PATRICIA MOYES – Black Widower. Henry Holt & Co., US, hardcover, 1975. Penguin, US, paperback, 1977. Owl / Holt Rinehart Winston, US, paperback, 1985. First published in the UK by Collins, hardcover, 1975.

   When the racy Lady Ironmonger, wife of the new Tampican ambassador to the United States, promises to become a distinct political liability to her husband’s career, it occurs to someone that murder can sometimes become a necessity. It’s a long way to Scotland Yard from the Georgetown section of this nation’s capital, but since Tampica is a newly independent British colony, the few minutes of delicate diplomatic maneuvering that it takes to get Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett involved are easily managed.

   A deal for a U.S. naval base on the island turns out to be quite important, and with the scene jumping back and forth between Washington in springtime and the breath-taking vistas of the Caribbean, one looks forward with anticipation to the eventual unraveling of all the little secrets that the staff of a minor embassy can possess.

   However. Moyes seems to be greatly out of her depth working with a motive depending so greatly on high finance and international politics. The feeling is overwhelming that she’d feel much more at home with the domestic malice of the “body in the library” sort of tale. Some characters, never well defined, remain murky to the end, and with such an obvious clue as to the killer’s identity, I can only say I wasn’t overly impressed.

Rating:   C plus.