Murder in Bright Red

 Murder in Bright Red (1953) by Frances Crane

While Pat and Jean Abbott are visiting relatives, murder strikes. Honestly, if I heard the Abbotts were visiting anywhere within 50 miles of me, I'd be going on a little trip myself...anywhere as long as it was far, far away. Sally Carroll, an airline hostess that Pat and Jean (especially Pat, who travels often in his job as a private investigator) know slightly, has just become suspect number one in shooting death of her ex-fiance, Charley Pryor. Never mind that Charley jilted her a few years ago, has since married someone else, and Sally hasn't been pining away for him all this time. She was the last one seen with him at the country club, is sporting a black eye from the encounter, and gave his face a good scratching. 

Pat dives into the investigation and learns that Charley wasn't exactly beloved by all. There's a number of people who won't be sad that he's not among the living anymore--including his current wife. Just as he's beginning to track down clues, Pat suddenly becomes persona non grata--nobody wants him poking his nose into the case anymore--not Sally, not Philip Williams who made the call to Pat on Sally's behalf, not the cousin and heir of Charley Pryor, and especially not the Sheriff. Fortunately, the State Police Lieutenant doesn't mind a little help from an outsider and they work together to search for answers

But somebody really wants the Abbotts to go away. Pat is shot at by a man who's supposed to be helping, he winds up in a fist-fight, and Jean is nearly abandoned in an old well. Somebody tries to run them off the road and the Sheriff tries to run them out of town. Pat has a plan to catch the killer but will he be able to do so before the murderer claims more victims?

Not my favorite of the Abbott mysteries I've read. I couldn't really see the motives--both the motive for Pat being so invested in the mystery or the motive for the culprit. I latched onto the right person early on; primarily because they seemed to be so darn helpful for no apparent reason. But I don't think Crane did a good job conveying any clues that would tell us why they committed the crime. The reason makes sense when you know what it is, but you only know because Pat says it's so in the wrap-up. We didn't really see much in the way of detecting going on and what clues that did come to light seemed to do so accidentally. And...the whole subtext of Jean's jealousy was unnecessary. We're sixteen books into this series; I think we're all pretty clear that Pat must be crazy about her (otherwise he wouldn't keep her around to meddle in his cases). She should be too. ★★ and 1/2

First line: The telephone rang.

Last line: My husband gave me  one-eyed love look and said, "Are you crazy?"
**********************

Deaths = three shot