The Opening Door

 The Opening Door (1944) by Helen Reilly

Eve Flavell has been estranged from her family. Rather than marrying money as expected, she leaves home to start her own shop--starting with books and then adding gloves and stockings (quite a combination). Her family, especially her father, thinks it's demeaning. 

"The book shop he might have been able to swallow, books were cultural and not undignified, but when she had added stockings and gloves he had thrown up his hands: 'A female haberdasher, after four years of college--my dear girl. What an achievement! You must be proud of yourself."

She decided to visit her family one more time to let them know that she has decided to marry Jim Holland. It will be a nice, comfortable marriage...but not one for love. She can't marry the man she loves because Bruce Cunningham has promised himself to her stepsister Natalie. And Eve adores Natalie and could never hurt her. The worst part of visiting her family will be seeing her Aunt Charlotte. Charlotte also adores Natalie and is fond of Eve's brother, Gerald, but she never cared for Eve. And the feeling is mutual. If Eve can only slip in to make her announcement and out again without seeing Aunt Charlotte or Bruce. Then all will be well...

But of course, Aunt Charlotte is there. And there is a bit of scene. And then Bruce comes. And Eve is miserable. She finally makes her escape and thinks life can finally begin new. Except...at some point Aunt Charlotte goes out to the neighborhood park and gets herself shot. And Bruce is the prime suspect because it was his rifle that was used to do the deed. Inspector McKee is on the job to find the killer and despite the DA's insistent that they've already got their man, McKee isn't too sure. But can he prevent one more death before he can gather up all the right clues?

Let's start with the drawbacks--Eve, our point-of-view character behaves like suck a nitwit for a large portion of the book. She's going to give up the man she loves for her stepsister. A stepsister who has everything--looks, the adoration of the family, and wealth. A stepsister that she also adores--for reasons that are unclear. Then, when the murder happens and Bruce is under suspicion, she goes out of her way to do stupid things that will draw even more attention to Bruce. Now, fortunately, Inspector McKee is not a nitwit and is not prone to go with the obvious just because it's obvious and will bring the case to a quick conclusion (cue the DA who likes that kind of thing). Another slight problem (for those who love a good, old-fashioned mystery) is the lack of fair play. There aren't a lot of clues hanging about that the reader gets to see and try to figure out on their own. By the time a real, live clue actually showed up, I had given up looking and it flew right by me. Maybe that was the strategy. I won't give a lot of clues. Then when I do stick one right under their noses, they won't even notice it. :-)

However, even with those items on the deficit side of the ledger, there is still a lot to like. Reilly does a good job with police procedure and Inspector McKee is, as always, fascinating to watch in action. Some of the later books focus too much on suspense and woman in danger, but this one has a very nice mix. It'd be even better if Eve didn't go out of her way to make things complicated for herself. The solution is solid even though the solution is more Holmesian with plot points held close to the chest before the big reveal. ★★★ and 3/4 

First line: The murder didn't take place until after 7 p.m. on the night of December 2nd.

Last line: She snatched it [her coat] from a hanger and Bruce put her into it and they moved to the door and out into the storm side by side.
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Deaths = 5 (three natural; one war; one shot)

[Finished 10/18/26]