Punch with Care: An Asey Mayo Cape Cod Mystery [Paperback]

Phoebe Atwood Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2005 | Series: Asey Mayo/Cape Cod Series

Back by popular demand for the first time in years, The Countryman Press is pleased to reissue four Cape Cod mysteries featuring the witty and salty Asey Mayo, "A local handyman who knows something about police work and everything about everybody's business" (Marilyn Stasio, Mystery Alley). Set within the brooding landscape of Cape Code, these classic who-dunits are sure to please dedicated Phoebe Atwood Taylor fans and newcomer mystery buffs alike.

When Asey Mayo happens upon the body of writer Carolyn Barton Boone in an antique railroad car, a punched ticket in her hand, things get interesting. But then the corpse disappears!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1909-1976) lived in Boston and Cape Cod for most of her life. She was the author of the Asey Mayo mystery series and, under the pseudonym Alice Tilton, the Leonidas Witherall mystery series. She also wrote under the name Freeman Dana (Murder at the New York World's Fair).

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Foul Play Press (February 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881502294
• ISBN-13: 978-0881502299
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic with punch., June 1, 2005

By 

Lorraine Talbot (Winsted,, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Punch with Care: An Asey Mayo Cape Cod Mystery (Paperback)

The war is over. Asey Mayo is back on Cape Cod waiting out a strike at the Porter (auto) plant. His old friend, Doc Cummings comes along and wants Asey to help him meet Carolyn Barton Boone, a glamourous activist who is President of a college. She's in the area with a bunch of students doing a study of small towns. Asey agrees when he's called upon to find a missing guest. As always there are lots of interesting characters. Some we get to know quite well. There's Gerty, a beautiful ex-Wac and former showgirl. There's an ex-Wave, a couple of young men, one who's very smart and another who was much decorated in the military. There's Miss Shearing who actually runs the college while Mrs. Boone gathers the attention of the public. And there are the locals, including a couple who write a popular radio soap opera and old Silvester, who lives in a shack in the woods. The first victim is Mrs. Boone, but no one knows she's dead except Asey, the Doc and the murderer because the body was hidden. Further along in the story there's another victim. Asey manages to have it sorted out by the time the bodies are found. Much of the dialogue is very funny. I'm an avid reader of all these books and think if you'd give them a try, you might have as much fun reading them as I do. The punch of the title is a paper punch, not a blow or the stuff you drink.

4.0 out of 5 stars The twenty-third book in the Asey Mayo mystery series, January 19, 2010

By 

Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Now that the war is over, Asey Mayo's life can return to normal on Cape Cod. Of course, that means that a dead body will soon surface, and that a subsequent murder investigation will have Asey and Doc Cummings scurrying around the peninsula like madmen. Much to their (and our) enjoyment.

This time the victim is a visitor to the Cape: Carolyn Barton Boone, the wife of Senator Willard P. Boone. Carolyn is also the president of Larrabee College. A number of Larrabee students have descended upon Cape Cod in order to conduct various "projects." Evidently someone's project was to off President Boone. Asey and Doc find her lying in a Pullman car in the backyard of the Douglass house. That's right, a Pullman car in someone's backyard. Harold Douglass will even put on a conductor's cap and give you a ticket to pretend you're riding on the old Harmony and North Blodgett line of the Pochet Point and Back Shore Railroad. Carolyn's still got her ticket in her hand. But who happened to punch it? And her?

As usual, Asey does his best to determine who is responsible for the wrongful death. Both Doc Cummings and Asey's cousin-in-law Jennie help too, each in their own special way. But they're also both distracted by trying to solve the Quick Quiz Question that shows up on the local radio station once a day. And hey, why wasn't it aired on time when Carolyn Boone was killed? Another amusing whodunit featuring the Cape Cod Sherlock himself. This episode is one of the more intricate ones in the series.

3.0 out of 5 stars Lean and Salty Codfish Sherlock, Asey Mayo, Deducts Again, February 20, 2004

By 

Sires "I enjoy mysteries, historical and proc... (Chesapeake, OH, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Punch With Care (Hardcover)

This book was first published in 1946. The author has toned down the dialect much to my relief. And, yes, she does put the term Codfish Sherlock in the mouth of one of her characters describing the lean and salty Asey Mayo. (Makes him sound like a rasher of bacon.) Taylor has at least in this book dropped the first person narrator in favor of straight third person. Also the title does not refer to a blow but to a punch in a ticket.

World War II is over and a group of people going to college on the GI bill come to Study the small Cape Cod town where Asey lives. The leader of this group is Caroline Boone, the world renown expert (it's not at all clear what she is an expert on, but we are assured she has appeared in the newsreels almost as often as Asey). Doc Cummings arrives at Asey's door with an urgent invitation to go meet Ms. Boone just as Asey is about to sit down to lunch .

Again, the puzzle is the centerpiece of the book. Bodies (alive and dead) appear and disappear, there's red herrings (or Cods) galore and a secret room that may or may not exist. Let's not forget to mention the radio quiz show that obsesses nearly everyone in the village.

If you really like puzzle pieces then you might like this book. The author plays pretty fair. The characters, though, seem like two dimensional constructs going through their allotted actions to make the mystery come out right.