"The Gun in Daniel Webster's Bust"

When their most disagreeable client has the bad taste to get herself murdered, interior decorator Emily Murdock and her employee Henry Bryce are moderately upset - though, perhaps, it's mostly a matter that the dead client hadn't bothered to pay her bill. In any case, Emily has more important matters on her mind - including how to persuade Henry to marry her. And then there's the problem of that bust of Daniel Webster, which had been collecting dust in Emily's shop for a year, and the very un-dusty gun Emily finds rattling around inside the bust.

It's all part of "The Gun in Daniel Webster's Bust," by Margaret Scherf, a delightful comedy-mystery featuring a married (all right, not quite married yet) couple of decorators working in New York City about halfway through the 20th century. The full review can be heard here on our Classic Mysteries podcast. First published in 1949, it was the first of four mysteries to feature Emily and Henry, a distinctly more-middle-class couple of amateur detectives than, say, Nick and Nora Charles, but from that same comedy-mystery mix. It's a nice balance between screwball comedy and a classic puzzle-mystery.