Yes, yes, I know. Murder is serious business. Crime is serious business. How can you laugh at murder and other kinds of crime?
By reading some of the books written by Phoebe Atwood Taylor, that's how. Taylor wrote two series of mysteries. The first series featured Cape Cod handyman and mostly-unofficial detective Asey Mayo. And then there was her second series, starring New England schoolmaster and secret author of purple-prose thrillers Leonidas Witherall. A recent check online showed that several titles (mostly, but not exclusively, from the Asey Mayo series) are a little more available now than they have been for many years. And as I think this is probably a good time to try to promote humor, if we are all to make it unscathed through real-world events, I thought it would be fun to dedicate the next two weeks of my From the Vault mysteries to the first appearances of Asey Mayo and Leonidas Witherall. This week, I offer you my audio review of Taylor's The Cape Cod Mystery (1931) starring Asey Mayo in his first detective outing:
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It was a very hot summer in the northeastern United States…the kind of heat, in those pre-air-conditioning days, which made people want to get out of town. That would explain the deluge of telegrams received by Miss Prudence Whitsby, a middle-aged single woman living in a small house on Cape Cod – telegrams from friends and even from random acquaintances looking for an invitation to come spend some time on the Cape. She did eventually invite a couple of them. But just when everyone seemed to be settling in, a neighbor – a best-selling author, at that – got himself murdered. Like it or not, Prudence and her friends and acquaintances were quickly drawn into the case. Luckily, so was a friendly handyman and jack-of-all-trades named Asey Mayo. And it’s a good thing that Asey decided to take a hand in solving The Cape Cod Mystery – the title of the 1931 book by Phoebe Atwood Taylor.
Between 1931 and 1951, Phoebe Atwood Taylor turned out some two dozen mysteries featuring Asey Mayo. The “codfish Sherlock,” as he became known in later books, lived on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where all the mysteries are set. A general handyman with useful skills, Mayo begins his career in The Cape Cod Mystery as a general assistant to Bill Porter, presented here as the younger brother of a car manufacturer. In later books, Bill appears to take over the business – and Asey Mayo remains his right-hand man.
The Cape Cod Mystery is narrated by Miss Prudence Whitsby, a self-described “respectable spinster of 50,” living with her niece in a small cottage on Cape Cod. Cape Cod’s population – then and now – expanded greatly in the summer time, as city folk looked for a place to escape the heat. So Prudence has been inundated with letters from friends and casual acquaintances hoping to be invited to spend some time as her house guests.
She eventually does settle on a couple of guests. But just as they are getting squared away, disaster strikes. A best-selling writer named Dale Sanborn takes over the cottage next to Prudence’s house – and promptly gets himself murdered. The local policeman – most of whose time, it seems, is spent as a clerk in the town’s general store – decides that Bill Porter must have committed the crime, and promptly locks him up. Actually, not having a real jail in town, he locks Porter into an antique set of stocks on the town square.
And so, naturally, Asey Mayo sets out to prove his boss not guilty of murder. In 1931 America, this might not be as easy as it seems; apparently, in those depression years, Porter’s wealth weighs against him. As Asey points out – let me quote this, but I need to point out that I’m approximating Asey’s Cape Cod dialect, as Taylor writes it:
“If a poor man c’mits a crime, he gets his, ‘cause he ain’t got money enough to get off by hirin’ smart lawyers. If a rich man gets mixed up in a crime, he’s got the money to get himself off, but the people are against him because he’s got money. Far’s I can see, all crimes ought t’be done by what the papers call the moneyed middle class.”
That’s Asey’s philosophy, at any rate. And, as he investigates the murder – something that local policeman is unwilling to do – he learns a great deal about the victim, Dale Sanborn, who turns out to have managed to make enemies of nearly everyone he met. I must say that Sanborn becomes a totally unsympathetic character; even Asey begins to wonder why it’s necessary to solve the murder – except for the need to clear Bill Porter’s name. How Asey does that – and the consequences – provide the plot for the rest of the book.
I must say that – to me – I’d have to give this book a “B” rather than a solid “A.” Some of Taylor’s later books, I think, are better constructed. Asey Mayo tends to hide the clues here, not revealing everything he knows until he’s ready to explain what really happened. Of course, as he explains to Prudence at one point, that’s a necessary part of his role as detective:
“Even ole Sherlock Holmes, Miss Prue, had to do somethin’ funny every so often so’s folks would keep on bein’ ‘mazed by him. He had to let ‘em know he was thinkin’ about fifteen miles ahead of ‘em, so’s they could say wasn’t he wonderful when he broke down an’ explained it all.”
So I suppose Asey may be forgiven if he does occasionally show off here. I enjoy his character more in Taylor’s later books, where she allowed more humor to creep in. Of course, Asey does have a tendency to come out with great one liners; at one point, for example, he observes:
“It can’t be done, as the feller said when he tried to chew his elbow."
But that’s Asey Mayo. It’s good to have The Cape Cod Mystery available in print and in electronic editions. Phoebe Atwood Taylor’s background as a Bostonian and Cape Codder served her well in writing about the small towns and villages on the Cape and the idiosyncratic and often eccentric people who lived there. Asey Mayo and his friends are worth knowing.
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You can listen to the original audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast by clicking here.
Next, we'll look at the first Leonidas Witherall book, Beginning with a Bash, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as "Alice Tilton."
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