Mon 13 Jun 2011
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: VAN SILLER – The Mood for Murder.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , ReviewsNo Comments
William F. Deeck
VAN SILLER – The Mood for Murder. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1966. Paperback reprint: Curtis, no date [1967?].
If a mystery writer — in this case, Allan Stewart, author of Death at Dawn, among other books — can’t accept that a young lady with whom he was almost in love has discovered a body, now missing, and has been shot at, who will believe it?
As a practitioner in this field, surely Stewart knows that all such tales, particularly the most implausible, have a basis in fact and that failure to accept them inevitably leads. to unpleasantness.
Since Stewart rejects the young lady’s story, a murder by shooting occurs, with the murdered woman possibly being mistaken for the young lady who earlier claimed to be shot at, followed by a murder by threat.
All of this takes place at an exclusive Florida resort among the well-to-do and beautiful, and the mostly unpleasant. Unlikely coincidences constitute the explanation at the end.
I may try another of Hilda — if the author’s sex is of interest to anyone — Van Siller’s novels with Allan Stewart to find out if he has learned anything from his profession of mystery writer. I won’t expect to enjoy it.
Bibliographic Notes: (Hilda) Van Siller, 1911-1982, was the author of 21 crime fiction novels published between 1943 and 1974, most of them for Doubleday’s Crime Club imprint, but a small handful appeared only in British editions. In spite of her sizable output, among authors recently covered on this blog, I believe she qualifies as being among the Top Ten “Most Forgotten.”
The Alan Stewart series —
A Complete Stranger (n.) Doubleday, US, 1965
The Mood for Murder (n.) Doubleday, US, 1966
The Biltmore Call (n.) Ward, UK, 1967 [no US edition]