Challenge Complete: My Kind of Mystery Challenge

My Kind of Mystery Challenge

February 1, 2017 – January 31, 2018

Carolyn at Riedel Fascination is tempting us again with her My Kind of Mystery Challenge. And of course I'm joining--Because you know I have a thing for mysteries. Her mystery challenge allows for all sorts of mystery-related reading from crime novels to true crime; from author biographies to writing tips for wanna-be authors. If it's related to mysteries, it counts. She has made a few adjustments to the challenge rules, so there are more details to be found...check them out at the link above.

Even though Carolyn didn't require a commitment to participate--and doesn't list challenge levels this year as she has in the past, as a personal challenge I'm set my sights on the "Invisible Floor" level (41-70 mysteries) from previous years again in 2017.  I passed that up quite a while ago and have now completed 110 mysteries. I'm sure there will be more mysteries before the end of the year, but I'm claiming the challenge as done and focusing on getting myself up Mount TBR--I'm hoping to reach the top of Mount Olympus this year.

Thanks to Carolyn for hosting this one!

Here is my list of books read:

1. Death Takes a Bow by Frances & Richard Lockridge (2/5/17)
2. All for the Love of a Lady by Leslie Ford (2/9/17)

3. Spice Island Mystery by Betty Cavanna (2/10/17)

4. Deception Island by M. K. Lorens (2/13/17)

5. The Thursday Turkey Murders by Craig Rice (2/13/17)

6.  Episode of the Wandering Knife by Mary Roberts Rinehart (2/17/17)

7.  A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion by Ron Hansen (2/18/17)

8. Zadok's Treasure by Margot Arnold (2/22/17)

9. Search for a Scientist by Charles Leonard (2/24/17)

10. Death in the Wrong Room by Anthony Gilbert (2/27/17)

11. The Body Missed the Boat by Jack Iams (3/6/17)

12. Thrilling Stories of the Railway by Victor L Whitechurch (3/9/17)

13. Murder at Government House by Elspeth Huxley (3/13/17)

14. Miss Christie Regrets by Guy Fraser-Sampson (3/15/17)

15. Dread & Water by Douglas Clark (3/15/17)

16. Trixie Belden & the Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell (3/16/17)

17. The Green Turtle Mystery by Ellery Queen, Jr. (3/19/17)

18. Fit to Kill by Hans C. Owen (3/22/17)

19. Silence Observed by Michael Innes (3/28/17)

20. Nun Plussed by Monica Quill (3/30/17)
21. Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street by William S. Baring-Gould (4/4/17)
22. I Could Murder Her by E. C. R. Lorac (4/7/17)
23. A Grave Case of Murder by Roger Bax (4/10/17)
24. Murder Comes First by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4/11/17)
25. Stroke of Death by Josephine Bell (4/12/17)
26. Coffin's Dark Number by Gwendoline Butler (4/16/17)
27. They Tell No Tales by Manning Coles (4/19/17)
28. Death With Blue Ribbon by Leo Bruce (4/20/17)
29. Who Is the Next? by Henry Kitchell Webster (4/24/17)
30. Grounds for Murder by Kate Kingsbury (4/26/17)
31. The Fennister Affair by Josephine Bell (4/28/17)
32. The Vanishing Violinist by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (4/30/17)
33. Storm Center by Douglas Clark (5/1/17)
34. The Polka Dot Nude by Joan Smith (5/2/17)
35. The Invisible Intruder by Carolyn Keene (5/4/17)
36. The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt (5/6/17)
37. Murder at Teatime by Stefanie Matteson (5/9/17)
38. Blind Man With a Pistol by Chester Himes (5/10/17)
39. Death Cracks a Bottle by Kenneth Giles (5/13/17)
40. The Mystery of the Talking Skull by Robert Arthur (5/13/17)
41. Murder in Mount Holly by Paul Theroux (5/15/17)
42. Deadly Nightshade by Elizabeth Daly (5/19/17)
43. The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton (5/23/17)
44. Decision at Delphi by Helen MacInnes (5/28/17)
