Dead Man's Float by Amber Dean (1945)

photo: FWM Docks*

About the author: Amber Dean (1902-1985) was born in Depew, New York, and married Norman J Getzin in 1926. Her papers are stored at the University of Rochester. Her series character was Albie Harris. Most of her books are set in upstate New York. The author's major fault lies in an overdose of melodrama, girls fainting, lying trussed in a bathtub filling slowly with water or having premonitions of danger which, of course, are never heeded. -- excerpt from Mary Ann Grochowski writing on gadetection.com.

Major characters:

• Alberta "Abbie" Harris, our narrator, a widow
• Lily Harris, her older sister
• Maggie Harris, her younger sister, also a widow
• Bill Hunt, their nephew
• Bethine Coit, a temptress
• Chester Coit, her husband
• Max Johnson, a neighbor
• "Mommie" Johnson, his wife
• Mr. & Mrs Lane
• Virginia Lane, their daughter

Locale: fictional Ogg Lake, upstate New York

Synopsis: Alberta "Abbie" Harris narrates this story, about her home in a small cottage colony on Ogg Lake during World War II. She lives there year-round with her sisters Lily and Maggie. Abbie and Maggie are both widowed, but have reverted to using their maiden names of Harris. Their nephew, Bill Hunt, is also there.

The other year-round residents are the Johnsons and the Lanes. The other cottages are occupied by summer rentals, the most notorious being Bethine Coit, next door. She parades around in her skimpy swimsuit and has various men visitors while her husband, a salesman, is out on the road.

The cottages are grouped in a semi-circle around a a small bay with a float containing a diving board in the middle, as I have sketched here: Keep this handy, it will save you a lot of critical thinking.

The trouble begins when Bethine Coit is found dead, under the float. The police investigate, but too slowly for neighbor Max Johnson. He snoops around on his own, then is injured in a boating accident which may not have been accidental. As Max recovers, her persuades Abbie to sneak into the Coit cottage and look for evidence. She reluctantly goes in but gets pushed down the stairs by a person unknown, and gets tangled up with Chester Coit who was just coming in. When the commotion gets sorted out, Chester is dead too. Abbie returns home and pretends no knowledge. In the morning, Chester's body is found (again), but this time it is on the float!

Review:

Living as I do on the Maine coast, I know how annoying the "summer people" can be, and the author makes her feelings about them quite plain. 

We have a large cast, and sometimes it is a bit hard to follow who is doing what. There are a lot of extraneous details, and it is a chore to try to remember what is germane and what is not. An editor could have deleted a lot of irrelevant details. Abbie has a definite self-image problem, and it gets a bit tiring hear her criticize herself for her 1). age, 2). weight, 3) appearance, and 4) marital status. 

In any event, Abbie is our reluctant detective, egged on by Max who can't do it himself due to his injury. The scenes of the locals crowding around the float and chipping off souvenirs makes it sound like the Harris' are on a level with the Kennedys.

The solution is a good twist, and a bit complex, but it does tie up everything nicely.

Please note Goodreads incorrectly combines this writer's works with that of a contemporary Canadian writer of the same name. This Amber Dean (Amber Dean Getzin) was born in 1902, according to her bibliography on Classiccrimefiction.com. Also see her file on gadetection.com.

If you enjoyed this book, you may also like The D.A.'s Daughter by Herman Petersen. Set in the same period, it also features a seductive blonde who gets drowned while having an affair, and it is also set in upstate New York! The author's name is Petersen, but it is sometimes misspelled as Peterson, so search for both. 

You may also enjoy this review by J F Norris on Pretty Sinister Books.

*Actual book cover photo was not available, so I made this one up with a catalog photo courtesy of FWM Docks.