The Cape Cod Mystery: An Asey Mayo Mystery (Paperback)

by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
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.

First, a best-selling author turns up dead. Then Asey's best friend becomes the chief suspect and Asey knows he has to do something. There's only one clue: a sardine can. And only one weekend to clear it all up.

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: 192 pages
• Publisher: Countryman Press (February 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881500461
• ISBN-13: 978-0881500462
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #247,258 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice summer afternoon's reading, June 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cape Cod Mystery (Hardcover)

This would have been an excellent introduction to Asey Mayo if it had been the first of the series that I'd read. I enjoyed it tremendously, despite the fact that it was not so coherent as many of Ms Taylor's later works. She did an excellent job of bringing the Cape to life, and had a gift for accent and speech patterns. Sadly, there is a bit of bias in her books, which may reflect the times. Certainly her war-time books give a nice historical flavor that I've not seen with many light mystery authors.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The first Asey Mayo (I believe), November 11, 2001

By	Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cape Cod Mystery (Hardcover)

...I didn't particularly like or dislike this book. It was written in 1931 which provides some charm. Oh the thrill of a real electric ice box rather than having to meet the train for blocks of ice. Mayo was literally hard for me to understand - his accent is incredibly thick. Also, the narrator is a different person so we don't get much of a sense of what makes Mayo tick.

Bottom-line: Might be worth going out of your way to find if you are either 1)a big fan of early mysteries or 2) a fan of Cape Cod. Otherwise, an ok read if it drops in you lap.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first book in the Asey Mayo mystery series , January 23, 2009

By	Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Cape Cod Mystery (Hardcover)

Prudence Whitsby, the narrator of this 1931 book, has a cottage on Cape Cod that she shares with her niece Betsey, her cook Olga, and her cat Ginger. It's a hot summer week in the Northeast, and everyone wants to escape to a place with cool shore breezes. Prudence and Betsey invite their friends Emma and Dot for a visit, while author Dale Sanborn is renting an even tinier cabin on the property. But before you know it, Sanborn is found dead, having been struck down in his residence by the ubiquitous "blunt instrument." The local sheriff quickly decides that the prime suspect is Bill Porter, a member of the noted local automobile manufacturing family. Porter's household handyman and jack-of-all trades, Asey Mayo, sets out to clear his employer's name. He enlists Prudence's assistance. After all, she's clear-headed and an avid mystery reader who should be able to help puzzle out the situation.

Asey is a man full of homespun sayings and attitudes. "They ain't many whys without becauses." "The suspected an' the guilty look a lot alike on the outside. They ain't got no glarin' dif'rences." And "Don't no animal attall set out to do anything that it don't leave some traces of it." True, all of it true.

For not having known each other prior to this point, Asey and Prudence work well together. They figure out a timeline of events, track down and interview people of interest, and send telegrams off to acquire more information. Asey turns out to have connections everywhere, thanks to his storied past. And Prudence may be a spinster in her early 50s, but she's a savvy gal when it comes to conducting such a clandestine investigation. The duo has just one weekend in order to unearth the true criminal and save Bill Porter from prosecution. Will they succeed? We readers sure hope they do. I'll admit that I suspected the right person by the second half of the book. But that didn't make the plot any less compelling. Remember, folks: in this instance, the answer lies with the sardines.

Entertaining reading for most mystery lovers, especially those with a fondness for the 1930s.