The Dutch Shoe Mystery by Ellery Queen (1931)

A millionaire matriarch dies moments before surgery, but not because the doctors are too late.

Mystery Review: The Dutch Shoe Mystery is the third in the Ellery Queen (author and detective) series, set in the 1920's, and is simply a good story meant to entertain during a train ride and then be discarded upon arrival at the reader's destination. It's not much more than average, simply a good but small premise stretched over an entire novel. A carefully plotted puzzle but without much enthusiasm or passion. The story focuses more on the mystery than on the characters, which are only thinly developed. Not much there, there. Even Ellery Queen himself lacks charm and is given to uttering pompous and affected quotes at the drop of a hat (such a dated phrase!). The casual racism of the first book (centered on the Queens' manservant) is fortunately more muted here. The resolution of The Dutch Shoe Mystery is insubstantial. It seems cheap and easy when a nonentity of a character suddenly and for the first time gets center stage just in time to conclude the story. The method is overly elaborate, and the motive is unpersuasive. Solely as an intellectual exercise, however, there is some fun to be had. The Ellery Queen books have a "Challenge to the Reader" toward the end to give mystery fans a chance to play detective. The title The Dutch Shoe Mystery has nothing to do with wooden shoes, just as the first Queen mystery had nothing to do with legionnaire's helmets. Just clever wordplay. The question I'm still pondering is that Ellery Queen was a big noise back in the day, but neither of the two books I've read have seemed anything special. I have more EQ books on the shelf so I may figure it out eventually.  [3★]

The Odor of Violets by Baynard Kendrick (1940)

An errant daughter, spies, Nazis, confessions, and more than one murder that must be solved by a blind detective and his two dogs.

Mystery Review: The Odor of Violets demonstrates that author Baynard Kendrick (1894-1977) never met a complication he didn't try to incorporate. Wheels within wheels within wheels. First, start with blind detective, Duncan Maclain, ably assisted by his two German Shepherds. Maclain isn't the first fictional blind detective (see beloved though unrealistic Max Carrados), but he's the most credible. Then add a murder mystery, replete with spies, secret inventions, Nazis, war plans, and national intelligence agencies. Meanwhile, the Second World War rages in Europe. The U.S. hasn't yet entered -- but will soon if Duncan Maclain has his way. The first half of The Odor of Violets is slow as the story is set up with a series of disjointed events, some that are never linked up. The second half moves a little more quickly with the only caveat being that we never get close to the characters. There's little personal interest or humanity as some characters appear out of nowhere and then disappear. A blind detective may seem to be a gimmick, but the book earns its place as a genuine story without overly sensational tricks (as opposed to the superhuman Max Carrados who could read a newspaper with his fingertips). The author, although not blind, was heavily involved in organizations for the blind and even in 1940 fervently and wholeheartedly believed that the U.S. should enter the War. The Odor of Violets was made into a film in 1942 called Eyes in the Night, starring Edward Arnold. Arnold returned for a second installment as Barton Maclain in The Hidden Eye (1945). There was also an American television series, Longstreet (1971) based on the character. This is the third (of 12) in the Duncan Maclain series, but the first I've read. I'm planning to read more.  [3½★]

Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (1936)

A murder occurs during a sedate evening of bridge, but fortunately M. Poirot is one of the players. 

Mystery review: Cards on the Table presents an interesting premise: four detectives meet four suspects, and Christie has a lot of fun with it. She doesn't want the readers to become too attached to the victim so names him Satan. She then introduces inspired mystery writer Ariadne Oliver, clearly intended as a stand-in for Christie -- both Oliver and Christie wrote novels titled The Body in the Library. (Dorothy Sayers had previously introduced her own alter ego in four novels with Harriet Vane.) The detectives and suspects were playing two tables of bridge at the time of the homicide and Poirot delves deep into the psychology of the suspects, finding numerous signifiers in their pattern and practice of play. Bridge was a big deal back in the day, as we learn from Edith Wharton among others (does anyone still know how to play?). Since the players' game scores are given in the frontispiece I thought Cards on the Table would be a purely puzzle kind of mystery, but it's more thoughtful and better developed than that. How Christie constructs her characters is an art: just as deep and as mildly exaggerated as they need to be, but no more and no less. More than cardboard but less than flesh, yet credible and a reasonable facsimile thereof. She's also at her twisty turny best here, providing a veritable school of red herrings. There are many false summits before the end, which is somewhat ironic as "cards on the table" is a synonym for being open and honest. Christie may have been loling all the way with Ariadne Oliver but Cards on the Table is one of the better Poirot outings.  [4★]

Three Complete Novels by James M. Cain (1969)

The best by James M. Cain neatly presented in a single volume.

Mystery Review: Three Complete Novels (also known as Cain x 3) contains The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), Double Indemnity (1936), and Mildred Pierce (1941). These are Cain's best novels, his greatest hits, his essential work. These are the books that made his reputation, were made into great movies, and made an indelible impact on noir, both film and literary. The first two, written in the first-person, are stories of obsession and ruin in love or lust between a woman and a man. The third, which he called his "first serious novel," is Cain's first venture into third person narrative, about a different kind of obsession, but one that is no less destructive. All three books feature major female roles, played in Hollywood by Lana Turner, Barbara Stanwyck, and Joan Crawford. Cain never reached these heights again. Later novels were far weaker or flawed. At first Cain tried to branch out into different genres (Past All Dishonor (1946), a historical fiction, and The Moth (1948), a semi-autobiographical work). Later, for the rest of his life, he kept trying to recreate the magic of Postman and Indemnity. This is not to say that Cain's later works were without interest. Serenade (1937) in particular is so bizarre that it cannot be ignored. But for those who just want to get the core of Cain's writing, Three Complete Novels is all that's necessary.  [5★]

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie (1936)

M. Poirot happens to be in Iraq and naturally is available to solve a murder at an archaeological dig.

Mystery Review: Murder in Mesopotamia is enlivened by an international setting and a new, first-person narrator: the companion nurse to an archaeologist's wife (so no Hastings). Christie herself was a nurse and our heroine soon ably partners with Poirot in solving the mystery at the site. The characters are unusually layered, the exotic locale is vividly described, and the red herrings come fast and furious. Murder in Mesopotamia proceeds with Christie-like efficiency and tension until the conclusion which, unfortunately, is just too implausible to satisfy the demanding reader. I've been reading the Poirot novels generally in order, but there seems to be little reason to do so as each seems to be mostly independent, with slight relation to the other stories or any kind of chronology. In the earlier books he seemed alternately older and younger, either preparing for his retirement or leaping into trees. I mention this because in Murder in Mesopotamia other of Poirot's cases are mentioned which provided an amiable continuity.  [3½★]