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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:
- Tim Wales, president of Wales Airlines
- Judith Wales, his second wife
- Winnie Wales, his daughter by his first marriage
- Marny Sanderson, his secretary/advisor, our protagonist
- André Durant, friend of Judith
- Cecily Durant, his estranged wife
- Laideau, André's hulking friend
- Charlie Ingram, a British neighbor
- Commander Bill Cameron, USN
Locale: Shadow Island in Biscayne Bay, near Miami
Synopsis: No sooner had Marny Sanderson arrived from New York to Florida with her employer, Tim Wales, president of Wales Airlines, then she had a premonition of disaster. She had traveled with Tim and André Durant, a job seeker and house guest of Tim's elegant wife, Judith Wales. Judith and Tim's daughter, Winnie Wales, have been living in the Wales' Florida island home.
Once settled in to the home on Shadow Island, Marny swims in the pool and meets Commander Bill Cameron, who is desperate to meet with Tim om war-related issues. Then André appears, and to Marny's delight, they have a brief romantic encounter in the garden. Marny returns to her room, and finds a young stranger, who identifies herself as Cecily Durant, André's wife. Marny is shocked to learn he is married. Cecily brandishes a gun at Marny and threatens her for taking André from her. Cecily then gets scared off and runs out into the night. Marny follows, to find her shot dead, and Marny is now the prime suspect.
Review: I really enjoy Eberhart's middle-career mysteries, even if they follow a formula:
- Girl meets Guy #1 who seems right for her but is really a cad
- Girl meets Guy #2 is seems wrong for her but is really right
- Someone gets murdered, and Girl is the suspect
- Girl is saved by Guy #2
- Happy ending
Even the setting is formula, Girl's upstairs bedroom has both an interior door and an exterior door to a balcony with a spiral staircase to the ground, where much slinking around occurs.
At first I thought millionaire Tim might be Guy #2, but when he is described as being short, fat, and sweaty I knew he was scratched off the list.
I had a bit of trouble getting a picture of Winnie. She must only be about 19 years old yet she has a prime "adult" set of responsibilities, despite having no visible means of support.
The surprise witness who shows up is a bit of a stretch, given the circumstances in which he observed a murder. He returns near the end in a re-enactment but that falls through. I thought the approaching hurricane would be a good plot element but ho-hum, not much there except a lot of wind.
Overall, an enjoyable page-turner, and the killer was a surprise; and the one I thought would be the killer turned out to be the Red Herring, so Mignon got one over on me again. The killer got their punishment in an unexpected way at the end which closed up the story cleanly.
Also see this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block.
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