About the author: (Not to be confused with Dorothy Miles Disney, a different author.) Dorothy Cameron Disney MacKaye (1903 – 1992) was an American mystery writer and journalist who was born in pre-statehood Oklahoma and died in Guilford, Connecticut. Under the Dorothy Cameron Disney byline (the name she also used in fiction writing) she was the creator of the modern newspaper marriage advice column. She wrote nine mystery novels (wikipedia).
Major characters:
- Miss Margaret Tilbury, our narrator
- Marian Tilbury Brierly, her sister
- Fred Brierly, Marian's husband
- Jane Brierly, Fred & Marian's daughter
- Chal Enlow, Margaret's widowed brother-in-law
- Ames Enlow, Chal's son
- Ted Breen
- Dorothy Fithian, a nurse
- Harold Hargreaves, lawyer
- Simon Hargreaves, doctor, brother of Harold
- Kirkland Anderson, a doctor
- Nancy Anderson, Kirkland's sister
- Jeremy Chant, police inspector
Locale: Maryland
Synopsis: We are at the luxurious Maryland country house Broad Acres, home of the Tilburys, the Brierlys, the Enlows, and yes, even their doctor Simon Hargreaves and their lawyer Harold Hargreaves.
Margaret Tilbury, our narrator, has been being nursed by widow Dorothy Fithian. Dorothy suddenly leaves the home with no warning, taking all her things with her, and even one of the family's cars; which really annoys them. Then one of the strawstacks on the property catches fire. In the frenzy to call the fire department, they find the phone lines have been cut. Their next idea is to drive to the fire station, but all the gas tanks in the family vehicles have been drained. Next, young Jane Brierly is hit on the head and injured. When the fire is finally put out, Dorothy's body is found in it - dead, but not from the fire. She had been strangled with her scarf. Local policeman Jeremy Chant investigates. Cicumstantial evidence points at Margaret's brother-in-law Fred Brierly, and he is arrested much to the family's dismay.
A love triangle has formed. Jane is fond of Ames Enlow (her cousin), a young man with ambitions to join the diplomatic corps, but having a problematic lung ailment. Meanwhile the family discourages the match, they want Jane to take up with Ted Breen, of the local family which sold Broad Acres to them in the first place.
It is found Dorothy had been meeting local doctor Kirkland Anderson, now he is missing. They try to track him down through his sister, Nancy Anderson, but she is found dead also. Then Kirkland's body is found.
Review: Oh, this one was a long slog for me. It was a slow, labored start but I stuck with it. I remembered I have one other title by DCD, Who Rides a Tiger. I went and checked, and I had marked it DNF (Did Not Finish). It must have been bad, I rarely DNF a book. Usually I only DNF ones that are so abstract I just cannot follow what is going on.
I realized the reason I didn't like this one is that I just plain didn't like the narrator, Miss Margaret Tilbury. She is an annoying, entitled out-of-towner that today we would call a 'Karen'. She knowingly manipulates or destroys evidence, even after the police warn her to stop.
We quickly get three victims. The killer is definitely an overachiever, killing each victim twice:
- Victim 1: strangled, then stuffed into a strawstack which is set on fire.
- Victim 2: poisoned, then hung
- Victim 3: shot, then drowned
On the plus side, the story flowed better and better as it went along. The denouément of the killer was a very clever twist which I did not foresee, and made up for the lackluster beginning.
I will have to get Who Rides a Tiger off the shelf and consider it again - assuming Miss Margaret Tilbury isn't in it.
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