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GLASS ON THE STAIRS
by Margaret Scherf
Rue Morgue Press, March 2006
159 pages
$14.95
ISBN: 0915230909


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Some books stay on my shelf for a long time before I get to them, but others demand to be read straight away, and this little volume fell squarely into the second category as it's a series which I have come to relish.

Written and originally published in 1954, GLASS ON THE STAIRS is the third of the quartet of comedy mysteries by Margaret Scherf, featuring Henry and Emily Bryce. The Bryces are decorators specialising in paint effects for furniture. They run the Lentement Studio on Lexington Avenue, New York, located above the shop of their friend Link Simpson who has switched from selling antiques to guns.

One day Link is having trouble with a customer who is trying to persuade him to sell her a gun without a licence, and runs upstairs to ask Henry to help him get rid of her. While they are heading downstairs they hear a gun shot and return to Link's store to find the woman shot dead and no-one else around.

Never one to keep the excitement of such morbid drama to herself, Emily is spared the task of notifying all her friends when Link calls his lawyer Eva Rhodes to the scene of the crime. Eva identifies the dead woman as Madge, the wife of her nephew, Otis Carver Rhodes, and it seems that no-one is sorry to learn of her death.

Otis Rhodes is the sponsor's representative for a television show being directed by one of the Bryces' neighbours and Emily lands a commission to paint part of a stage set. This brings her into contact with a few likely suspects in addition to the people amongst her own local artistic set who had the opportunity to commit the crime. Mayhem ensues as the murderer attempts to cover their tracks whilst Emily comes up with madcap ideas of how this series of events took place, and Henry suspects everyone.

Emily and Henry are wonderful characters, with a great turn of phrase and affectionate banter that delights as much as their more slapstick moments. The whole story is told at breakneck speed which lends itself to some great comic moments as well as some witty writing generally.

The mystery plays out nicely with lots of eccentric characters set up as potential murderers, but the chances are you'll be enjoying the ride to much to stop and figure things out ahead of the Bryces. I charged through it in one very enjoyable sitting and was thoroughly entertained.

It isn't necessary to have read the previous books in the series to enjoy this novel as it stands very well on its own, but they have also been reprinted by Rue Morgue Press recently and are called THE GUN IN DANIEL WEBSTER'S BUST and THE GREEN PLAID PANTS. There are plans to release the final volume later in 2006, and I'm only grateful that we don't have to wait the nine years for it that readers did at the time it was written.

Reviewed by Bridget Bolton, February 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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