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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:
- Sewel Blake, our protagonist
- Amy Minary, her stepsister
- Reg Minary, her stepbrother
- Zelie "Lizette" Minary, Reg's new wife
- Marianne Duclos, Zelie's French maid
- --- Diccon, Minary butler
- Mrs. Diccon, Minary cook
- Cora Ingram, the Minary housekeeper
- Barny Ingram, Cora's son
- Steve Forsyth, Executive VP of the Minary Lines
Died prior to the story, but part of it:
- Julius Minary, founder of the Minary Lines; father of Amy and Reg
- Raoul Dumont, Zelie's first husband
Locale: Chicago
Synopsis: Julius Minary of Chicago was the founder of the Minary Lines, steamships serving the ore industry of the Great Lakes. Four children grew up together in the Minary household: his son Reg Minary, daughter Amy Minary, stepdaughter Sewel Blake, and the cook's son, Barny Ingram.
Reg is returning from Europe with his new wife, Zelie "Lizette" and her maid, Marianne Duclos, and that is when the trouble begins. Zelie is not the cultured, fawning wife they expected; but rather a hard, scheming shrew who has her claws out for the Minary fortune.
Sewel has always been attracted to Barny Ingram, but over time has become involved with Steve Forsyth, a VP of Minary Lines. Sewel is out walking the dogs on the foggy waterfront and finds Reg on the ground, having been shot and injured. When she returns home, she stumbles across a gun and decides to hide it to protect whatever family member may have used it.
Sewel wants Barny instead of Steve now, but stepsister Amy has her eyes on him also.
Review: This is from Eberhart's peak years, and right away we have the classic Eberhart triangle setup: A protagonist (Sewel) who is meant to be with Mr. Right (Barny) but is entangled and pressured to be with Mr. Wrong (Steve Forsyth); and getting herself set up as suspect #1 in a murder.
The setting is lakefront Chicago, but with the dense fog the house seems isolated. I enjoyed the dark, misty setting for all the action. When Sewel reaches for the gun, I wanted to cry out, "Nooooooo!" but she went for it anyway.
Eberhart does the combination romance/mystery so well, and I enjoy all the titles in her middle period of writing.
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