A Catered Book Club Murder (Spoilerific)

 A Catered Book Club Murder (2021) by Isis Crawford (Barbara Block)

Synopsis (from the book flap): Sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons run a catering business in their upstate New York town and they're delighted for the chance to provide tasty desserts for the local mystery lovers' book club. But when fiction spills into a reality and the sisters find themselves investigating a suspicious death, it's up to them to figure out whodunit...

If anything can be said about the endearingly predictable Margo Hemsley, it's that she always serves elaborate desserts at her mystery book club meetings. That's why everyone fears the worst after she doesn't pick up her order from Bernie and Libby and skips out on the monthly gathering. The Simmons sisters can't imagine their acquaintance vanishing like a character from one of her favorite novels, at least not willingly.

When the search ends with the discovery of a dead body, Bernie and Libby agree to help the nine remaining book club members prove their friend was murdered. But a speed read through Margo's background reveals there was more to the victim than harmless hobbies and frumpy cardigans would suggest. As the sleuthing sisters unearth scandalous secrets about the book club members, they'll have to determine who was connected to Margo's shady dealings--and who sent her to an early grave...

So...I cannot discuss this without spoiling things left, right, and center. You have been warned!

Here we have a "cozy" mystery--amateur sleuths, small town setting, catering with baked goods, and recipes at the end of the book. And the solution is about as cozy as a rabid pit bull whose owner has trained it for dog fights. No, seriously. The solution to this cozy little mystery is a contract killer. What?? I mean, yes, I pointed my finger at the correct suspects (contract killer has a girlfriend...now there's a cozy little novelty)--mainly because contract killer guy kept appearing here and there when the sisters were investigating and the girlfriend kept insisting on how she "tried to warn Margo." I didn't have any real clues to go on. And how we were supposed to figure out that the suspect was a hired gun is beyond me--unless we were just supposed to assume that if a woman had a secret identity all lined up with fake passport and a stash of cash then, of course, somebody would want to hire a killer to do her in.

Another thing that niggles at me--the title centers this on a catered book club murder. The book club really doesn't come into it all. Sure, that's what this group of people have in common--they're all part of the book club. But do we actually see them in the book club? Does the murder happen at a book club meeting?  Do books get more than a passing mention? No, no, and no. For all that the book club figures in, this could have just been focused on any group of friends or neighbors. 

Oh and incidentally, once the culprits are apprehended and the dust settles, life just goes back to normal. All of the book club members were really ticked off at Bernie and Libby during the investigation (because the sisters kept discovering their little secrets and saying that each of the members had motive for murder). But all is apparently forgiven--we change the day the book club meets (to avoid bad vibes??) and change up our pastry order and that's it. We're all friends again. 

Last thing--not important to the mystery, but the recipes at the end of the book? They have no connection to the story whatsoever. I was really hoping for the recipe for the chocolate croissants.

The best part of the plot? Bernie and Libby are the daughters of a former cop, so they immediately turn info over to the police instead of keeping it to themselves. It doesn't keep them from running into trouble with the killers at the end and barely escaping being murdered--but at least it isn't because they haven't kept the authorities up to date on their discoveries. Overall, this wasn't my cup of tea--it didn't help that the book opened by dissing one of my favorite mystery authors of all time, Dorothy L. Sayers. ★★

First line: Lydia Baskerville cleared her throat, "I dreamt about you last night, Margot," she said, her voice loud against the air conditioner.

Last line: It was time to go.
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Deaths = one drowned; one shot

The Benson Murder Case

 The Benson Murder Case (1926) by S. S. Van Dine

Based very loosely on the (unsolved) true crime murder of  Joseph Brown Elwell in 1920. Elwell, a bridge expert, was found shot to death in his locked home and, like Benson in this novel, was not wearing the toupee which covered his bald head (and his vanity). 

Alvin Benson, a financial man in partnership with his brother Major Anthony Benson, is found shot through the forehead while sitting in his favorite chair in the living room. A book is still clasped in his hand. The house was locked up tight and only Benson and his housekeeper have keys. It's not surprising to find a lady's handbag and gloves on the mantle--Benson was well-known for his pursuit of the fairer sex. So, District Attorney John F. X. Markham naturally assumes it's a case of cherche la femme. But, after examining the room and the dead man, Philo Vance, dilettante and aspiring amateur sleuth, declares that no woman could have committed the crime. He convinces Markham and once the owner of the purse is found the DA decides that her fiance, having taken exception to the attentions of Benson towards his beloved, decided to rid the world of a scoundrel. Vance, of course, shoots that theory down too. Before long, it seems that every viable suspect is ruled out. Could it be that nobody did it?

Once upon a time, I discovered Philo Vance. If I remember correctly, it was in the treasure trove that was the Owen Public Library in my first year of marriage. For a town of about 2500, that library had the most amazing collection of vintage mysteries and it introduced me to the likes of S. S. Van Dine, Elizabeth Daly, Edmund Crispin, and many others that I've since hunted down for my very own vintage mystery library. But back to Vance. I discovered him and loved him and hunted down every one of his cases.

So...I needed a metallic/glittery book for a reading challenge and, having picked this one up in the last year or so, I thought it would fit the bill. Honest to goodness, Vance is the most irr'tatin', wordy fellow ever. Why use one word when you could use a whole paragraph of fancy words with sporadically miss'n letters, dontcha know? Older Bev must have a lot less patience for this type of thing than younger Bev. And Markham must have the patience of Job to put up with this sort of thing on the regular. And what makes it all the worse is that a HUGE portion of the book is devoted to talk--and Vance talking most of the time. There is very little actual action here. It's all Vance giving his ideas about things OR Vance & Markham interviewing suspects. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

SPOILER ahead!!!!!!

What saves the book is the plot. Figuring out who killed Benson and why is pretty interesting. After making Markham listen to him build up plausible cases against everyone who has been on the top of the suspect list, Vance twists everything around to show how someone who hasn't even really been considered and who seems to have the classic iron-clad alibi could have done it. And--by the way--actually did. The mystery is good enough...I just wish I had enjoyed Vance more this time around. ★★★

First Line: It happened  that, on the morning of the momentous June the fourteenth when the discovery of the murdered body of Alvin H. Benson created a sensation which, to this day has not entirely died away, I had breakfasted with Philo Vance in his apartment.

He [Vance] spent considerable time at his clubs: his favorite was the Stuyvesant, because, as 

he explained to me, its mentorship was drawn largely from the political and commercial ranks, and he was never drawn into a discussion that required any mental effort (p. 23)

"Y' know, Markham, our so-called civ'lization is nothing more than the persistent destruction of everything that's beautiful and enduring, and the designing of cheap makeshifts....Look at that fine old door, for instance, with its bevelled panels and bolection, and its Ionic pilasters and carved lintel. And then compare it with the flat. flimsy, machine-made, shellacked boards which are turned out by the thousands today." (Vance; p. 265)

Last Line: And the remark, though intended merely as a good-natured sally, proved strangely prophetic.
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Deaths = one shot

Titanic Captain

 Titanic Captain: The Life of John Edward Smith (2011) by G. J. Cooper

From the book blurb: The definitive account of the life and career of the respected and popular captain of the Titanic includes original research drawing on the ship's logs, crew lists, newspapers, and first-hand accounts. Edward John Smith's career had been a remarkable example of how a man from a humble background could get far in the world, and this biography tracks the fascinating career and many voyages of a seasoned captain. Born to a working-class family he went to sea at the age of 17 and rose rapidly through the ranks of the merchant navy, serving first in sailing vessels and later in the new steamships  of the White Star Line. By 1912, he was their senior commander and regarded by many in the shipping world as the "millionaire's captain." In 1912, Smith was given command of the new RMS Titanic for her maiden voyage, but should have been among the crowning moments of his long career at sea turned rapidly into a nightmare following the Titanic's collision with an iceberg. In a matter of hours the supposedly unsinkable ship sank, taking more than 1,500 people with her, including Captain Smith. This account dispels myths about the man and tracks his movements and motives in detail on that fateful night.

