Sat 23 Mar 2013
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: KAY CLEAVER STRAHAN – Death Traps.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[5] Comments
William F. Deeck
KAY CLEAVER STRAHAN – Death Traps. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1930. Reprint hardcover: Grosset & Dunlap, no date (shown).
There are several mysteries about the shooting of Gilbert Dexter in San Francisco. Would his brother, Bob, have shot him? Would Bob have managed only to wound him at point-blank range? Were the French windows open or locked? Why were there two revolvers in the room? Further and deeper puzzlement develops when the next-door neighbors are found dead in their locked room with no sign of foul play and no explanation of their deaths.
Since the head of the Dexter family is a retired judge, the authorities investigate the shooting in a gingerly manner, and, so it would seem, there is not much involvement by the police in the locked-room case. Fortunately, Bezaleel Lucky, millionaire former grocer and husband of one of Judge Dexter’s daughters, takes it upon himself to investigate in amusing fashion with his proverbs, his constant interruptions, and his complaint that all anyone, but not him, wants to do is talk.
Sometime I will have to take another look at Strahan’s Footpnnts, which I vaguely remember as being one of those dreary psychological novels in which turning pages is a chore. Maybe I missed something.
Editorial Comment: According to Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV, the detective of record in Death Traps, as he was in all seven of Kay Cleaver Strahan’s mysteries, was a fellow named Lynn MacDonald, whom Bill Deeck did not mention. If anyone reading this is familiar with the book, where does MacDonald fit in, and what kind of name is Bezaleel Lucky?
The Lynn MacDonald series —
The Desert Moon Mystery (n.) Doubleday 1928.
Footprints (n.) Doubleday 1929.
Death Traps (n.) Doubleday 1930.
The Meriwether Mystery (n.) Doubleday 1932.
October House (n.) Doubleday 1932.
The Hobgoblin Murder (n.) Bobbs 1934.
The Desert Lake Mystery (n.) Bobbs 1936.
March 23rd, 2013 at 9:51 pm
Lynn MacDonald is a female investigator and has a small role in this book although she was Strahan’s series detective. It’s been about thirteen years since I read Death Traps but IIRC she is–SPOILER AHEAD–introduced into one of the households as a nurse and her identity is only revealed later on in the novel. Although her name is featured prominently on the dust jacket, her involvement in the novel feels more like a cameo appearance.
BTW The “Beneath the Stains of Time” blog carried a review of Death Traps earlier this month.
March 23rd, 2013 at 10:35 pm
DEATH TRAPS was reviewed by TomCat earlier this month? You’re right, and I missed it.
Here’s a direct link, I think: http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2013/03/trouble-next-door.html
Thanks for the info on Lynn MacDonald. I’ve never read any of Strahan’s novels, so I didn’t even know that she was a she. And according to TomCat, quoting directly: “Anyhow, the solution to the locked room is a good one.” I’ll have to see if I can’t locate my copy.
March 25th, 2013 at 10:10 am
I’m tooting my own horn now. I reviewed THE DESERT MOON MYSTERY last month. I thought that first book was especially good. Macdonald has a large role though she doesn’t appear until the last one third of the book. Additionally, I was responsible for getting Lynn MacDonald her own page at the Thrilling Detective website. You can read about her here.
March 25th, 2013 at 1:16 pm
That’s a great write-up, John. It covers all the basics and it’s a great perspective on Lynn MacDonald’s career. Thanks for tooting your own horn!
October 22nd, 2013 at 8:02 pm
I read Footprints not so long ago – it is essentially an epistolary mystery with Lynn MacDonald solving a twenty-eight-year-old murder by analysing the contents of two sets of letters, one written before the murder and one after. It’s presented as a psychological exercise, and Lynn never leaves her office. I found it effective albeit the framing is a bit contrived.