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This was a delight, rather reminiscent of Arsenic and Old lace. The action is all set in a New York boarding house. Diana Prescott has aspirations to the stage and has run away from her rich domineering father to fulfil her ambitions. She has met a soul mate in Barbara Markham, the daughter of the Boarding house owner, who is also keen to become an actress. When, to the delight of Grace Firebuck and Mary Eustace, two school teachers who fear that they are on the shelf, a young man checks into the boarding house, Diana recognises him from her fathers pea canning factory and is convinced that he has been sent by her father to bring her back to the family home. She devises a plan to make the most of the situation, but before she can put it into action, corpses start to appear. Hearing of the murders, Quincy Prescott, tears himself away from canning peas and comes to take his daughter home, but is quickly sucked into the boarding house life, frantically pursued by Camille, an ageing former actress, who insists that she is 40. The search for the murderer is conducted whilst Quincy Prescott plays bridge with anyone who he can coerce into a game The characterisation was marvellous, the writing wonderful, and the humour sparkling. When elderly pensioner Alvin Mott disappears in someone else's hat and overcoat, Sergeant Schmaltz says it will be easy to pick him up as his clothes are to big for him. Mary shook her head, "how is Schmaltz to tell when a man's clothes don't fit him, when his own coat won't button across his front, and it hangs down to just above his knees, whilst his hat covers both his eyebrows and his ears." With that wonderful picture of the police on the job it's good that Diana Prescott is keen to do a bit of amateur sleuthing. A real fun comedy mystery. I see that there are 21 books in the series, something to look forward to l 'Mystery Women' A group of dedicated readers and authors http://www.mysterywomen.freeserve.co.uk
Reviewed by Lizzie Hayes, February 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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