To be clear, the ship's logs in question are not the Titanic's--those went down with the ship. And honestly--so much of what is given in the logs from the other ships Smith served on and captained are very dry, business logs. Very little is learned about Smith from these document other than where he and the ships were and ship's business--but telling us anything new about the man himself, not really. And when the logs or letters or newspapers don't tell us something, Cooper loves to speculate. The log doesn't tell us that Captain Smith did X, Y, or Z, but we can suppose that he did because "reasons." We get that a lot--a lot more than a well-researched book should be giving.

The best of the research comes from letters that Smith wrote to various people and primarily to his nephew. Kudos to Cooper for giving us a more balanced look at Smith and for giving us more of his background growing up. It was good to see his record as a sailing man and captain prior to his taking the helm of his last command. And it was interesting to see his interactions with the elite of the Gilded Age. There is quite a bit that's new about Smith's life before the Titanic and that made the book as interesting as it was. But giving us new details about that last fateful voyage? Not so much.  ★★★--just

First line: Hanley in North Staffordshire, where Edward John Smith, the future captain of the Titanic, was born in 1850 was one of six tons that by the time of his birth were known collectively as the Potteries.

Last line: With her death Ted Smith's line and story had finally come to an end.

The Man Who Didn't Fly

 The Man Who Didn't Fly (1955) by Margot Bennett

Four men--Joseph Ferguson, Maurice Reid, Harry Walters, and Morgan Price--decide to book a private plane for Dublin. They all claim to have business in Ireland and plan to come back to their family and friends at home. But those who saw the plane start its westward journey across England tell of a fireball that plunged into the Irish Sea. But when an investigation is mounted, the police find that only three of the men joined the pilot in that disastrous journey. The difficulty is finding out which man didn't fly. No one who saw the men--from the bus driver who took passengers to the airport to the barman at the small airport to the men who helped get the plane ready can swear to which men were actually there. There were too many other people milling about and there was no reason to take special notice of any of them. The only things the detectives assigned to the case have to go on is a half-heard conversation that mentions Australia...or maybe South Africa and the fact that at least one of the men might have smoked and might have had a silver cigarette case.

It is odd that the man who didn't fly doesn't come forward. Did he somehow arrange for the plane to go down? If so, how? And why? The investigation comes to center on the family left behind--listening to their version of what happened in the days leading up to the plane's take-off. Other clues crop up in the conversations and eventually the police are able to fit all the pieces of the jigsaw together.

I have to say that I'm not finding the revival of Margot Bennett stories to be very satisfying. I wasn't nearly as impressed with her The Widow of Bath as some of my Golden Age Mystery friends (see linked review) and The Man Who Didn't Fly was just as disappointing. This time around the characters are not nearly as well-drawn (though they are just as un-engaging). I had a hard time keeping all the men straight (Was "Uncle Joe" the one who might have been in the plane or was it Hester's father?). And, speaking of Hester--she may not be "bitter, dreary, and cruel" as I have described the heroine of Bath, but she's definitely not one of the shining lights of GAD leading ladies. Her relationship, such as it is, with Harry is not at all believable. Why on earth both she and her step-mother (?--I'm not really sure about the relationships of all the women in the case either) are both attracted to him is a mystery to me. And the rest of the women are just as unimpressive. Added to the lack of interesting characters is a lack of interesting detection. We've taken what could have been a very engaging mystery (the premise really hooked me when I purchased this copy) and dragged it out through an endless parade of "here's what happened--in excrutiating detail--on the Monday before they all left" and "here's what happened on Tuesday"...rinse and repeat for each day leading up to the plane crash. Even breaking up the recollections with other bits of investigation didn't help me. By time things picked up and we were finally getting some action and interesting discoveries I was too numb to even care. ★★

But--my friend Kate over at Cross Examining Crime gave this a glowing review--so your mileage may vary.

First line: At eleven in the morning the aeroplane began its westward flight across England; shining like snow under is blue sky; losing its glitter in the thick white clouds; passing, heard but unseen, over the Welsh hills.

"Would you be willing to say that one of them wore a hat?"
"No. and I'll tell you why. Because I didn't see. and, if I did see, I didn't remember. And if I didn't remember, it was because I was thinking of something else. And, if I was thinking of something else, it was the three thirty at Lingfield. And if I was thinking of the three thirty at Lingfield, there's no law against it." (Police detective, Mr. Crewe; p.4)

He is a poet in words. That is now of no importance. I am a poet of money. Words! We have too many words. Word poets talk all the time of love and death. People fall in love and they die and no amount of poetic advice has ever helped them to do either of those things more successfully." (Joe Ferguson; p. 55)

"Let me try curling my lip. Do you suppose when people curl their lips it's convex or concave?" She went to the glass over the mantlepiece. "It looks queer both ways. If I curl it up towards my nose it is worse, don't you think? People in those books must look odd most of the time." (Prudence Wade; p. 116)

Last line: She kissed him and there was nothing left of Harry, except a small handful of poems for the anthologies.
*****************

Deaths = 5 (four airplane crash; one shot)

These Names Make Clues

 These Names Make Clues (1937) by E. C. R. Lorac (Edith Caroline Rivett)
"Some of these names would have made quite good clues. I wonder if Coombe thought of that." (Chief Inspector Macdonald; p. 82)

Chief Inspector Macdonald is all set to have a quiet evening with a fire, pipe, and a book when he opens his mail to find an invitation to a treasure hunt party--hosted by a celebrated publisher whose firm had published a detective novel that the Scotland Yard man had criticized (without knowing the identity of the man). Mr. Graham Coombe would like the real life detective to come and pit his wits against authors who devise fictional mysteries in a treasure hunt featuring literary, logical, and practical clues. He pretty much decides that he may look like a fool whether he goes or stays home--if he doesn't outwit the authors he'll have shown that his criticism was meaningless and if he doesn't go then Coombe can say he wasn't willing to put his money where his mouth was.

Then Peter Vernon, journalist and sometime-aide to the causes of justice (as pursued by Macdonald) shows up and talks him into going. Vernon was invited as well, but has to beg off due to a prior journalistic commitment. He wants Macdonald to go and then give him a scoop on who was invited and what the party was like and...who won. So Macdonald goes. Everyone is given a literary nom de plum and the festivities begin. Then comes a lights-out moment that was not part of the treasure hunt plan and when the lights come back on "Samuel Pepys" (aka thriller writer Andrew Gardien) is dead. First appearances indicate heart failure--the man was known to have a weak hear, but further investigation makes Macdonald sure that Gardien received the shock of his life (literally) which resulted in his death. As Macdonald investigates, he finds that all roads lead to Reading. Or at least many of the suspects have connections to that small town. But what can Reading have to do with the man who wrote detective thrillers? Once Macdonald figures this out, then he can pinpoint the murderer.

One thing that made this book difficult reading (and which has been mentioned by others in their reviews) is everybody having more than one name. Keeping everyone straight was a bit difficult at times depending on who was talking. The basic motive wasn't difficult to figure out once a certain discovery was made by Macdonald, but that motive could have applied to just about any of the suspects. There wasn't a hope of figuring out the particular version of the motive that applied to the actual killer. As usual, Lorac's writing was superb and I enjoyed Macdonald and most of the characters Lorac gives us throughout the story.