45. If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb (5/29/17)
46. The Case of the Seven Sneezes by Anthony Boucher (5/31/17)
47. Where There's Smoke by Stewart Sterling (6/4/17)
48. Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon (6/11/17)
49. Death Finds a Foothold by Glyn Carr (6/14/17)
50. The Ghost & the Dead Deb by Alice Kimberly (6/16/17)
51. Deed Without a Name by Dorothy Bowers (6/18/17)
52. The Wailing Siren Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon (6/18/17)
53. The Secret of the Wooden Lady by Carolyn Keene (6/19/17)
54. Publish & Perish by Sally Wright (6/22/17)
55. Mink Is for a Minx by Leo Margulies, ed (6/23/17)
56. Tree House Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner (6/23/17)
57. Frame Work by Anne G. Faigen (6/26/17)
58. The Arctic Patrol Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon (6/26/17)
59. The Killing of Katie Steelstock by Michael Gilbert (6/30/17)
60. Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly (7/7/17)
61. Death Before Bedtime by Edgar Box (7/9/17)
62  Murder in Little Shendon by A. H. Richardson (7/13/17)
63. Quick Curtain by Alan Melville (7/14/17)
64. Juliet Dies Twice by Lange Lewis (7/17/17)
65. The Barker Street Regulars by Susan Conant (7/20/17)
66. Room for Murder by Doris Miles Disney (7/22/17)
67. Your Turn, Mr. Moto by John P. Marquand (7/25/17)
68. Lie of the Needle by Cate Price (7/28/17)
69. The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie (7/29/17)
70. Murderer's Choice by Anna Mary Wells (7/29/17)
71. Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard (7/30/17)
72. The Big Grouse by Douglas Clark (8/4/17)
73. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy (8/8/17)
74. The Happy Valley Mystery by Kathryn Kenny (8/16/17)
75. Best Max Carrados Detective Stories by Ernest Bramah (8/17/17)
76. What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw! by Agatha Christie (8/18/17)
77. Every Second Thursday by Emma Page (8/20/17)
78. Salt Is Leaving by J. B. Priestley (8/22/17)
79. Dead as a Dummy by Geoffrey Homes (8/26/17)
80. Honeybath's Haven by Michael Innes (8/29/17)
81. Murder Is Served by Frances & Richard Lockridge (8/30/17)
82. Natural Suspect by William Bernhardt et al (8/31/17)
83. The Far Traveller by Manning Coles (9/2/17)
84. Let Dead Enough Alone by Frances & Richard Lockridge (9/3/17)
85. The Title Is Murder by Hugh Lawrence Nelson (9/5/17)
86. Case With No Conclusion by Leo Bruce (9/9/17)
87. Coffin from the Past by Gwendoline Butler (9/11/17)
88. McGarr at the Dublin Horse Show by Bartholomew Gill (9/13/17)
89. The Menehune Murders by Margot Arnold (9/16/17)
90. The World's Best 100 Detective Stories Vol 7 by Eugene Thwing (9/19/17)
91. My House Gathers Desires by Adam McOmber (9/19/17)
92. The Gloved Hand by Leigh Bryson (9/21/17)
93. Mr. & Mrs. North & the Poisoned Playboy by Frances & Richard Lockridge (9/23/17)
94. The Small World of Murder by Elizabeth Ferrars (9/25/17)
95. Journey's End by Evelyn Berckman (9/25/17)
96. Stag Dinner Death by John Penn (9/26/17)
97. To Wake the Dead by John Dickson Carr (9/30/17)
98. Night Walk by Elizabeth Daly (10/3/17)
99. Sherlock Holmes & Mr. Mac by Gary Lovisi (10/8/17)
100. Death in the Doll's House by Hannah Lees & Lawrence Blochman (10/9/17)
101. The Sound of Murder by John & Emery Bonett (10/11/17)
102. Case with Three Husbands by Margaret Erskine (10/15/17)
103. Casebook of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov (10/20/17)
104. Ghost of a Chance by Kelley Roos  (10/28/17)
105. Fire Will Freeze by Margaret Millar (10/29/17)
106. Blue Ice by Hammond Innes (10/31/17)
107. Penelope Passes or Why Did She Die? by Joan Coggin (11/4/17)
108. Murder at Beechlands by Maureen Sarsfield (11/7/17)
109. Maniac Rendezvous by Marc Brandel (11/9/17)
110. Murder by Experts by Ellery Queen (11/13/17)

