Thu 24 May 2012
Mystery Review: EUNICE MAYS BOYD – Murder Wears Mukluks.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[9] Comments
EUNICE MAYS BOYD – Murder Wears Mukluks. Farrar & Rinehart Inc., hardcover, 1945. Dell #259, reprint paperback, mapback edition, 1948.
I’ve owned the Dell mapback edition of this book since I first became aware of the series, which is perhaps some 40 years ago. I’ve also been fascinated by the title, which I’m sure is unique in the annals of crime and detective fiction, but what I can’t explain to you (or anyone else, for that matter) why I never sat down to read the book until now.
Which I have, at last, but — I have to confess — I was disappointed. Not at first, though, not at all. I enjoyed the first fifty pages so much that I found inexpensive copies of the other two books in the series (see below) and ordered them online. All three books take place in Alaska, and the hero of record is a mild-mannered grocer in Fairbanks named F. Millard Smyth.
Or at least he’s a grocer in this one. The other two books are still en route, and I can’t swear to anything I don’t know for sure. After being visited by the previous owner of his store – F. Millard has fallen behind on his payments – he makes his nightly visit to his warehouse next door to stoke up the stove to keep his stock from freezing.
The building used to be an old dance hall, and F. Millard (which is how the author refers to him also) is treated to a ghostly dance by what appears to be a beautiful young woman on the balcony. The lights go out, and the F. Millard flees. In the morning, though, when he returns, he finds the body of the man to whom he owes the money he cannot repay, Tom Blaine.
The marshal’s deputy thinks he has the case solved right away, but when Jeff Peters, the marshal himself, returns, he demurs. It seems as though everybody who lives on the same short road as Smyth may have a motive – and opportunity, once their alibis are checked more closely.
As I say, it’s a fine beginning, but F. Millard Smyth, though he’s a devoted reader of Flatfoot magazine, is no great shakes of a detective, and if Jeff Peters is an improvement (and he is), the author of this pale imitation of a detective puzzle can’t seem to show it.
All of the possible suspects have known each other for a long time, and have been married to each other (some of them), or in love with each other (a different set than that of the previous category) and/or have cheated each other out of mining claims or furs or possibly some other tangible goods that I skimmed over. Strangely enough, the entire population of Fairbanks seems to live on this one short, dead-end street.
The biggest disappointment comes, however, with the ending, as the killer traps Smyth in his store, believing him to be coming too close to the truth (we know better), and proceeds to explain in detail how everything came about and why.
The recitation is long and complicated and takes up fifteen pages, before the marshal shows up and utilizes the last ten pages to clean up all the loose ends.
The F. Millard Smith series —
Murder Breaks Trail. Farrar, 1943.
Doom in the Midnight Sun. Farrar, 1944.
Murder Wears Mukluks. Farrar, 1945.
May 24th, 2012 at 10:58 am
I have all three of these and started the first one — MURDER BREAKS TRAIL — several years ago, but it bored the hell out of me and stopped reading. I never returned to any of them. That Dell only reprinted the last one may say something about the quality of the previous two. Or maybe it indicates that they were itnrigued by the oddball title and thought it might generate sales among the curious. But the hardcover editions all have great DJs. When I’m home I’ll take photos of them and upload them to my blog.
May 24th, 2012 at 11:22 am
John
If you have all three in dust jacket, that’s a nice set. I don’t believe the ones I ordered have jackets — I certainly didn’t pay enough for them. If I were you, I’d hold on to them, even if I didn’t intend to read them — and it certainly doesn’t sound as though you’re going to!
When you have the covers online, I hope you’ll leave a comment here with a link. I love covers of old mystery novels (as if anyone reading this blog for any length of time doesn’t know this already).
May 25th, 2012 at 7:13 am
The first time I heard of this was when Ellen used to go on about it. I’m not sure if she had all three but she certainly had MUKLUKS.
May 25th, 2012 at 11:14 am
Yes, Ellen Nehr was a big fan of LOL (Little Old Ladies) detective fiction, which carried over to Little Old Men who solved mysteries too.
And F. Millard Smyth certainly qualifies as the latter, almost perfectly I’d say, except (as I’ve already said) he really wasn’t a very good detective.
May 25th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
I’ll have to look, but I think I have that mapback of Mukluks too, and saved it for the same reason you did, thinking I might get around to reading it some day. Maybe in retirement. (I’ve been retired since 1996) According to Steve Stilwell, my mystery collection is like the one Al Hubin built, strong on story, not so strong on editions. Heck, the only reason I ever bought a book was because it had been recommended by someone or looked interesting. I can remember walking behind Mike Nevins in a used bookstore as he gave a running critique of the titles he saw on the shelves. I would leave the store with most of the ones he mentioned.
May 25th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
“Heck, the only reason I ever bought a book was because it had been recommended by someone or looked interesting.”
Ditto on that. There’s nothing in my collection that I don’t intend to read someday, but the number of collectible First Editions in jacket are few and far between. (I do regret not picking more of them up, though, back when they were easy to find. Or easier, anyway.)
May 27th, 2012 at 8:54 am
My collection ranges from rarities in good to very good condition to a couple hundred battered reading copies. Only a handful of my books are in fine condition. I usually buy anything in jacket, unless it’s missing huge chunks or is literally falling apart, because you never know if you’ll ever find the DJ again these days.
The Boyd books are up at my blog now. Here’s the link.
May 27th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Thanks for the link. Very nice!
I don’t have too many books in my collection that are Reading Copies only — I always figured that a nicer one would come along, if I really wanted it, and usually it has. I never have to worry about having something to read. Sometimes the hardest decision is to choose what to read next.
January 12th, 2021 at 10:50 pm
Hello All – I am Eunice Mays Boyd’s god daughter. After her death in 1971, I have found 4 finished manuscripts including a sequel in the F. Millard Smyth series in Alaska “One Paw Was Red”. Two others, “Dune House” and “Slay Bells” are set in San Francisco and were probably written in the late 40’s and mid 50’s, respectively. Do you have any suggestions re best way to publish and get to people who liked her first 3 books? They are all smart, different and classic retro mysteries. Betsy Aden