Nominee for best character: Peter Vernon, even though he's not involved in the treasure hunt and disappears from view for a chunk of the story. He's the one who gives Macdonald a good push towards accepting the invitation and he comes in at the end for his mad-dash pursuit of Denzil Strafford (aka Thomas Traherne at the party). And what fun it is to watch him in pursuit. He's witty when talking to other people and keeps up an amazing inner dialogue with himself as he tracks Strafford to Reading (where there will soon be a meeting of the suspect minds). Overall, an enjoyable entry in the Macdonald case files. ★★★ and 1/2

First line: Chief Inspector Macdonald, stretching his long limbs into an adequate chair by his own fireside, was prepared to enjoy the sort of evening which he preferred to any other. His own company, a book (he and just got Peter Fleming's News from Tartary), a pipe, and a wood fire--these promised a perfectly satisfactory evening.

People's minds and memories don't stay put. They take colour from their contacts. (p. 55)

Nobody came here with a length of flex and a plan for fusing the lights just in order to commit murder in general. Murder is always particularised, selective and limited. (Miss Susan Coombe; p. 87)

Psychology, as a scientific study, is one thing. Your Freudian rag-bag simply nauseates me. You are neither psychic nor logical. (Miss Coombe; p. 91)

Well, if eminent historians take to crime they oughtn't to try being funny. (Inspector Jenkins; p. 101)

She was old enough to disregard scoffs at "pusseries" and "henneries," experienced enough to know that a man in the house does not always spell complete bliss for the wife who darns his socks, and in the autumn of a strenuous life she regarded "peace, comfort, and cuisine guaranteed by women for women" as the desirable factors in life. (p. 152)

The young people of to-day call detective stories "escape literature"! All stories are a means of escape--from the trivial round and common task. (Mrs. Etherton; p. 156)

Last lines: "Those are the clues of the Treasure Hunt, which helped me not at all. This is the list of the Treasure Seekers--and these names made clues."

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

Deaths = 3 (one electrocuted; two shot)

Murder Mayhem Short Stories

Murder Mayhem Short Stories (2016) by Christopher Semtner (Foreword)

A mammoth short story collection with murder and mayhem aplenty--but quite a few with a horror/fantasy bent to them. We have everything from supernatural creatures (like the Wendigo of the first story to a harpy-like monster later in the book) to killer teddy bears to unnatural children. There are a few more straight-forward murder mysteries, but in most of these the killer doesn't have to surrender to justice (at least not within the pages of the story). While the stories are, for the most part, well-written, I do prefer murderers to get their just desserts. Stories that just didn't do much for me: "Funeral," "Into the Blue," "Mr. Happy Head," and "The Dualists." The last of these seemed to be gruesome just for the sake of being gruesome. A few I've read before, so while good, they did not have quite the impact of first reading: "Dr. Hyde, Detective, & the White Pillars Murder," "The Traveller's Story of a Terribly Strange Bed," and "The Trial for Murder." The best of the bunch: "The Rector of Veilbye," "The Thing Invisible," "Pigeons from Hell," and "In the Dark." I also really like Oscar Wilde's tale of Lord Arthur Savile's attempts at murder (because I adore Oscar Wilde) and Wilde's send-up of the murder story. In true Wilde fashion he turns everything on its head. ★★★ and 1/2 for the collection.

Just a small personal rant...why on earth can we not name all of our characters? Some of these stories had plenty of corpses and the author either gave names to some but not all or gave none of them names. Help a girl out here--we need those names for the Medical Examiner's Challenge.

"The Wendigo Goes Home" by Sara Dobie Bauer:  The Wendigo (disguised as one Cleve Packer) hasn't dined on flesh for a while. This one only eats people who are close to death anyway. He always knows who...he can smell death upon them. (one devoured by the Wendigo)

"The Death of Halpin Frayser" by Ambrose Bierce: A story of madness, murder, and maybe a ghost out in the wilds of California. (one throat cut; one strangled)

"The Moonlit Road" by Ambrose Bierce: Another story of madness & murder....and a solution given through the transcription of a medium. And a depressing solution it is. (one strangled)

"The Rector of Veilbye" by Steen Steensen Blicher: Based on a real 17th C murder case--a rector is accused and convicted of murdering his servant, but the story is a little more complicated than that. (one hanged; one beheaded; one of a stroke)

"Funeral" by Michael Cebula: A revenge story, pure and simple. And definitely not my cup of tea. (And nobody has a name, so none of the deaths count.)

"Into the Blue" by Carolyn Charron: Another story that's not for me--it crosses one of my "I don't do these kind of stories" lines (and I can't tell you which one without spoiling the ending). Well-written, but not gonna be one of my favorites. (And, of course, no names, so I can't count it for the M.E. Challenge either)

"Dr. Hyde, Detective, & the White Pillars Murder" by G. K. Chesterton: The only appearance of this particular detective. Dr. Hyde and his two proteges (John Brandon & Walter Weir) are asked investigate the death of Melchior Morse. Strangely, Dr. Hyde leaves the investigation to the two fledgling detectives. There are only two physical clues--a half-footprint and a cigar stump. In the end, the star pupils discover a very surprising murderer and decide that perhaps detecting isn't for them after all. (one neck broken)

"Don't you feel by this time that it's the atmosphere of the whole place? It's not a bit like those delightful detective stories. In a detective story all the people in the house are gaping imbeciles, who can't understand anything, and in the midst stands the brilliant sleuth who understands everything. Here am I standing in the midst, a brilliant sleuth, and I believe, on my soul, I'm the only person in the house who doesn't know all about the crime." (Walter Weir)

You can build everything on the trifle except the truth. (Weir) 

We're so sure that people mean what we mean, that we can't believe they mean what they say. (Weir) 

"The Traveller's Story of a Terribly Strange Bed" by Wilkie Collins: A famous story included in many anthologies. A gambler has a night of huge winnings and much celebration.  So much celebration that he's convinced to spend the night in the gaming house rather than take his winnings out into the street in his inebriated state.  But the gaming house master doesn't intend that the gambler will leave the house at all.

"Who Killed Zebedee?" by Wilkie Collins: A young policeman has his first and last case of murder--that of a young bridegroom. His bride insists that she must have stabbed him in her sleep...but did she? (one stabbed)

"The Trial for Murder" by Charles Dickens: A supernatural story of justice served. The ghost of a murdered man appears repeatedly to the foreman of the jury deliberating over the trial of his murderer. He makes every effort to ensure a verdict of guilty will be entered. (Guess what--no names!)

"The Problem of Dead Wood Hall" by Dick Donovan: Our unnamed detective sets out to prove that two men were murdered by the same unknown poison--two years apart. I am not a huge fan of open-ended mystery stories. The detective solves the mystery (we think)--but a jury of twelve men good and true don't agree.(two poisoned)

"Mr. Happy Head" by James Dorr: Another that is not my cup of tea. We get to be all up and in the culprit's thoughts. Not a pleasant place to be. I'm not at all sure how many deaths "Mr. Happy Head" is responsible for....Nor am I certain what happens to him at the end. (No names here either...)

"The Brazilian Cat" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: A man plans to do away with the heir that stands between himself and a fortune. The plot involves a very unusual murder method--but will it succeed? [one attacked by a large cat; one natural]

"Nineteen Sixty-Five Ford Falcon" by Tim Foley: A haunted car, a supposed suicide pact...and the truth. (Two drowned)

"Mama Said" by Steven Thor Gunnin: Our narrator has to have a psychological exam to see if he's competent to stand trial. The examiner is going to regret that...briefly. (two stabbed)

"Six Aspects of Cath Baduma" by Kate Heartfield: Not really a mystery. A fantasy battle. (one stabbed--along with a score more unnamed)

"The House Among the Laurels" by William Hope Hodgson: Carnacki, the supernatural investigator, takes on the evil forces haunting the house his friend has recently inherited. At first it looks like it might truly be spirits of one sort or another...but then Carnacki develops the photographs he took...