Murder by Experts: Review

The Mystery Writers of America Presents Murder by Experts published in 1947 and edited by Ellery Queen is, what you most likely suspect, an anthology of crime and detective stories selected by prominent mystery writers of the day. It contains everything from a story by John Dickson Carr selected by Clayton Rawson to William Faulkner's "The Hound" selected by Margaret and Kenneth Millar. The stories represent the gamut from locked room to early private detective to the scientific sleuth to a psychological drama about the effects of guilt. As with all anthology, there is also a range of strength in the selections, but given the keen eyes and noses for a good story belonging to those who have made the choices the range is more heavily weighted on the better end of the spectrum. ★★★ and 3/4 for a strong collection.

Here is a run-down of the stories:

"The Locked Room by John Dickson Carr (selected by Clayton Rawson): Carr is well-known as the master of locked rooms and impossible crimes. This one involves the attempted murder of Francis Seton--hit over the head with a piece of lead-loaded broomhandle and his safe robbed while his secretary and librarian sat outside the only door and the window was locked.

"Human Interest Stuff" by Brett Halliday (selected by Helen McCloy): For those of you who aren't quite as into mysteries as I am--if you're going to try a mystery short story, you really should give this one a try. Overshadowing the crime, the story is more about the relationship between the two central characters--our narrator and a man named Sam. The narrator, who has been an engineer responsible for the completion of a railroad line from St. Louis to Mexico, opens by responding to a question from a newspaper reporter. The reporter is looking for a human-interest angle on the execution (next day) of a man who was captured in Mexico for the murder of Bully Branson. The narrator promises to give the reporter an exlusive. 

I'm the only person that can give you the real low-down. Me, and one other. But it's a cinch the other fellow isn't going to talk for publication.
 

What follows is the story of the hunter and the hunted--two men who have so much in common, but who are pitted against each other with the life of one and the integrity of the other at stake. Readers are pretty sure they know the outcome of this contest...be prepared for a surprise.

"The Blast of the book" by G. K. Chesterton (selected by Leslie Charteris): Father Brown teaches a scientist interested in the paranormal and psychic phenomena how to distinguish between what is really there and what isn't when a clergyman comes along with a story about a cursed book which makes people disappear.

"P. Moran, Diamond-Hunter" by Percival Wilde (selected by Dorothy B. Hughes): As the title indicates, P. (Peter) Moran is called upon to find some missing diamonds. A group of collectors have gathered for as club for a kind of monthly "show and tell" meeting. First editions of rare books, unique etchings, interesting paintings, priceless stamps...and eleven rose diamonds are all on display. During a short film (depicting one collector's trip to the Gulf to "collect" some fish), the diamonds disappear. A search of the room by those present does not find them. So Moran (who has been taking a detective correspondence course) is asked to try his hand. None of the collectors want to call in a real detective or the police because they don't want any publicity. Moran, with a little help from a brainy dame, manages to come up with the goods.

"The Age of Miracles" by Melville Davisson Post (selected by Howard Haycraft): A story which features Post's colorful American sleuth Uncle Abner. Here Uncle Abner saves a young woman from being cheated out of her inheritance by a man using the law to do so.

"The Witness for the Prosecution" by Agatha Christie (selected by Mabel Seeley): This is Christie's premier courtroom drama. Leonard Vole is accused of murdering an old woman who took him under his wing, but his wife can prove he didn't do it. Or can she? And better yet--if she can, will she?

"The Hound" by William Faulkner (selected by Margaret & Kenneth Millar): A grim tale of crime and guilt, not unlike Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"--only this time Ernest Cotton, a "mild man" driven to murder by bitterness, rage, and fear, is hounded by the victim's dog...

