Elliott Roosevelt (1910–1990)

It’s 1938 and Eleanor Roosevelt is returning home on the S. S. Normandie from an ‘unofficial’ visit to France. Onboard ship she is surrounded by luminaries: Jack Benny & Mary Livingstone, Charles Lindbergh, Josephine Baker, and a very young John F. Kennedy. She is also surrounded by murder and international intrigue. A Russian diplomat is murdered during an impromptu cocktail party in his suite, and it appears only one person had the opportunity to spike his fatal drink. However, there are a myriad of suspects who might have wanted him dead. When a cache of jewels is stolen and another murder takes place, it seems there is a lot more going on aboard ship than meets the eye. Eleanor joins forces with the ship’s French detective, as well as Jack Kennedy, to solve the mystery and bring the killer to justice.

This is a reasonable little mystery that manages to hold the reader’s attention without being too captivating or entertaining. There really is nothing better than a traditional mystery set on a ship or a train, and the backdrop aboard the ocean liner Normandie is really the charming star of the show. All of the fun ‘guest stars’ are also a treat…especially Jack Benny; unfortunately, they are not as big a presence as they could have been, &—with the exception of Jack Kennedy—they don’t really come into play in solving the mysteries onboard. Eleanor Roosevelt herself comes across as kind of bland.

Politics and international intrigue— defections, Russian agents, turmoil in Europe, etc.—are a major component of the storyline which kind of made the story drag; espionage and war thrillers aren’t really my cup of tea, so I wish it had followed more of a straightforward cozy mystery plotline.

This isn’t a great mystery by any stretch of the imagination, but—if a copy happens to come your way—you could do a lot worse than this for reading material.… (mehr)

"Ma'am. Excuse me. No one is permitted to enter. We've got the East Hall blocked off." The man who had spoken was a young, uniformed White House policeman.

The First Lady glared at him. "I don't believe it's blocked against me," she said brusquely.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I have my orders, ma'am, from the Secret Service agent in charge of the investigation....in a moment Stan Szczygiel came up the ramp. He was a veteran agent of the Secret Service.
"What's going on Stan? You are aware that Mr. Churchill-" "Nothing to do with him, ma'am. The problem is in the Lincoln Bedroom. We have a corpse in there."

Mrs. Roosevelt glanced quickly around. "Mr. Churchill will.be coming up at any minute. Close the door to the Lincoln Bedroom. Get these extra men out of sight. We don't want Mr. Churchill to know that a body has been found in the bedroom immediately opposite his."… (mehr)