"The Thing Invisible" by William Hope Hodgson: Carnacki investigates the case of a butler stabbed in front of witnesses. The witness are convinced that either the dagger has a mind of its own or an invisible agent has employed it. Carnacki is almost convinced that the supernatural is involved...and then he notices something odd in a photograph. (one natural)

"Freedom Is Not Free" by David M. Hoenig: What happens when the clones rise up against the "Primes"? It's not pretty...and the investigating officer finds himself in the middle in a way he could never have imagined. (two stabbed; two shot; one hit on head)

"Mademoiselle de Scuderi" by E. T. A. Hoffman: 17th C Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. The poiet Mademoiselle de Scuderi becomes entangled in a series of thefts and murders. She sets out to clear an apprentice and his daughter of suspicion. (two poisoned; two beheaded; one burned; one stabbed)

"How to Build a Mass-Murderer" by Liam Hogan: What if the building blocks for mass murder were scripted in the DNA. How would a government defend against "DNA terrorism"? A very short short story--and yet manages to be a bit confusing for over half of it.

"Pigeons from Hell" by  Robert E. Howard: When two travelers decide to spend the night in an abandoned Southern mansion, they get more than they bargained for. Death and revenge are perched in the house...just like the pigeons perched on the eaves. (four hit on head with axe; one poisoned; one shot)

"The Two-Out-of-Three Rule" by Patrick J. Hurley: Kyle and his friends are gaming nerds--the girls just don't go for them. Until Kyle finds the perfect girl. Elaina is beautiful, smart, and loves gaming. And she wants to be all his. There's just one little catch... (one eaten)

"The Well" by W. W. Jacobs: A man murders a blackmailing hanger-on who might spoil his chances at matrimonial bliss. But he learns (the hard way) that you really shouldn't hide the body on your own property. And especially not somewhere that your lady-love might lose a precious bracelet.  (two drowned)

"In the Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka: In the penal colony punishment is given a brutal twist.  (one stabbed)

"Getting Shot in the Face Still Stings" by Michelle Ann King: Gangsters really don't like it when someone snatches their takings...even if the one doing the snatching is an immortal goddess/demon who comes back every time they kill her. (one beaten to death; one stabbed)

"The Return of Imray" by Rudyard Kipling: Slightly supernatural tale of Imray, a man in British India, who goes missing. He unexpectedly returns in the most grisly manor. (one throat cut; one poisoned)

"Less Than Katherine" by Claude Lalumiere: The narrator's daughter, the Katherine of the title, discovers a stone knife while the family is on vacation. It soon takes possession of her...leaving a trail of murder in its wake. Interesting twist at the end. (eight stabbed)

"Shared Losses" by Gerri Leen: A woman takes revenge when her ex takes up with another woman and her reasons are, shall we say, a bit different.... (Yep--no names.)

"The Hound" by H. P. Lovecraft: Two friends are bored with normal life and decide to dabble in the dark arts and make a collection of strange and unwholesome items. When they uncover a cursed amulet and add it to their collection, they release a diabolical force. (one mauled to death)

"From Beyond" by H. P. Lovecraft: A mad scientist does experiments to open himself up to all the senses that he believes men used to have...he exposes his servants and his friend (though the scientist certainly doesn't treat him as such) to previously unseen terrors. (one vaporized; one apoplexy)

"Drive Safe" by K. A. Mielke: A young woman soon regrets making her boyfriend stop to help an apparently helpless woman. (one eaten; one vaporized)

"In the Dark" by Edith Nesbit:  A tale of three men. Our narrator, Winston, who is worried about his friend Haldane. Haldane is a man in distress--caused by Visger. Visger has been a tattletale who always tells the truth--even when it seems impossible for him to know it--and the other two have hated him for it ever since they were boys together. Finally, Visger tells one truth too many. (one strangled; one heart attack; one poisoned)

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe: Poe's classic about a man who takes an extraordinary revenge for an unspecified insult. (one walled up)

"The Azure Ring" by Arthur B. Reeve: Professor Craig Kennedy is out to prove whether District Attorney Whitney is correct in his suspicion that a pair of young lovers have been murdered--even though there's no trace of violence or poison. The coroner thinks it was an accident of some sort, but there isn't even evidence of that. [three poisoned]

"Redux" by Alexandra Camille Renwick: Take Groundhog Day and add murder and what you'll get is "Redux." A nice little SF twist on repeat murder. (one shot)

"The First Seven Deaths of Mildred Orly" by Fred Senese: Mildred Orly hates the way she looks and decides she can't live looking like that. When she commits suicide she finds out she has the power to do something about the way she looks.... (two poisoned; one shot; one stabbed; one hanged; one heart failure)

"Markheim" by Robert Louis Stevenson: A petty thief turns murderer on Christmas Day and finds himself in a moral struggle when it seems a second murder may be necessary. (one stabbed)

"The Dualitists" by Bram Stoker: Two young boys are given identical knives as presents--and after learning the destructive power of identical weapons they go on a terrible rampage. (two shot; two hit on the head)

"The Burial of the Rats" by Bram Stoker: A man is trapped in the catacombs under Paris, pursued by people who live down there among the rats. 

"Mister Ted" by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt: Mister Ted is a stuffed bear. And he will do anything for his little girl Sophie. Anything. (one suffocated; two stabbed)

"Cheese" by Ethel Lina White: A young woman fresh up from the country is set as bait to catch a nasty killer. If she survives, she'll earn a 500 pound reward....(one strangled)

"Corpses Removed, No Questions Asked" by Dean H. Wild: When a woman uses a Lil Slugger bat in a fit of rage and kills her errant husband, she wonders, "Now what do I do with him." She finds out the answer when the doorbell rings. (four hit on head)

"Lord Arthur Savile's Crime: A Study of Duty" by Oscar Wilde: Lord Arthur Savile attends a party where a man reads palms as a party trick. When he looks at Lord Arthur's hand, he turns pale and only reveals what he sees when the gentleman insists. Murder--Lord Arthur will commit murder. And--seeing as Lord Arthur is engaged to marry, it is, of course, his duty to get the distasteful event out of the way before the nuptials. Never did a man find it so difficult to commit one simple murder. (one natural; one drowned)

"Fragments of Me" by Nemma Wollenfang: A young woman with multiple personality disorder has one particularly nasty personality struggling to be primary. (one strangled)

First line (1st story: Cleve Packer prided himself on eating only people who were about to die.

Last lines (last story): Today I am Billy, but tomorrow who knows? It could be one of seven fragments of me.

Harriet Farewell

 Harriet Farewell (1975) by Margaret Erskine (Doris Margaret Weatherby Williams)

Inspector Septimus Finch is on loan to the Ilverstoke Division. He's not expecting much in his line (homicide); the Superintendent has assured him that "financial chicanery is our usual fare." But he's not there long before the much younger, third wife of Theodore Buckler (the patriarch of the wealthiest family in Ilverstoke) is shot and killed during a Guy Fawkes celebration on the Buckler estate. Consuelo Buckler wasn't much loved by anyone in the family except Theodore. Her stepsons and their wives all despise her and  took exception to her sly, interfering ways. Harriet Buckler, especially hated her.

Harriet has just recently been released from an institution after a mental breakdown brought on by her responsibility for her and Miles Buckler's young son. The incident brought on amnesia and she seemed to be fairly calm and reasonably well when released--other than her inability to remember anything of the car accident that resulted in "Bunny's" death. That is until Consuelo started a campaign to make her remember. And when Miles mentions that his revolver is missing just hours before Consuelo is found dead near the lake, Harriet is the obvious suspect. It doesn't help that she has disappeared--as if she's avoiding capture. 