"The Dancing Detective" by Cornell Woolrich (selected by Q. Patrick): (a story I now remember reading some time in the past). In this, Ginger, a dance hall girl, loses her best friend when a killer makes a habit of killing girls from the dancing halls. Nick, the policeman on the case, takes a fancy to Ginger and when the killer sets his sights on Ginger, she has to hope that Nick will get the messages and clues she's left behind--before she becomes another "Poor Butterfly" in the killer's collection.

"The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" by Thomas Burke (selected by Anthony Boucher): Burke manages to tell a fine tale of a serial killer who gets away with murder in a story of just 17 pages or so. In shortened form, you would expect to find less tension and less room for the true horror of multiple killings. After all, the author can't build things up and taunt the reader with victim after victim. And he can't spend a lot of time letting you become attached to the victims as they're casually strangled one by one.

The power of Burke's story is in the fact that, although we don't know these people well, he makes us realize that any of these unfortunate people could be us. It's the average Londoner who is slain with no rhyme or reason--other than the idea just occurred to the killer. It is also a particularly affecting story because, for those who are encountering it for the first time, Burke manages to parade the killer around quite openly without giving him or her away. It will be a sharp reader indeed who spots the murderer before the surprise at the end.

"The Little Dry Sticks" by Cora Jarrett (selected by George Harmon Coxe): A reporter accompanies his host Danby to visit a female friend who wants advice about her property. They arrive to find that the woman's husband has been murdered while they made they chilly way to the house and Mrs. Elderson was showing them the area of property in question. A key phrase by Danby leads the reporter and the police to the culprit.

"The Last Exploit of Harry the Actor" by Ernest Bramah (selected by Baynard Kendrick): Bramah's story features his blind detective Max Carrados in a mystery featuring the robbery from several safe deposit boxes in a Lucas Street depository known colloquially as "The Safe." The contents of the boxes are held safe behind multiple barriers--both real locks and bars as well as secret passwords known only to the owners. And yet...a large number of the boxes are plundered. Carrodos, whose other faculties have become stronger to compensate for the loss of his sight, is able to "see" the solution to the mystery very quickly.

"Puzzle for Poppy" by Patrick Quentin (selected by Helen Reilly): This mystery features Quentin's regular protagonists, producer Peter Duluth and his wife Iris as they try to solve the attempted murder of a St. Bernard. It appears that no one is guilty--but someone clearly must be. Quentin parades all the clues before the reader and yet one feels like one has come to the blank wall at the end of a dead end street. And it's all done with a zany humor that is uniquely Quentin's. [Quentin is a pseudonym used by Richard Webb and Hugh Wheeler.]

"Death Draws a Triangle" by Edward Hale Bierstadt (selected by Edward D. Radin): This is actually an account of a true crime from Victorian-era New York. The triangle in question is that between Daniel McFarland, his wife Abby, and her friend Albert D. Richardson. But the case is rather more than a simple love triangle--Tammany Hall politics and its dislike for the Tribune and editor Horace Greeley play a part as well. The facts of the case were never in question. McFarland, an abusive and drunken husband who saw slights where there weren't any and built up the friendship between his wife and Richardson into a sordid affair, walked into the Tribune offices, sat calmly down to wait, and, when Richardson made an appearance in the outer rooms, just as calmly shot his perceived rival. 

When Tammany Hall discovered that Richardson was a Tribune man, they promptly put all their machinery behind the "poor, betrayed husband." The trial which followed presented McFarland as a saint of a man who was driven insane by his wife's behavior and Richardson's perversion of her affections. Of course adultery (or assumed adultery, as in this case) was often considered the more heinous of the crimes because "it is so much more enjoyable. The point of view of the public on adultery is, generally, 'I want to commit adultery, but I don't dare; and, by heaven, if I can't I'm not going to let you!'" The trial was a travesty of justice--the killer was declared "Not Guilty" and Abby's reputation was permanently blackened. Bierstadt's account attempts to right the historical record.

"Persons or Things Unknown" by Carter Dickson (selected by Lillian de la Torre): In "Persons or Things Unknown" a host at Christmas-time regales his guests with a tale of long-ago murder that fuels the rumors of a ghost in one of the rooms of his house. When he took over the house, he found a diary that told the story of two men who loved the same woman and the death of one of them. It is an impossible crime that has gone unsolved for nearly two hundred years. But Dickson/Carr is an expert at providing solutions to impossible crimes and he does it again here.

