Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Murder on Angler's Island by Helen Reilly (1945)

 

PicClick UK

This title was also reprinted as Dell mapback #228 and in the seventh series of Collier Front Page Mysteries. The cover of the Spanish edition is much more attractive, although not 'mysterious' at all. The title translates to The House on the Cliffs.



About the author: Helen Reilly (1891 – 1962), was an American mystery writer known for a series of novels featuring Inspector Christopher McKee, head of the fictitious Manhattan Homicide Squad. She wrote mostly under her own  name but also under the pseudonym Kieran Abbey. Two of her daughters, Ursula Curtiss and Mary McMullen, also became published mystery writers.  (Wikipedia)

Major characters:
  • Pfc. Elizabeth Spires, our protagonist, an Army WAC (Women's Army Corps)
  • Major Compton Yarrow, her cousin
  • Cicely Yarrow, Compton's wife
  • Captain Jeffrey Crale
  • Faith Ann (née Blake) Crale, his wife
  • Norman Blake, Faith Ann's father
  • Adelaide Crale, Jeffrey's mother
  • Charles Hurd
  • Garrison Ives, a lawyer
  • Grace Drexel, his mother, housekeeper to the Crales
  • Arthur Drexel, Grace's son
  • Leslie Manxman, private detective
  • Insp. Christopher McKee, Manhattan Homicide Squad, "the Scotsman"

Locale: Angler's Island, off the New England coast

Synopsis: It is wartime 1945, and Angler's Island is home to an Army base at one end, the other end remaining civilian. Pfc. Elizabeth Spires has just been posted to the base. She is anxious, as the island is home to the Crale family - and Captain Jeffrey Crale had jilted her three years ago to marry Faith Ann instead.

The Crale family lives in a cliffside home behind the Monmouth Inn. A wooded path connects them, with the inn's swimming pool midway along the path. Elizabeth encounters Jeffrey, and the old chemistry is there again; but they both resist temptation. Faith Ann gets wind that Elizabeth is on the island, and has a brief catty exchange with her. Returning to the inn, Elizabeth senses someone else is lurking on the dark path. In the morning, Faith Ann is reported missing, and soon found dead in the swimming pool. She had been struck on the head before falling in. 

News comes that Norman Blake, Faith Ann's wealthy father, was killed in an airplane crash shortly before she died. This leads to a twist: Blakes fortune went to Faith Ann upon his death, then to Jeffrey upon Faith Ann's death. This seemingly gave Elizabeth a double motive: to get her man and the fortune.

Review: This book is a great insight into wartime conditions on the home front. The setup of the love triangle is quite Mignon Eberhart, with two women - one good, one bad - competing for the same man, and when one woman (the bad one) is killed, the other - our protagonist - is the immediate suspect.

The story is set on an island, but could have been anywhere. The isolation of an island is not a significant part of the story. The night scenes are very well done, I especially enjoyed the episode near the end when Elizabeth is driving a truck to another part of the island through heavy fog and mist, and encounters danger.

One drawback to this story was the large number of characters. The list above is only partial. Most of the characters are related, or have interconnections with others. The story could have had a few trimmed out to be a bit easier to follow. 



No comments:

Post a Comment