But there is more going on in Ilverstoke than just the death of Consuelo. There is a missing French artist and a stolen ivory art piece from the Buckler collection. And not long after Harriet was sent away to the institution, Miles' and her home was burned down. Finch suspects a connection, though it will take some time to work out the pattern. Unfortunately, more deaths will occur before he puts the final piece in the puzzle. 

This was the first Erskine mystery I ever came across and was the reason I put her on my To Be Found list. I first read Harriet Farewell in the early 90s--long before blogging was a thing for me. I decided it was time to revisit the story and see how it holds up. The mystery plot itself is pretty solid. Though not a Golden Age book, it does follow GAD standards for clue dropping and puzzle points. It could use a few more credible suspects, though. Erskine tries to spread suspicion among all the Bucklers, but doesn't really accomplish that goal. We've got, at most, three good suspects--with a bit more effort we could have had six (which is the number I think she was shooting for). But it was a good bit of entertainment and made for a fast-paced read. And it was a definite pleasure getting reacquainted with Inspector Finch. ★★★  and 1/2

First line: Emma, the youngest of Theodore Buckler's three daughters-in-law, came hurrying through the woods, scuffling up the gold-brown leaves as she walked.

Last line: "I'd say it was more educational," Finch assured her solemnly.
**************

Deaths = 7 (one auto accident; one shot; two natural; two hit on head; one crushed by tree)

Murder on the Thirty-First Floor (Spoilerific)

 Murder on the Thirty-First Floor (1964) by Per Wahlöö

We open with a bomb threat delivered to an unnamed authoritarian nation's sole publishing conglomerate. It accuses the company of murder and says that the bomb has been set to go off at a certain time as retribution for the murder. Chief Inspector Jensen is assigned to the case--his initial goal is to convince the Director that the building must be cleared...against protests of how much money will be lost in the time the presses aren't running. He succeeds...mostly. Everyone is evacuated except for the mysterious "Special Department" on the thirty-first floor. Fortunately, the time for the bomb to go off comes and passes and nothing happens. But the conglomerate's officials insist that the police--Jensen--must find the person who sent the threat. The Chief of Police tells Jensen that this is his case and he must find the culprit within one week or.... (or what is never made quite clear--what is clear is that there will be Consequences with a capital "C")

What follows is pure police procedural with Jensen looking for those who may have some sort of grudge against the conglomerate or those in charge of the publishing concern. He works his way slowly through all who have left the company (whether voluntarily or not...) until he's able to pinpoint the culprit. Who has one final surprise for the company.

Here Be Spoilers! I can't talk about the book as I'd like to without spoiling what mystery there is....read further only if you have read this previously or don't mind knowing a great deal about what happens.

So...Wahlöö's novel is more dystopian future than it is mystery. It has more kinship with Orwell's 1984 and Bradbury's Farenheit 451 than it does with Sherlock Holmes or Wahlöö's joint-efforts with Maj Sjöwall in the Martin Beck series. Oh, there is a mystery--who is behind the bomb scare and why? And Chief Inspector Jensen does discover the answer to that. And there is murder--of a sort, as the culprit tells Jensen in their interview:

Do you understand the implications of what I have just said? This was murder, an intellectual, murder far more loathsome and distasteful than physical murder. The murder of innumerable ideas, the murder of opinions, of freedom of speech. Premeditated first-degree murder of them all, to give people guaranteed peace of mid, to make them disposed to swallow uncritically all the tripe that's stuffed into them. Do you see, to spread indifference without opposition, forcibly injecting poison after first making sure  there is neither doctor nor serum available.

The murder of free thought, of the right to question, of the possibility of a difference of opinion and the means to argue for it. Wahlöö builds his world upon the idea that television started this unnamed country on this path to anti-intellectualism; that the government built upon the "tripe" being doled out on television to water down everything from newspapers to magazines to sports events. I wonder what he would make of the world today and the effects of social media?

As social commentary, this is excellent. Wahlöö builds his dystopian world well. Those of us familiar with Orwell and Bradbury recognize the warnings well. The characters that people the novel are nearly all nameless, fairly interchangeable cogs. The only one who has a name is our protagonist, Jensen. The publishing conglomerate has no name. The men and women who work for (or who previously worked for) the company have no names--only positions. Jensen's superior officer is known only as the Chief of Police. His subordinates are merely Civil Patrol officers. We have a definite sense that the individual is not important. Jensen's chronic stomach issue seems to me to be indicative of the underlying discontent of this "perfect society." Other pointers are the uptick in drunkenness and suicides (that, in this world are never labeled as such--accidents, that's what they are, accidents).

There are two things that bother me about this story. First, just before Jensen confronts him at the end our culprit has sent another message with a bomb threat. We're left hanging as to whether it's real this time or not. Jensen who is monitoring things from the police station by radio and wonders in the last line whether the explosion, should it come, would be audible to him. (Although Jensen's reactions right before that last line seem to indicate that he believes it's real this time...) And, connected to the first, if the bomb is real, then there will be murder. Because once again the thirty-first floor is not evacuated which means that all the critical thinkers and intelligent writers who are secluded there will be blown up. This is dissatisfying in and of itself, but I'm also disconcerted by the fact that the one who is protesting the intellectual murder, the suppression of the writing of those critical, intelligent men and women would be ultimately responsible for their physical deaths. Of course, the conglomerate would also be guilty since they did not evacuate those people, but I'm not quite sure what Wahlöö's intent is by making the culprit and the conglomerate equal partners in any responsibility for deaths. And, it seems to me even though Wahlöö doesn't make it explicit, that Jensen would also have blood on his hands since he doesn't insist that his men see that those on the thirty-first floor are evacuated as well.

One other random thought--what was the deal with the badger and the Director there at the end? Did the badger bite him? Was the Director seriously injured? Or was the badger more symbolic? I'm just not sure what to do with the badger.

I'm not quite sure where I stand on rating this one. The social commentary is excellent and the writing style, setting, and characters all work well to underline the themes. But as a mystery I find it lacking. Despite the discovery of the culprit, there is no real resolution. Yes, the man is captured but we don't know how much he is responsible for--we don't know the extent of his crimes and that is unsatisfying. I'm also not satisfied with Jensen as our detective. I'm more in favor of a detective who wants justice to be done and I'm not sure Jensen is on the side of the angels. He may be following the strict justice of his society, but if the bomb is real he's definitely not blameless. I guess I'm going to go with ★★★

First line: The alarm was given at exactly 1.02 p.m.

Last line: He sat quite still and wondered whether the explosion would be audible so far away as this.

The Gaunt Stranger

 The Gaunt Stranger (The Ringer; 1925) by Edgar Wallace

Lewis Meister is a crooked lawyer. He represents criminals--for a steep price, usually a hefty percentage of whatever ill-gotten goods they've managed to get their sticky fingers on. And he isn't above "shopping" them to the authorities if he thinks it's in his best interests. But he's done it once too often. Henry Arthur Milton, known throughout the underworld as the Ringer, was Meister's partner in crime for a good while and they did quite well. Then Meister set him up and mismanaged his defense in such a way that he was sent to prison. Prison was never meant to hold the likes of the Ringer, though, and he escaped to Australia where he plotted his revenge. Because nobody shops the Ringer and gets away with it. Nobody. Just ask Toby the "nose" (police informant) who ratted on him once...oops, you can't. The Ringer introduced Toby to his favorite weapon, the knife, and Toby won't be ratting on anyone else. Ever. The Ringer is a master of disguise and, now, London is buzzing with the rumor that he's back in England and ready to mete out his own particular brand of justice to the crooked lawyer.  

