Nahum Pershore drops dead at the annual motor show at Olympia for no apparent reason. As the police begin their investigations, they discover three separate attempts on Mr. Pershore’s life have recently been made. It seems likely his sudden demise is a definite case of murder, but—with no obvious cause of death—how will it be proven?

There are certainly a lot of obvious suspects with a lot of obvious motives, and even a few that are not so obvious. There’s the niece who stands to inherit a hefty sum on Mr. Pershore’s death. And the nephew who stands to inherit next to nothing. Then again, Mr. Pershore seems to have engaged in some violent quarrels with all of his closest friends lately. He doesn’t seem to treat his former childhood sweetheart, now his housekeeper, with any great amount of civility either. And what about Mr. Pershore’s estranged half-brother Micah who made his own fortune in the Argentine, but whose present whereabouts are unknown? Oddly enough, many of the prime suspects just happen to be in attendance at the car show at the precise moment Mr. Pershore makes his final exit…that couldn’t just be a coincidence, or could it?

There is plenty of action and misdirection on hand in this entertaining whodunit.

A number of people really want Nahum Pershore dead, and it is easy to believe that any one of the suspects is actually guilty of the crime. Superintendent Hanslet, who is the primary investigator handling the case, comes across as somewhat of a buffoon; at various points throughout the story he is utterly convinced that every one of the suspects is undoubtedly the murderer. Most of the viable suspects do have the motives, means, and opportunities to commit the murder, and it kind of seems like the author may have just picked one out of a hat to bring the book to a conclusion. It is rather unfair that the reader is unable to work out the actual cause of death until Doctor Overland accidentally stumbles across it in an obscure medical journal late in the narrative. However, that does not really detract from the enjoyment value of the story.

Although it gets off to a slow start with a detailed discussion of automobile transmissions, this is an entertaining mystery that makes for a fun, weekend read. ( )