Thu 23 May 2019
AARON MARC STEIN – Moonmilk and Murder. Tim Mulligan & Elsie Mae Hunt #18. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1955. Curtis, paperback, 1968.
Moonmilk consists of the cheesey calcium deposits the form on the surfaces of damp caves before it hardens into limestone, ad unlike archaeologists Tim Mulligan and Elsie Mae Hunt, I didn’t know that either. Here they’re in France, looking for caveman art.
And they find murder as well. Ten years after the war, passions against collaborators still run high, setting off a complicated puzzle spoiled only slightly by the intrusive smell of coincidence. While the pieces fit nicely, the story doesn’t quite jell.
Bibliographic Note: This was the last appearance of archaeological partners Tim Mullligan and Elsie Mae Hunt. Their first of eighteen mysteries was The Sun Is a Witness (1940). All eighteen were published under Doubledy’s Crime Club imprint.
May 23rd, 2019 at 7:44 pm
I liked the opening chapter of Moonmilk and Murder very much. It has Tim and Elsie Mae exploring a cave, as part of their archeology jobs.
But only a little else in this book is much good. Once the main story gets going, inspiration runs out.
I would like to read a lot more of Tim and Elsie Mae’s adventures.
Especially liked:
Death Takes a Paying Guest (1947)
Three – With Blood (1950)
Mask for Murder (1952)
May 23rd, 2019 at 8:32 pm
Sounds like we pretty much agree on this one, Mike. I wonder if the lack of inspiration that you thought you saw carried over to this being the end of the series as well. Stein just may have run out of ideas as how to how to keep getting a pair of nice people (Tim and Elise) mixed up in yet another murder mystery again.
May 24th, 2019 at 7:50 am
AARON MARC STEIN wrote a ton of books. After 30 years of pumping out mysteries, he may have been running out of gas.
May 24th, 2019 at 9:39 am
Stein’s first mystery was MURDER AT THE PIANO (1936) with/as George Bagby, and his last was THE GARBAGE COLLECTOR (1984) under his own name with Matt Erridge as the leading character. He passed away in 1985, having written as you say a ton of books!
May 24th, 2019 at 12:02 pm
The post-1955 book by Stein I’ve enjoyed most is “Murder’s Little Helper” (1963). But I’m still exploring this part of his career. He wrote around 110 mystery novels.
Nothing in “Moonmilk and Murder” gives any indication that it’s the last book in its series.
I know little about Stein’s career (as opposed to his books). Have no idea if he or his publisher called an end to the series.
May 24th, 2019 at 12:57 pm
I think 110 mystery novels qualifies as “a ton.”
May 24th, 2019 at 9:41 pm
I wasn’t a big fan of the later Stein novels, but when he was good he was a reliable entertainer. He is another of those reliable mid-list writers who once were the backbone of publishing and public libraries.