"Almost Perfect" by William MacHarg (selected by Hugh Pentecost): The story describes a murder that is just what the title says--almost perfect. The murderer fools the local police and the state troopers, but when O'Malley, a New York cop, is called in he immediately spots what the others have missed and lays a trap to catch the culprit. The story is plot-driven and O'Malley may use a trick to get his man/woman, but it is a straight-forward entertaining story.

"Mr. Ponting's Alibi" by R. Austin Freeman (selected by August Derleth): The very scientific Dr. Thorndyke sets about discovering who murdered Miss Millicent Fawcett, a woman of independent means who volunteers as a district nurse. Mr. Ponting has been quite vocal about the fact that he believes the money she inherited should have come to him. But she had written a will favoring two cousins over him. All three have alibis--provided for each other. Thorndyke spots the flaw in the alibi--and to whom that fatal flaw points.

"Remember Galileo" by Harry Klingsberg (selected by Percival Wilde):  John Doowinkle, Assistant District Attorney, is not thought to be charismatic enough to prosecute the big cases. So he is left with trying to prove a charge of "practicing astrology" against a charlatan. Who would believe that his case would lead to the solution of a much bigger crime?

"Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts" by Robert Louis Stevenson (selected by Lawrence Treat): Terrific, mood-setting descriptions and the denouement was perfect. And I love this quote: "There is every reason why I should not tell you my story. Perhaps that is just the reason why I am going to do so." Prince Florizel and Colonel Geraldine are, as they are so often, roaming the streets and cafes of London in disguise--seeking amusement. While sitting in a cafe that night, they are accosted my a young man who asks if they will eat any of his cream tarts. If they don't, then he will eat them himself.

The Prince suspects that there is more to this story than meets the eye and wins the young man's confidence. It seems that the man has come to the end of his rope. He has set out to squander all but his last 40 pounds--he's saving that to pay his entrance fee to a club for people who want to end it all but who don't have the courage to jump or pull the trigger themselves. He and his aide join the young man and discover the scoundrel behind the club.

"The Infallible Godahl" by Frederick Irving Anderson (selected by Vincent Starrett): Godahl is a clever gentleman thief of fiction. In this particular story, his author uses the methods ascribed to his character to discover the whereabouts of a white ruby--with somewhat disastrous results.

"The Adventure of the President's Half Disme" by Ellery Queen (selected by Craig Rice): A very well-known Queen short story. I have read this one several times in various collections. Ellery Queen tries his hand at solving a historical mystery which involves President George Washington. A document is found that indicates that in 1791 Washington, in gratitude for services rendered by a farmer and his wife, planted a small grove of oak trees on the farmer's land. He was supposed to have hidden his personal sword and a half-disme coin under one of them. The farm's current owners are in desperate need of funds to save their farm--if they can find the treasure all will be well. But they dig up the area where all twelve trees are (or were for those that have been destroyed by lightning and whatnot) and find nothing. They enlist the aid of Queen who manages to figure out the logic of our First President and discover the hiding place.

Maniac Rendezvous: Spoiler-Ridden Review

He had an uneasy feeling that it was going to be a messy evening for someone.
[that's a bit of an understatement....]

Actually, Maniac Rendezvous (1945) by Marc Brandel is kind of a messy book. And I won't be able to review it without spoiling it all over the place--but, honestly, I think you'll thank me for having taken one for the team on this one. Yes--I'm warning you off.

Given the blurb on the back of the book, I was all set to settle down for one of those books where several people meet their doom and there's a final twist at the end that really throws readers for a loop (think Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None or others in the same vein). See what I mean...

Cassius saw destruction ahead--He tried to warn them; he tried to hide from them--to save their lives. But, all the time, he knew they were fated! Even Cassius didn't know--How many victims there would be; who they were; what was to be their end; or when and where they were to meet their destiny! But You'll Know!

Except, no. No, you won't. 

