Tue 15 Nov 2016
Archived Review: MARGARET SCHERF – The Beaded Banana.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[8] Comments
MARGARET SCHERF – The Beaded Banana. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1978. No US paperback edition.
The title sounds like that of a second-rate rock group, but it’s actually the prized possession of a member of the fly-by-night movie company that’s shooting on location in Summerfield, Montana. An undesirable Las Vegas element is moving into town as well, and some unsavory political hi-jinx foreshadow some very strange things about to happen, including murder.
The detective is retired pathologist Dr. Grace Severance, and it’s no reflection on her to say that what we have here is a mystery full of flutsy old ladies doing their thing. The humor is of the quiet zinger type, which does a lot to mitigate all the conclusions that are so ungracefully leapt to along the way.
The Dr. Grace Severance series —
The Banker’s Bones. Doubleday, 1968.
The Beautiful Birthday Cake. Doubleday, 1971.
To Cache a Millionaire. Doubleday, 1972.
The Beaded Banana. Doubleday, 1978.
The Beaded Banana was Margaret Scherf’s final book. Between 1940 and 1978 she wrote a total of 24 works of detective fiction, including four in her Emily & Henry Bryce series, and seven more featuring Rev. Martin Buell. Many of her books also take place in Montana.
November 15th, 2016 at 12:50 pm
Back in the late 70s, when I began selling duplicate mystery paperbacks by mail, Margaret Scherf was one of my bestselling authors. Anytime I had one for sale, it went out the door very quickly. I’m sure the humor in her books had something to do with it.
Of course she’s all but forgotten now.
November 15th, 2016 at 5:03 pm
Actually she was featured in Barry Pike’s column Pen Profiles in the recent CADS 73. The second part of Barry’s coverage of Scherf’s series detectives will be in the forthcoming CADS 74.
November 15th, 2016 at 5:06 pm
Not completely forgotten then!
November 15th, 2016 at 5:08 pm
I think I read a couple of Buell titles, but of course her name was familiar as you could hardly avoid her if you collected mysteries and subscribed to catalogs.
I tend to avoid little old lady mysteries unless it is Miss Marple, Mrs. Pym, or Mrs. Bradley.
November 15th, 2016 at 5:35 pm
The only Scherf mystery novel I’ve read is “The Gun In Daniel Webster’s Bust” (1949). Thought it was terrible, a real disappointment. Have never gone back for a second helping.
November 15th, 2016 at 6:31 pm
I assume these were Crime Club mysteries, which makes me realize what a nice job Doubleday did for the many years they were publishing them. Quite a few really good stories, some not so good, but overall a good quality. The Double D Westerns are also missed.
November 15th, 2016 at 8:42 pm
Doubleday used the Crime Club imprint for most of their crime fiction for 63 years, from 1928 to 1991. At one time, pre-Internet I’d managed to accumulate 90% of them. I eventually broke up the collection, but kept all of the Scherf’s. Now that I’m retired, sort of, I plan to start reading more of all the Crime Club’s I still have. As you say, there quite a few really good stories waiting for me.
I’d have collected the Double-D westerns, too, if it had been possible. Few mail-order dealers dealt with western hardcovers at all back then, and in the wilds of Connecticut bookstores, they were non-existent.
November 15th, 2016 at 9:55 pm
I have made a half hearted effort to collect as many of the westerns as possible, one of these days will see if I can find or make a complete list of them to see how far away I am.
Both lines kept quite a few authors eating for many years.