Marian Babson (1929–2017)

Published in the 1980s, Murder On A Mystery Tour by Marian Babson pays homage to The Golden Age of mystery novels written during the 1920s and 1930s. (Agatha Christie was part of that group, however Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series predates that style of writing.)

In this instance, we find couple Reggie and Midge trying to find a way to financially save their English manor, which is currently being used as a hotel. Just in the knick of time, they receive a call from an old friend in the publishing business, who is looking for a place to rent out to stage some promotional murder mystery tours. Babson deftly launches the reader into the rather complicated story, which is actually a mystery within a mystery.

My main quibble with the story was the sheer number of people to keep track of, as there are the actual characters and also the roles they assume for the murder mystery weekend. It does become confusing or at least it was for me. The one character I could always keep straight was Ackroyd the cat, who stares disapprovingly at certain guests and always knows when a there might be a treat available. Bravo Ackroyd. ;-)

Overall rating: 3.5 stars
First book completed in 2024… (mer)

Anytime I get to the last 20 pages of a murder mystery with no progress or clues as to 'whodunit', I get concerned, and in this case the concern was a bit justified. If you like stories about a bunch of silly people running around hollering and annoying each other- think of the film Bringing Up Baby, or the TV series I Love Lucy- where you get a headache even though it is just a silent book, because you can hear the yelling and chaos in your mind as you read, than this book may be great for you.

The narrator, Trixie, and her roommate Evangeline, has apparently no spine to tell a bunch of complete strangers they are not permitted to take over her home to work on their projects and terrorize the household, just as she has no spine to tell her daughter Martha and Martha's friend Jocasta that they need to respect some basic boundaries while using Trixie's kitchen to test recipes. As a result of this character flaw and the caricatured awfulness of the 6 strangers who descend on their home, the majority of this book is a sort of noisy comedy, with a brief but never focal murder, and a distant and never investigated murder that also is just a bit of extraneous detail to the majority of story as it is presented. When we find out who killed both people, it is not because anyone has been asking questions, finding clues, or talking about the murders at all, but because the murder is nuts and the chaos eventually gets to him.

But, the cat is cute, and the best character in the novel, and at least Trixie and Evangeline are actresses and have an excuse for being over the top, even if the rest of the characters are not theater or film people and have no real excuse for seeming so phony. I also did manage to read this book roughly 'in order', since I already read the one before it in the series, which helped some of the story make more sense. Otherwise I'd have been confused as well as exhausted by this book, even as short as it thankfully is.… (mer)