Taylor, Phoebe Atwood - Death Lights a Candle (1932)

Phoebe Atwood Taylor's "Death Lights a Candle" (1932) offers mixed pleasures. Businessman Aldebert Stiles is poisoned by arsenic and the investigation into his death is soon snowbound as a storm rages through Cape Cod. The snowbound setting prevents much of the frenetic running around which has marred some of the other Asey Mayo titles I've read, and the murder method is a clever one. However, as soon as the method of arsenic administration is discovered the meagreness of the mystery becomes apparent, with not much happening in the investigation until the motive is disclosed by a quick trip to Boston. A book in search of a better second half.

Harry Vincent