Inspector Alan Wembury doesn't much care for Meister, but he cares for murder even less and is determined to foil the Ringer's plans to kill the lawyer. But it's hard to defend against a man who could be anybody...the Ringer's gift of disguise is that good. He's also got an added worry, the young woman whom he has loved since they were young is working for Meister (who gave her a job "out of the goodness of his heart" when her brother was sent to jail for robbery) and he's afraid of what the Ringer will do if she gets in the way of his plans.

The gaunt stranger is a mysterious figure haunting Flanders Lane where Meister lives. The stranger watches Meister. He watches Wembury and the division's doctor. He watches Mary Lenley. He watches everyone connected with the case. But who is he? And is he the Ringer or is he on the side of the angels?

One of Wallace's thrillers, we learn from Curtis Evans' excellent introduction that it was reworked into a stage play and a revised novel called The Ringer. There is plenty of suspense as we wait to see if the Ringer will succeed in his quest for vengeance and how many others he will kill along way. Since we know "who" the culprit is and what the crime will be, the only real mystery for the reader to try and solve is who, among the characters introduced, the Ringer really is. I'm pleased to say I figured that out--but didn't figure out the reverse of the coin (spoiler coded using ROT13) [Xabjvat gung gur Evatre jnf ABG gur tnhag fgenatre, V qvqa'g svther bhg jub gur fgenatre jnf--gb or ubarfg, V guvax Gur Tnhag Fgenatre vf n cbbe gvgyr, orpnhfr bapr V'q svtherq bhg gung gur gvgyr punenpgre vfa'g gur Evatre, V ernyyl qvqa'g cnl zhpu nggragvba gb uvz ng nyy.] The story is pretty standard fare from Wallace. My one complaint--even though this is a fairly short book, it seemed to take for-ev-er for the Ringer to really get busy. As it stands, it could easily have been a short story. There needed to be more real action in the 190-ish pages to warrant its length. Otherwise, good characters--I particularly liked Inspector Wembury. He's quite human and is willing to give Mary's brother a chance to make things right. ★★★

First line:  Flanders Lane, Deptford, is narrow and dingy.