So, the whole plot revolves around that fact that Cassius (no first name given), this dark-haired, dark-eyed fellow with a constant deathly pallor to his skin, has these excruciating headaches every time he's going to be connected with people dying. There was that time in Chicago when he'd arranged to meet friends at a club and there was a big fire. He was late to the party--but all his friends weren't and they died. And the time he caused a train to start late (long story, I won't bore you with it) and it wound up sideswiping an express--and people died. There are other times that he doesn't explain, but trust him, lots of people have died because he has headaches and then gets near them or something.

Well...he's having headaches again. And he goes 'round warning all of his acquaintances that they better stay away from him. Some he tells why and others he doesn't. Most of them don't believe him or just have their curiosity aroused about why Cassius is acting so weird. And they go about their business. Except for Mr. Charles Thring. Who absolutely believes Cassius and does his darnedest to get out of town and as far away from the man as he can. But fate seems to work against him and all of Cassius's other friends find reasons to pop in and out of Thring's apartment and drag him around places and prevent him from catching his train to New Jersey. And they're all drawn inexplicably to Cassius's apartment. Every single one of them from Myrtle Lubbock, a voluptuous sixteen year-old whose main goal in life is have silk underwear (don't ask) to Eloise Paisley who hates to be touched and, like Garbo, wants to be alone to John Trail, English ex-patriot, who loathes himself for abandoning Britain in her time of need to Gorse O'Connor, a charming Irish-American, who is unaccountably interested in Cassius to Cynthia Foote, Cassius's fiancee, who can't understand what's wrong with him.

The entire book is spent following these people around through incredibly pointless encounters with one another doing absolutely inexplicable things. Exhibit A. Cynthia Foote and Gorse O'Connor spending most of their time sitting in bars hoping the other one will show up in the one (out of who knows how many in New York City) bar they happen to be sitting in and then--when the other person doesn't show up after a certain amount of time--switching bars...and so on. Pick your character and they probably did something that made just about as much sense. This goes on for about 150 pages  and the last we see of each of these characters is where they're making their way into Cassius's building or on the stairs in his building or just about to knock on his door...and there sits Cassius in a chair facing the door with a Lueger in his hand. Curtain drops. The end.

Does anybody die? We don't know. If they do, does Cassius do it with the gun? We don't know. Despite being told on the back of the book that we would know. We don't know. Why did I finish the book? I don't know. Well, that's not true. I finished it because I kept reading hoping that there'd eventually be some semblance of a plot and that there'd be some excitement at the end when disaster struck and maybe there'd be a twist and Cassius would be the one to die or something. And then all of a sudden I was at the end and nothing happened and nothing was explained.

This is a case where my love for the little pocket-size, pulp-era books and the fantastic B-movie style cover made me pick up something that I can't imagine anyone wanting to read. Now, I think that the author's point in all this rigmarole was to talk about destiny--that no matter how much Cassius's friends said they didn't believe him OR for those who did and tried to stay away, they couldn't fight destiny. They all wound up going to the apartment. Of course, it would have been more effective (in my opinion) if we'd been shown just how that destiny worked out. Did they all die? Did Cassius die? But, quite honestly, any real message about destiny is buried in all the meaningless nonsense that goes on before. ★ --All for the cover.

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Fulfills the "Door" category on the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.

Murder at Beechlands: Review

When his car becomes snow-bound at the beginning of Murder at Beechlands (1948) by MaureenSarsfield, Inspector Lane Parry of Scotland Yard rejoices at the sight of lights gleaming through the snow-laden trees. Well...briefly rejoices anyway. Because as far as he can tell, he has stumbled upon a country asylum--all the lights at Beechlands (in truth a country house turned hotel) are ablaze and the inmates are stampeding in and out of the building, frollicking in the snow. He soon discovers that the antics are in aid of a homecoming celebration for war hero Wing Commander Lawton "Lawty" Lawrence.

