There is only one entry for Mrs. Webb in Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:

      WEBB, MARTHA TOOKE
         * The Will and the Wilful (Dorrance, 1969, hc)

   And that’s all there is for her, nothing more. Until this past week, that is, when Al Hubin discovered that she was born June 23, 1908, and died on November 23, 2001. This information will, of course, appear shortly in the Addenda to the Revised Edition of CFIV.

   The book she wrote is not common, but neither is it terribly difficult to find. With the assistance of bookseller Jon Rieley-Goddard of Baldy Books in upstate New York, I have a scan of the front cover that I can show you, and from the back cover jacket flap, a lengthy profile of the author herself. I’ll get back to that shortly.

The Will and the Wilfull

   First, though, a short description of the book itself. From the blurb on the front flap:

    “A series of macabre murders shatters the peaceful existence of an affluent lakeside community in upstate New York. … First to die is lovely Janice Rhodes, electrocuted by a floor lamp, with which someone has tampered, turning it into a lethal weapon.

    “Sally Martin, a close friend and confidante of the two Rhodes girls, is the narrator of this tense and intricate thriller. She recoils with unbelieving horror at the news of the bizarre murders of three members of the Rhodes household and then barely escapes death, herself.

    “Suspicion falls on the guardians assigned to the Rhodes girls in the unusual will left by Dr. Rhodes before he and his second wife are killed in a highway accident, and on the girls’ two suitors. For Sheroff Brandon and Private Eye Rob Cummings, it is a perplexing case.

    “For Sally Martin and the frightened community, it is a nightmare.

    “For the reader, it is a masterpiece of suspense and intrigue. It is a safe bet that even veteran devotees of the whodunnit will never guess the outcome!”

   The last paragraph reveals the author’s intent with this book. In spite of the blurb’s early emphasis on bizarre deaths, this is a whodunnit of largely a cozy nature, with a little romantic suspense added in for good measure.

   From the jacket flap inside the back cover, more on Martha Tooke Webb, who …

    “… was born in Syracuse, New York, where she attended the public schools and Syracuse University. After her marriage, she and her husband moved to Rochester, where she studied portrait painting under the late Harold Bishop. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Great Lakes Exhibition and the New York State Exhibition, as well as at local art galleries in Rochester.

    “The author and her husband now live on the beautiful Oneida Lake in central New York. She is proud of her flower garden, which abounds in many varieties of roses. …”