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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The third book in the Asey Mayo mystery series,
By
This review is from: The Mystery of the Cape Cod Players (Hardcover)
Prudence Whitsby, the narrator of the first two Asey Mayo mysteries, has up and married Denny James. Enter another narrator: Victoria Alexandra Ballard. Vic, for short. Vic is a 55-year-old widow who recently came through a bout of pneumonia. Her son George suggests she recuperate further by spending the summer in a remote cottage on Cape Cod.
So off she goes in June 1933, along with a new young companion named Judy Dunham. The rented house faces the ocean and is two miles away from any neighbor. But even the first night of their stay is a busy one. A small troupe of traveling actors gets lost on its way to a gig at a private residence, and Vic agrees that the five of them can overnight on the property. The next morning, one of them is found shot to death. It's John "Red" Gilpin, the red-headed magician who was something of a ladies man. Before you know it, local handyman and amateur detective Asey Mayo is on the scene and on the case. Since we last saw him in DEATH LIGHTS A CANDLE, he's quit the constable/sheriff job in Wellfleet. He'd rather work on individual investigations as they fall into his lap, like this murder. And this time, he's got Vic around to be his intelligent partner and sounding board. So who had a motive to shoot Red? His fellow actors seemed to get along with him well enough. Was someone local involved? Or did Red's effect on women have something to do with his sudden death? Can newcomer Judy be ruled out as a suspect? Asey and Vic work together to puzzle it out, even though Vic at times feels as disoriented as she did after an hours-long Ferris wheel ride, years earlier. Asey is his usual homespun self, making observations about life and human nature that are universal enough to still hold true today: "... I've been thinkin' of coincidences. Y'know, there's a lot of things that happen to jibe in this world. Seem queer an' strange, but they ain't at all when you come to think it out. Wonder to me there ain't more funny peculiar things instead of less. ... When you think of all the things that could happen, it's funnier that they don't all happen instead of just some of 'em. Anythin's possible. When you begin to think of all the loose an' strayin' ends that could get hitched up, the wonder is that they don't." That's why, when the plot seems to be on the verge of a wrap-up about halfway through the book, every thread that could have been simple turns out to be quite complex and confusing. Asey and Vic practically come around to the beginning of the investigation once again and must re-evaluate all of the potential suspects. I must admit that I was truly pleased with the result. This episode is also the reader's first encounter with Asey's cousin Sylvanus Mayo and Syl's wife, Jennie. They bring plenty of additional local color to the table. So do the native skunks. Entertaining reading for most mystery lovers, especially those with a fondness for the 1930s.
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