Last line: He raised the glass to his lips and did not put it down until the enormous quantity had disappeared, and Alan watched him, fascinated.
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Deaths = 7 (one fell from height; one drowned; one hanged; three stabbed; one shot)

 ~~~This book was given to me as a review copy by Stark House in exchange for an honest review. All comments are my own and I have received no payment of any kind.

That Affair Next Door

 That Affair Next Door (1897) by Anna Katharine Green

Synopsis (from the book blurb): Miss Amelia Butterworth prides herself on being an observer of human nature, especially of the people she sees every day from her usual spot at her front window--that is, until she witnesses the prelude to a ghastly murder. Late at night two people enter her neighbor's home, but only one leaves, The next morning a young woman is found dead, crushed beyond recognition beneath a cabinet. But her death was no accident--it soon comes to light that she was stabbed by a seemingly innocuous item: a hat pin.

Rife with social tension and mistaken identity, the messy case is assigned to veteran detective Ebenezer Gryce. He expects Miss Butterworth to demurely return home, but she was there at the beginning of this case and she intends to see it through to the end. Miss Butterworth is determined to solve the mystery before the detective, but what begins as a battle of the sexes soon turns into a fight for the ever-elusive truth.

Miss Butterworth is your standard nosy neighbor--not that she would admit it. But she misses nothing that happens outside her house and she's especially interested in the house next door which belongs to the Van Burnam family, a well-known and well-to-do. So, it isn't surprising that she just happens to look outside when a carriage pulls up to the house around midnight. And it isn't surprising that she's very interested--especially since the house has been closed up while the family is away. So, who on earth could these late-night visitors be and why don't they turn on any lights while they're there? Then man leaves--leaving the woman in total darkness. When there is no sign of life the next day, Miss Butterworth calls on the policeman doing his rounds to investigate. And when the police seem all too eager to fasten the guilt on the younger son of the family, Miss Butterworth sees it as no more than her duty to ensure that justice is done--even if i means going out late at night with her maid and investigating a Chinese laundry or playing nurse to an anonymous young woman or being called an old busybody.

This is quite a complicated story from the pen of the grandmother of American mysteries. We have everything from husband and wife conflict to missing jewelry to quick costume changes to mistaken identity. We have suspicion focusing on first one then another of the Van Burnam family and then a surprise twist ending that makes Miss Butterworth reconsider everything she thought she knew about the case--but she still manages to stay a few steps ahead of Gryce and the police. I certainly didn't spot the correct killer or motive. A clever early American mystery. ★★★★

First line: I am not an inquisitive woman, but when in the middle of a certain warm night in September, I heard a carriage draw up at the adjoining house and stop, I could not resist the temptation of leaving my bed and taking a peep through the curtain of my window.

Last line:  He has never lifted the veil from those hours, and he never will, but I would give much of the peace of mind which has lately come to me, to know what his sensations were, not only at that time, but when, on the evening after the murder, he opened the papers and read that the woman he had left for dead with her brain pierced by a hat-pin, had been found on that same floor crushed under a fallen cabinet; and what explanation he was ever able to make to himself for a fact so inexplicable.
*****************

Deaths = one stabbed

[finsiehd on 3/11/26]

Escape While I Can

 Escape While I Can (1944) by Melba Marlett

Elizabeth and her mother go to northern Michigan for a month's vacation while Elizabeth waits to hear results of her applications for teaching positions. Little does she know that she won't be leaving any time soon. They receive an invitation to dinner at the Brandons, the remaining members  of a once prominent and extremely wealthy family. Now the Brandons are reclusive--staying away from most neighbors and they normally don't take to strangers. But apparently Thayer, the sole male member of the family, has seen Elizabeth and taken quite a shine to her. 

Not long after the dinner, Elizabeth's mother, who has always had a weak heart, dies and the Brandons immediately take Elizabeth in--helping with funeral arrangements and giving the young woman a place to stay. And giving Thayer the chance to woo her. She is sure that she'll hear good news from her applications any day, but when no offers come she decides to marry Thayer. Thayer's pleasure in his new bride is short-lived and soon Elizabeth realizes that she has made a mistake. She finds the household difficult to understand. Effie, the eldest Brandon, seems to fear something (insisting that all doors be locked); Anne is often heard weeping and railing against Effie's strictures; Maggie, an adopted sibling, is treated poorly. Her husband is moody and they quarrel often. And his family is really quite odd--there have been strange deaths in the past, their dogs are now accused of attacking sheep, and now a little girl belonging to a vacationing family has disappeared from their beach. There is secrecy and fear hanging over the house. Elizabeth takes her last one hundred dollars and leaves her husband and the Brandons behind.

Eight years of successful teaching later, Effie writes to let Elizabeth know that Thayer has died of pneumonia and that she needs to come back so his affairs can be settled. As soon as she returns, the atmosphere makes its impression again and Elizabeth realizes there is still something to be feared on the Brandon property. Two people are attacked and there is a murder before Lieutenant Stark (who had investigated the missing child) can discover the truth behind all of the incidents in the Brandons' past.

So, one of the strongest parts of this story is Elizabeth. I really liked the fact that despite her naive plunge into matrimony, she was aware enough to realize that things were not right in the Brandon family and that things were not going to get better with her husband. So often in these stories we have the heroine staying in the uncomfortable or even threatening circumstances, thinking that it's all going to work out. 

The mystery is fair. There really wasn't much choice for culprit, so the real mystery is what really happened to the little girl. I was glad to find out that it wasn't as nasty as what we were led to believe even though I still didn't like what use the killer made of her death. But if you like a bit of midwestern melodrama, a smidgen of suspense, and stories about troubled families, then this is definitely the mystery for you. I found it to be a decent read by an author that I hadn't sampled before. ★★★

First line: Today I found in the back of my bureau drawer an old letter from Maggie Mitchell, and my first look at the fine, sprawling handwriting brought back last summer as clearly as the lifting of the lid of my rose jar brings back last June's Killarneys and Talismans and Ophelias.

Last line: Lieutenant Stark says I couldn't find a better place to live or one as convenient for him.
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Deaths = 13 (five natural; two car accident; one hanged; two shot; one poisoned; one hit with axe; one fell from height)

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Great War

 The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Great War (2021) by Simon Guerrier

Another adventure for Holmes & Watson! Wait...not that Watson. Augusta Watson is young VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) member serving at a hospital near the frontlines in France in 1917. She's a very frustrated service member--after being trained in medicine, ambulance (and other) driving, mechanics, and various other skills, she's being used as skivvy for the nursing staff. Got dirty linens that need washing--let Watson do it. Got patients that need all sorts of bodily fluids cleaned up--let Watson do it. And her attitude sometimes let's her frustration show. So, she's surprised to find that when she's been called to Matron's office (again) it's not to have the riot act read.

She's to have the honor of showing the latest dignitary to visit the front around the hospital. These men generally come to see what "can be done for the boys in the trenches" and then don't seem to get anything done. But when she sees that this particular guest is the illustrious Mr. Sherlock Holmes, she's even less thrilled than usual. You see, with her last name she's had to endure every kind of joke possible--especially when she (a woman!) expressed the desire to study medicine. Nobody takes her seriously and she blames the celebrity of Holmes and his biographer. 

But she can't help but get interested when she realizes the detective is there to investigate a mystery and not just dole out empty promises about making things better. Holmes is on the trail of a young officer who was injured at the front and supposedly died at the hospital, but there is no record of him. Not as having been on the ward. Not as having been dead on arrival and sent straight to the morgue. No record at all. Watson is assigned to assist Holmes in his inquiries and the further they dig, the more they come to realize that there is a deeper plot...one that seems intent on causing unrest and higher casualities among the soldiers--on both sides of No Man's Land. It's up to Holmes and Watson to find those behind the plot and put a stop to it.

Not every entry in "The Further Adventures" series of Holmes stories is created equal. I don't seem to be able to resist these whenever I come across them--in used bookstores, at our annual community book fair, or at Barnes & Noble--and I've let myself in for some real stinkers (The Veiled Detective, I'm looking at you). But once I got over the fact that we just had to have a nurse's aid by the name of Watson, I settled down and enjoyed this one. The mystery is a good one with several well-placed clues and a lot of war-time adventure. I was just a bit worried that we were going to venture down the path blazed by Laurie King (throwing this Holmes & Watson into a relationship), but I don't think that was the plan. And by the end of the story I was hoping that Guerrier had penned another. There are some sentences here and there that refer to an adventure in which Augusta Watson gets to meet the Dr. Watson. But, alas, it seems that adventures has not yet been discovered among Watson's papers.

Overall, an enjoyable Holmes pastiche. ★★★★

First line: By the first week of December 1917, I thought myself quite inured to the horrors of war.

Las line: Nonetheless, do write and say if, for the sake of your archive, you should also care for my own account of those events.
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Deaths: 8 (six shot; two stabbed)

Old Bones

 Old Bones (1943) Herman Petersen

 Marian Wayne, wife of our narrator Ben Wayne, is on the hunt for local-sourced, vintage pine board for a redecoration project. She's hunted high and low in abandoned barns and farmhouses with no success. But then she remembers the grist mill on the property of the area's power family--the Wights. She finds what she's looking for there...and a bit more. While looking around she happens to look in the stand pipe, a well-like opening with water in the bottom, and sees a jumble of bones lying at the bottom. When her husband hears her story, he brings in Doc Miller, the county coroner, who in turn calls upon the D.A. Even before they try to retrieve the bones, Miller is convinced that they've an old murder to solve because someone dumped in old timbers as well in an effort to hide the remains. 

Since it is after dark and there's no lights in the mill, they decide to return in the morning to drain the stand pipe and bring up the bones. But when they get there, they find that someone has beaten them to it and the bones are gone. 

Bones, bones, who's got the bones? 

by grandeduc on Getty images

Fortunately, the person who snatched them in the night wasn't so great at the "hiding" part of hide-and-seek and the bones are rediscovered fairly quickly. The Wights, however, immediately use their influence to try and railroad the D.A. into calling the death an "unfortunate accident to John Doe." But as soon as Doc Miller gets a good look at the bones, he isn't having any. He recognizes healed bones representing injuries that he treated himself and declares that the bones belong to Nate Wight, the black sheep of the family who supposedly slunk off to New York City a few years ago. All clues seem to point directly to the Wights--no wonder they wanted things hushed up. And one of them will go to any length to keep the secrets of the past unseen. Now Doc Miller with Ben acting as his leg man must race to identify Nate's murderer before more people are hurt...or killed.

