"Murder Loves Company"

Ever been to a World's Fair? These days, apparently, they're more-or-less called "expos," and they appear to have lost some of the central importance they once had for world trade and world understanding (but don't tell that to the expo investors and exhibitors). But they used to be really big attractions - so much so that, in 1939, there were two world's fairs in the United States - one in New York, one in San Francisco.

It was that 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco that provided the setting for John Mersereau's entertaining murder mystery, "Murder Loves Company," and it makes a satisfying and interesting background for the reader. The central character, an agriculture professor who has been very involved in developing and providing decorative plants for the San Francisco Fair on Treasure Island, is witness to a double murder, when two men are thrown from a speeding car. But he is truly incensed by the apparent murder of some ancient olive trees, which he had helped move to Treasure Island. You can listen to the full review here.

It's a fun read, with plenty of nostalgia for pre-World-War-II San Francisco, and a fascinating look inside the fair, at some of the exhibitions and the attractions along the midway. The mystery from late in the Golden Age of Detection, 1940, has long been out of print, but the Rue Morgue Press has brought it back to take readers on a last tour of a memorable fair while enjoying a good murder mystery.