Vera Caspary, author of Laura, wrote several mysteries of which The Murder at the Stork Club is one. Written in 1946, it has that 1040s detective feel about it. It got me from the first page.

Henry T. Pendleton is dining at the Stork Club with a mysterious lady. Soon after she leaves, he appears to be drunk and, as is the custom at this high class restaurant, he is put in a cab and sent home. However, he doesn't make it. The cab driver discovers him dead in the back seat.

The mysterious woman happens to be Sara Haworth Collins, wife of detective Joe Collins. Collins decides to investigate to make sure his wife is not implicated (which, of course, she is). Caspary has peopled this mystery with enough suspects: Pendleton's ex-wife and ex-girlfriends, the Stork Club owner, and various assorted ne'er do wells. Additional, police inspector Mulvoy and Collins are true macho men of the time.

I'll admit that The Murder at the Stork Club is not the best mystery of its genre (Laura is much, much better), it is still up there and should be on everyone's reading list. ( )