Lots of action--from a chase through the swamps to a midnight rescue from the stand pipe to blazing (literally) grand finale. Ben Wayne endures some very pulpy private eye encounters--all in the dark, so we don't know who the villain is till the end. Doc Miller spends a fair amount of time tending to Ben's injuries and you have to sympathize with Marian who is afraid that her husband won't survive the next go-round with the culprit. There is also a good amount of good old fashioned deduction on Doc Miller's part, making for a good detective story on top of the pulp action. The characters are great from the interactions between the good doctor and Ben, the good doctor and all the Wights. I especially enjoyed the two younger Wights--Peg and Lightning. They made good sleuthing sidekicks for Ben.

There are a few drawbacks--like the overall motivation of the killer. The initial murder and cover-up I get. But the follow-ups are bit tenuous--especially if the Wights and their entourage stick together as they've always done. It might have helped if there had been a bit more attention to the background of the characters (delightful as most of them are, we don't learn a lot about them). And I don't see the point of the fire at the end--not even with the murderer explaining it. But the pluses outweigh the minuses and I thoroughly enjoyed Petersen's story. I'll definitely pick up the first two in the Doc Miller series if I come across them.  ★★★★

First line: I had spent most of today in the city; a business demand had been satisfied, and I had managed to call on my tailor too.

Last line: What became of the cat?"
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Deaths = 5 (one natural; one hit on head; one shot; two burned to death)

Shadows Before

 Shadows Before (1939) by Dorothy Bowers

Professor Matthew Weir escaped the gallows in 1937 by the skin of teeth. In Scotland, the verdict would likely have been brought in as "Not Proven." His highly abrasive, interfering sister-in-law had died from arsenical poisoning and the Weir's equally poisonous housekeeper had done her darnedest to see that her employer wound up with a noose around his neck. Weir university had stood by him during the entire ordeal (perhaps a point in his favor with the jury...), but he felt impelled to give up his post and flee to the country where he and his family lived in a small Tudor manor house near Oxford for two years without incident. Unless you count the slight mental decline of his wife.

It's thought wise to bring in a companion for Kate Weir--especially to accompany her on walks where she's apt to pick wild herb and whatnot to brew up her special teas. The doctor, who is instrumental in hiring Miss Brett (the companion), insists that the teas are harmless. But...Mrs. Weir had been experiencing gastric distress before Miss Brett was hired. Is that linked to the teas? Or, as the housekeeper (yes, the same one) points out, the illnesses seemed to follow hard on visits that Kate Weir made to Alice Gretton, one of the few local women with whom Mrs. Weir has made friends--could Alice have been giving Kate something to make her sick? It's interesting that the episodes stop as soon as Alice Weir disappears from her cottage.

But then Miss Brett arrives and Mrs. Weir has another, final bout of illness. And when the autopsy is done arsenic is once again the culprit. Was Matthew Weir erroneously acquitted and has he struck again? If so, he must be hoping that his wife's niece is also no longer among the living--because if Joyce Murray is alive and well in Australia, then she'll inherit everything except 6,000 pounds. But if she's dead....well, Matthew's inheritance will be much bigger. When Scotland Yard arrives in the persons of Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe and Detective Sergeant Salt, they'll have a job to find the guilty party--whether the obvious or not. Also cluttering up the possible suspects are Matthew's niece and nephew (who could benefit indirectly), an old gypsy woman who seemed to take a sudden dislike to Mrs. Weir after a brief friendship, and Matthew's brother, Augustus, who also could benefit from a brother with more ready cash. When a vehicle suffers a mysterious "accident" and the gypsy disappears, Pardoe realizes he'll need to work quickly to prevent more deaths.

This one gets off to a slow start with the lead up to the hiring of Miss Brett and her train journey to Steeple Cloudy--although I did love Miss Flora Hickey, a schoolteacher from Indiana (!), and her observations of her fellow passengers. I was disappointed that she didn't play a bigger part throughout the story (hoping for a sortof a mild version of Miss Marple and her keen people skills). But she does come through towards the end, giving Pardoe a vital clue. And speaking of Queens of Crime (Christie), I found the final letter in this partial epistolary story to be quite Sayers-like. "Mew," the mother of one of the supporting characters, reminds me of the Dowager Duchess in several of her turns of phrase. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of her (or her letters) either.

Once the second murder happens and Pardoe and Salt arrive, things pick up nicely. A good mixture of close questioning of the suspects and action and the clues are displayed fairly (though I missed a few). I noticed an early one and then promptly forgot it once other items drew my attention and was a bit surprised by the ending. If I'd been paying proper attention, I shouldn't have been. A very good outing with Pardoe and Salt. ★★★★

First line (prologue): So, it's all over, Mew, or nearly.

First line (1st chapter): Five months after the death of her employer, Aurelia Brett walked up from Castlebury Station in search of Dr. Smollett's house.

"By all accounts, piecing this, that, and the other together, taking off a slice here and supplying a bit there, she [Miss Leah Bunting] was one of the most difficult, though not most uncommon, types of maiden lady, given over at the same time to good works and to the exercises of an uncharitable tongue. In short, it seemed as if the good works had wrung all the goodness out of her." (Inspector Pardoe; p. 52)

The villagers might, for all he knew, be the heartless scandal-mongers he [the rector] made them out, but when you had a murder (and presumably a murderer) plopped down in your midst, you ought to be permitted a little mongering. (p. 149)

"'He travels fastest who travels alone,'" murmured the A.C. "Play a lone hand when next you do a murder, Sergeant." (p. 186)

Last line: And you will certainly come to me before you go and see Mussolini--Zoe, Nick, and Dinah too, please, and that poor little Freddy if the ogre will let him (I don't mean Mussolini, of course, but the other one). Your loving, Mew

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Deaths = 11 (four poisoned;three natural; two car accident; one train accident; one hit on head)

Reprint of the Year: The Yellow Room

 For several years, Kate at Cross Examining Crime has been rounding up the vintage mystery bloggers and having us perpetuate her brilliant brainstorm (one of many that she has had). In the wake of various publishing houses recognizing the virtues of Golden Age (and more recent) vintage crime novels through reprint editions of both well-known and more obscure titles, Kate thought those of us who love those vintage mysteries would like the chance to feature the year's reprints and make a pitch for our favorites to be voted Reprint of the Year. We loved the idea so much that we keep coming back for more.

My second contender for the 2025 ROY Awards Ceremony is The Yellow Room (1945) by Mary Roberts Rinehart. If you're not on the hunt for a vintage copy of your own, then Otto Penzler's American Mystery Classics will be your source for the 2025 reprint edition. Rinehart is most often associated with the Had I But Known school as well as "the butler did it" trope. Although she wasn't the first to have a murderous butler, she did, indeed, feature a killer manservant in at least one of her books. This one? My lips are sealed.

If you go by the blurb on the edition of this book that I first read (back in 2012), then you would expect The Yellow Room to be a more Gothic, Had-I-But-Known story. But it's really more of a twisty-turny mystery (and she delivers on the twisty-turny solution!). Shoot, if you read the blurb on that first edition, you'd think that some evil terror hangs out in the Yellow Room of Carol Spencer's family home in the country and that she goes in mortal fear of her elder brother.

See?:

As a child, Carol Spencer had always thought of Crestview as a place of light and laughter. But Carol was a young woman now, a lovely young woman, and a badly frightened one. The old mansion on the hill was no longer a refuge from the world. It was a prison from which even the man she loved could not rescue her...a nightmare from which she could not awaken...where every heart beat brought her closer to the strange menace of--The Yellow Room

And:

Brother and Stranger: It had been years since Carol Spencer had seen her brother Greg. Time and war had separated them, but Carol still could vividly remember his flashing smile, his easy grace, in the days when he had been a kind of a god to his younger sister. Now they were together again at Crestview--and it was as if Carol were facing a stranger...a stranger whom she knew she should help but could only fear...a stranger with bitterness curling his mouth...hate in his eyes...and blood on his hands....

Can we say melodramatic and over-the-top? Just a little bit. But Rinehart does this sort of thing so well when she's on the top of her game--which she is here.

Seriously, there are some mysterious goings-on at Crestview but not quite on this scale. Carol and her help (a housekeeper/cook and two maids) arrive at the family home to open it in time to receive her elder brother Greg who is home on leave from service in WWII. He's come back from the Pacific theater to receive a Medal of Honor and their mother wants him to have a chance to relax in the cool country air before returning to "that awful tropical heat." When the women reach the train station, there is no taxi to meet them as expected. When they reach the house, there is no caretaker to greet them with breakfast and a warm fire as expected. The gardener/handyman has disappeared. And what exactly is that odd smell?

Before the morning is over, they discover that the handyman is in the hospital with appendicitis and the caretaker has fallen down the stairs the previous Friday and is in the hospital with a broken leg. Oh, and there's a dead body in the linen closet. That somebody tried to burn to prevent identification. By the end of the book, there is another murder and a shooting. The local chief of police goes from having the usual respect (of the period) for the upper crust, to an all-out effort to make one of the Spencer family out as the guilty party. He's all set to lock up Carol but then finds out that Greg, the war hero, was maybe in the area at the right time and has secrets that he might do anything to keep hidden. He thinks he'll settle for the war hero. 

Carol doesn't know what to think. Did Greg do it? Did her sister Elinor, who has always been devoted to Greg, do it? Or is she just covering up for him? Or maybe it's somebody else altogether. She turns to her neighbor, Major Dane, for help. He just happens to be a recovering Army Intelligence officer of some sort...and soon he's uncovering all the evidence that the local police miss.

Rinehart has plenty of tricks up her sleeve and she uses the Major's investigation to provide all the surprises. Just when you think he's collected the final clue, along comes another to make you rethink the solution. Of course, with Rinehart, there is the standard romance and there are a few loose ends that don't quite get tied up in this one (not to mention a few vital clues that are kept just a little too ambiguous), but over all a fun outing and an example of Rinehart at her best. Another real contender for the Reprint of the Year. It's very enjoyable and fast moving--I read this one in just one day! 

First line: As she sat in the train that June morning Carol Spencer did not look like a young woman facing anything unusual.

Last line: And sat down abruptly on the nearest chair.
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Deaths = 5 (three natural; one plane crash; one hit on head)