Henry Gamadge hardly knew what to make of the young woman. Her name was Rena Austen and she appeared to be frightened nearly out of her wits. Rena Austen had recently become a bride when she married a wounded World War II hero named Gray Austen - and frankly she was becoming convinced that she may have made a mistake in her marriage.
One day, Rena Austen happened to take a book down from a bookshelf in the Austen house – actually, she didn’t even want to read the book, but thought she could use it to plug a hole that made a door rattle. But when Gray came into the room and found her holding the book, he flew into what appeared to be a murderous rage, and tried to lock her into an upstairs sitting room. Terrified, Rena Austen managed to escape – and, largely through luck, found herself in book-and-letters expert Henry Gamadge’s living room, telling him her story. And Gamadge would begin a private investigation which would reveal some secrets the Austens would much prefer to be kept private – including a question of murder. That's the story you'll find in The Book of the Crime, written in 1951 by Elizabeth Daly. It was the 16th - and last - book in Daly's mystery series, all of which featured Gamadge as her detective. It's the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the complete review by clicking here.
The Book of the Crime is a fascinating story, with a solution that is both surprising and inevitable. It’s a mystery where it’s not so much a question of "who done it" – rather the mystifying question is what secret is being guarded, and why. It follows a carefully twisted path on its way to a surprising solution. And it won’t be until Gamadge can figure out the secret of that book, picked up so innocently by Rena Austen, that he’ll be able to figure out what has been going on – and why. I think you would enjoy coming along for the ride.
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