Murder Comes First by Richard and Francis Lockridge

Pam and Jerry North received a letter which contained the announcement that Pam's maiden aunts from Cleveland were stopping in New York on their annual trip to Florida for the winter. The letter arrived on the morning of the day that the aunts were coming so Pam and Jerry made hasty preparations and met aunts Thelma, Pennina and Lucinda Whitsett at Grand Central Station.

The aunts wanted to visit their old friend Grace Logan while they in New York. This was something which they did every year on their annual trip to the city. They went to Grace's apartment and had a nice chat. The maid brought in a very pleasant tea. Grace took her usual vitamin pill with her tea and shortly afterwards died in a very unpleasant manner.

The police arrived and accused Aunt Thelma of putting a cyanide capsule in Grace's vitamin bottle because some twenty years earlier, Thelma had been disappointed when Paul Logan had married Grace instead of her. Pam, Jerry, and their friend Lieutenant Bill Weigand did not believe that she could have held a grudge for so long a period, and Aunt Thelma was released from police custody.

It was determined that the cyanide capsule could have been put in the vitamin bottle within the two weeks prior to the death. There were several people who had access to the bottle during this time. Grace Logan had a son, Paul Logan, whom she seemed to control even though he was in his twenties. She also had a niece Sally whom she had raised and who was now married to Barton Sandford, a biochemist. Sally had decided that their marriage had come to an end and she had driven off somewhere - nobody was quite sure where. She could be in Missouri or she could have returned to New York. Grace had also had a companion, Rose Hickey, who had been with her for five years. Rose had left just a few days before - reason unknown. Rose had a daughter, Lynn, who had an apartment of her own, but she did come to visit her mother at Grace's apartment. Lynn and Paul Logan wished to get married, but Grace Logan certainly did not approve of this.

Pam North just could not resist getting involved in the solution of the crime especially when the police found a bottle of cyanide capsules in Aunt Thelma's luggage and accused her again of the murder. Aunt Lucinda, who was a great reader, believed that she found the solution of the crime in a book that she had read and set off to solve the murder. Pam and Dorian Weigand followed Lucinda hoping to keep her safe. Jerry and Bill Weigand then joined the mad cap chase by following Pam and Dorian.

I have always been a great fan of Pan and Jerry North, and I did enjoy this book. The sophisticated Norths present a pleasant change from more gruesome mystery novels. The book was first published in 1951. It is out of print, but used copies are available.

The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Katherine Green

At the hour of noon in a gallery in a museum in New York City, a young and pretty girl died with an arrow through her chest. The few visitors to the museum rushed to the scene of the crime, and saw, leaning over the body, an older woman with her hand on the arrow and a look of horror on her face.  A curator, William Jewett, went to the woman who said that her name was Ermentrude Taylor and  said that she was just passing through the gallery when the young woman was struck down. She was also questioned by the director of the museum,  Carleton Roberts, but she admitted that she had seen no one actually shoot the arrow.

The curator called the police, and asked for a reliable detective to be sent. The museum doors were locked, and those visitors inside were not allowed to leave. At this time the curator believed that Mrs. Taylor had struck the young woman with the arrow thus killing her. The police did arrive in the person of Ebenezer Gryce who was over 80 years of age and troubled by rheumatism. Gryce was accompanied by other policemen including his favorite assistant, Sweetwater.

It was found that the young woman carried no identification. Gryce interviewed Mrs. Taylor who was extremely distraught by the death. When questioned about her marital status she said that she was a widow and that she believed that her husband had died within the previous hour. It was obvious to all viewing this proceeding that Mrs. Taylor was losing her grip on reality. The other visitors to the museum were questioned, and their positions in the museum were mapped. None of them was in a position to have shot an arrow. There were many arrows in the gallery, but only one bow which was hung so high to be out of reach. Gryce would later call in a Native American who was skilled in the use of bow and arrow to recreate the crime.

Gryce now had many questions which needed to be answered. Who was the young girl? How had she been murdered? What was wrong with Mrs. Taylor? Who actually committed the murder? I do not want to spoil the story for the reader, but will say that the murderer is found, and the background of this crime will be given in a long and rather melodramatic form. It is indeed a remarkably tragic story.

This book was written in 1917 and was one of the last full length mysteries written by Ms. Green who is considered to be the mother of American mysteries. The part of the book which deals with the solution of how the crime was committed and who did it are quite interesting, but the part which describes the events leading up to the commission of the crime are a bit turgid and slow going for the modern reader.

During the investigation of the crime, maps are made of the museum and of the location of the visitors. I believe that they would be very useful in understanding the commission of the crime. I, however, read the ebook collection of the Collected Works of Anna Katherine Green and the maps were not included although the legends of the maps were.