But somebody wasn't really feeling all that celebratory at Lawty return and treated the hero to a well-placed  knock on the head with an ice hammer before shoving his body out the windo and into the snow. In fact, once Parry discovers that the hotel is cut off from any outside members of law and order and begins investigating, he soon learns that virtually everyone in the hotel had reasons to want Lawty dead--from the hostess of his party, hotel owner Annabel Adams, to Christie Layne, the quiet young woman he seduced and promptly forgot, to a cuckholded husband. Other suspects include a thief working as a waiter at the hotel, the chef who is as French as french fries, two potential investors in the hotel, a Hollywood actress, and a scantily clad woman who collects men and jewelry (not necessarily in that order).

Parry has to work at great disadvantage without access to the usual support and spends a great deal of time lurking about the house. But there are plenty of clues to be had and Parry sifts them to pinpoint the culprit. The story is fun and filled with extraordinary characters. And Parry is an interesting investigator. Sarsfield does a fair job with clueing and plot.

I would have enjoyed it a lot more, though, if someone had format edited the Rue Morgue Press edition (or the original--if this reprint follows the formatting faithfully). The chapters just flow along in huge chunks as though it's all of a piece and yet the scene and/or the speaking characters may change often within the chapters. There are no page breaks to indicate a change of scene and it was a bit jarring to be with Parry in the snow in one sentence and immediately be upstairs at Beechlands in the next. It ruined the rhythm of the story and made it difficult to keep up with the action. Overall, a decent read.★★★

[Finished on 11/7/17]
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This fulfills the "Flashlight" (small and in the man's hand on the cover) category on the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt card.

Penelope Passes or Why Did She Die?

She is all right. I've met her before. She is not as flighty as you would think. She has quite a shrewd head if you can get at it--and a heart of gold, as a matter of fact. 
~Mr. Borden, private detective

Lady Lupin, the not-as-flighty-as-she-seems wife of the vicar of Glanville, may never get her quotes right, but she always gets her man when she finds herself landed in the middle of a mystery. Which she does quite often despite being the vicar's wife in a sleepy little British village.

There must be something queer about me, like those people in Greek tragedies. The minute I arrive upon the scene everyone cries, "Let's have a murder."

She and her husband, the Reverend Andrew Hastings come to the village of Much Lancing so Andrew can preach on Trinity Sunday at the request of Lancelot Baker, the vicar. The Hastings stay at the home of Dick and Betty Stevenson and Lupin soon becomes friends with the young new mother. They also meet Dick's sister, Penelope who is held up by the village as one of the most noble, self-sacrificing women they have ever known. Penelope famously gave up her shot at happiness to look after her widowed father and younger brother when their mother died. Everyone agrees what a sweet, saintly person she is. 

Then her father dies and it looks like Penelope can have her happiness after all--because the man she would have married returns to the village six months later, is now a widower himself, and everyone is just certain he'll ask her to marry him again. But after she and Colonel Charles Graeme go to the garden for a private chat, Penelope is found shot to death and Col. Graeme is nowhere to be found. The scene looks remarkably like suicide--perhaps Graeme didn't propose after all and Penelope shot herself in despair....But if that's the case, why are there no fingerprints on the revolver?

Lupin is invited back to Much Lancing to be with Betty and when both Dick and Betty confess to the murder, she dives into the investigation--not because she's so set on capturing the guilty party, but because she wants to prove the young people innocent. In fact, truth be told Lupin never cared for Penelope and feels enough sympathy with the murderer that if she or he will just confess, the unlikely vicar's wife would be more than happy to let them get away.

Coggin displays a deft comic touch that nevertheless shines a spotlight on how truly awful false modesty and faux selflessness really can be. She shows us what a particularly disagreeable person Penelope is and soon we come to realize that few people really admired her after all. In fact, when you sit down and think about it, you can't really point to any action of Penelope's that was really selfless. By time the story is nearing the conclusion the reader is spoiled for choice when it comes to suspects. But Lady Lupin finds her way to the solution. She is one of those scatterbrained women who seems to have a knack for getting at the truth--albeit by some very circuitous routes.  Like the Dowager Duchess in Dorothy L. Sayers's Wimsey books, I love trying to follow her thought processes.   Three and a half stars (rounded to four on GoodReads).

[Finished on 11/4/17]