gamadge isn't quite sure what his pen pal wants him to do.

The first thing is to arrange to get in the house. He learns from his wife's Aunt Clara that Blake Fenway, head of the house, is a book collector and asks her to effect an introduction. Once in the house, Mr. Fenway makes it easy for him to make his presence known to "the client" by introducing Gamadge to everyone. Everyone includes Blake's daughter Caroline; Belle Fenway, wife of Blake's younger, deceased brother, and their son Alden who is mentally handicapped; Mott Fenway, Blake's cousin; Alice Grove, Belle's companion; and Craddock, Alden's attendant. Alice Grove's niece Hilda should be one of the party, but she is currently at Fenway, the family's country estate, sorting books and papers to be brought into town. Through various hints (a book carried around with him, for instance), Gamadge attempts to let "the client" know that he's on the case. And he finds another crumpled ball that he unobtrusively manages to take with him.

Both Blake and Mott approach him separately about solving a little mystery. An illustration in a book about the Fenway family history has been torn out. It's the only surviving picture of the family's first estate--long since sold. And they want Gamadge to find it. He's happy to add that to his to do list, but he also knows that neither of these men are his client--they move freely from the house and have no qualms about talking to him about their trouble. Whoever brought him to the house obviously can't move about freely--otherwise they could have sent him a more straightforward message. But it soon becomes apparent that there is more to the missing illustration than meets the eye and Gamadge begins to wonder if any of these people are exactly what he thinks they are.

This is a cleverly plotted (particularly for the time period) mystery with a somewhat shaky hook at the beginning. Depending on cryptic notes written on crumpled envelopes to be delivered to Gamadge and just tossed out as trash is a pretty poor method of communication. And I realize "the client" was in a desperate situation with little choice. But how on earth the post office knew to hand it to someone who would know that it needed to go to Gamadge....and then how on earth Gamadge made heads or tails out of the cryptic messages is beyond me. Once we get Gamadge on the spot, it's all good. He dives in and figures out where the missing illustration is and why it's so important to his client and who the villain of the piece is and it all makes perfect sense from there. [Not that I spotted the final twist before it came, mind you.]

I read this once upon a time [long before blogging] and had a nice time getting reacquainted with Gamadge. Good solid mystery. Creepy old house (make that two--if you count the country estate). Mysterious goings on at night. All good fun. ★★★ and 1/2 

First line: Schenck pushed the ball of crumpled paper across the table.  

Last line:  Perhaps mine told her that I always answer my letters.
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Deaths = 5 (two natural; one fell from height; two shot)

[Finished on 9/30/25]