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BLACK EYE,, THE
by Constance and Gwenyth Little
Rue Morgue Press, December 2001
154 pages
$14.00
ISBN: 0915230453


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Eugenia Gates expects nothing but peace and quiet when she accepts Mary Fredon's offer to borrow her empty apartment for a two-week vacation. Unfortunately, within hours of moving in to the spotless fifth floor residence, Eugenia is faced with another vacationer on her doorstep. Army sergeant Kendall Smith has been promised the apartment also, and he has no intention of spending his furlough somewhere else. The two are still arguing over the matter when Lucy Davis, an older woman sent by Mary to chaperone the pair, arrives on the scene.

Eugenia is not happy with the situation. She's even less happy when Ken and Lucy decide to throw an impromptu party in the apartment and a disapproving Mary arrives hard on the heels of the noisy guests. Her gloom only deepens when Suzy, Mary's occasional maid, winds up dead in the living room that same night. Eugenia quickly becomes a prisoner in the apartment as detective Bartholomew Egbert investigates what appears to be a murder.

Egbert's list of suspects includes Homer Fredon, Mary's mousy husband who has vanished along with neighbor Betty Emerson. Betty's mother, Mrs. Budd, believes the two have eloped, but J. X. Boxton, a local undertaker and a neighbor of the Fredons', insists he saw the couple return, suitcases in hand, to the building. John Emerson thinks that Ken has been secretly romancing his wife, while Ken is convinced that Betty's husband is having an affair with a woman named Dotty. Mary Fredon has no doubt that Homer is innocent, and Lucy concurs with her. Stuck in the middle, poor confused Eugenia doesn't know who or what to believe. It is only when a second murder occurs in the apartment that Eugenia decides to take the bull by the horns and investigate the case herself.

Set during the final days of World War II, The Black Eye is the kind of mystery that begs for the attention of Hollywood. Unfortunately, the days of the great Cary Grant/Katherine Hepburn comedies are long gone, and only those two movie stars could do this book justice. The wise-cracking Eugenia and the equally sharp-tongued Ken are a treasure unto themselves. In partnership with the party loving Lucy, her clean freak friend Mary, and the oddest group of neighbors ever gathered under one roof, the pair head up a cast of characters that would have made Frank Capra proud. As it is, fans of Constance and Gwenyth Little will have to be satisfied with the printed version of this tongue-in-cheek mystery. And satisfied they will be due to the Littles' unerring ability to pepper a logical plot with snappy dialogue and a plethora of very red herrings. Truly a classic, The Black Eye gives readers a glimpse of murder and mayhem in the comic '40s style.

Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, August 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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