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About the author: Mignon Good (1899-1996) was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1929 her first crime novel was published featuring 'Sarah Keate', a nurse and 'Lance O'Leary', a police detective. This couple appeared in another four novels. Over the next forty years she wrote a novel nearly every year. In 1971 she won the Grand Master award from the Mystery Writers of America. (from Goodreads)
Major characters:
- Monica Blane, our protagonist
- Eric Weller, a Frenchman
- Linda Chavon, Monica's friend
- John Basevi
- Gibbs Brooke
- "Uncle" Bill Fiske, elderly lawyer
- Pinky, an elevator operator
- Joe Sproul, a mysterious swarthy character
- Fae Demuth, née de Rissaud
- Carlos Demouth, Fae's husband
Locale: New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Mexico City
Synopsis: Monica Blane and John Besevi were raised by an attorney, "Uncle Bill Fiske". Monica and John and two friends, Linda Chavon and Gibbs Brooke, take an extended vacation in the French Riviera. They are hosted by Fae de Rissaud (later to marry Carlos Demuth). They pick up another companion, Eric Weller.
It is 1939 and the approaching war sends Europe into turmoil. Monica, Eric, and Gibbs return to the US, but lose track of Linda and John for five years. Linda and John were to be married, but perhaps this did not occur. Linda, in love with John, hopes to reunite with him.
Now 1944, Linda, in New York, receives a tiny note concealed in a French-style medicine cachet. The note is from Linda, pleading for help. After a dinner date, Eric comes to Linda's apartment. They quarrel, and Eric is found dead.
Uncle Bill fears Monica will be suspected of Eric's murder, and having now heard from John, sends her on a mission to Mexico City to deliver funds he needs. She travels by air via Chicago and St. Louis. She meets up with Gibbs, now in the Army, along the way. She realizes a fellow traveler, Joe Sproul, is following her, and now there are two attempts on her life - but she suspects Gibbs.
Review: Set in the uncertain times around World War II, this follows four friends (and a fifth they pick up) trying to vacation in the Riviera, but cutting it short due to the drumbeats of war. It gives a good insight into the uncertainty of the times. Monica is our protagonist, and winds up in Mexico City where most of the action takes place. The setting is a villa in the usual Eberhart style - a two story open square residence with overlooking balconies. There is much suspense as Monica deals with a mysterious man (Sproul) following her, and ultimately suspecting the man (Gibbs) she saw as her protector.
I especially found interesting the description of a system which members of the resistance used to identify each other, whether dead or alive, and would not be discovered by the Axis powers. The system was simple, and involved carrying a token coin with a certain date on it, and making a tiny notch in the edge adjacent to the date. Mixed in with other pocket change, it was not suspicious at all, but could be shown as a token, or used as an identity clue if found on a body. I don't know if this was a real system or not, but it certainly sounded plausible.
A high-suspense wartime novel from Eberhart's most productive middle period.
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