Sun 28 Oct 2018
Archived Review: PHOEBE ATWOOD TAYLOR – Death Lights a Candle.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[6] Comments
PHOEBE ATWOOD TAYLOR – Death Lights a Candle. Bobbs-Merrill, hardcover, 1932. Pocket Book #204. paperback, 1943. Foul Play Press, trade paperback, 1989. Norton, trade paperback, 2005.
The second appearance of Cape Cod’s most famous sleuth, Asey Mayo, is marked by a Wellfleet mansion being snowed in by a late March blizzard, with its owner found dead in the morning, of arsenic poisoning. Method: candles the wicks of which have been soaked in the stuff.
Lots of suspects, no alibis, and part of the motive is half-witted at best. The detection is rudimentary, the third quarter sags badly, and you can’t keep track of the people involved without a scorecard. What this novel does have plenty of, however, is character.
October 28th, 2018 at 11:09 pm
I remember how popular the were in the forties. Asey Mayo did it.
October 29th, 2018 at 10:07 am
Asey Mayo was definitely the character I was referring to. The Cape Cod setting didn’t hurt either.
October 28th, 2018 at 11:53 pm
I’ve tried and tried to enjoy this author’s books over the years. But have never liked one well enough to recommend it. These admittedly inoffensive books just don’t seem to be that good, in terms of mystery plot or story telling.
However, maybe I’ve just missed the Good Ones.
October 29th, 2018 at 10:12 am
I’ve not read all that many books in the series myself, but using my comments on this book to base this on, I have a feeling that you’ve been looking for something in the books that really isn’t there: solid detective plots.
On the other hand the book was fun to read, and Taylor may have improved in plotting as the series went along.
October 29th, 2018 at 6:51 pm
The Leonidas Witherall books are better, but I always had a soft spot for Asey and Atwood’s own personal Down Home Screwball school. The books vary a great deal, and some are much better than others, but overall it is a series I liked, but no, they aren’t solid detective stories, character and ‘characters’ are her meat.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:44 am
I’ve read a few Asey Mayos, and I agree with the general consensus here–very entertaining, but nothing special in terms of plotting. The exception is THE MYSTERY OF THE CAPE COD PLAYERS, which has one of the strangest, most out-of-nowhere plot twists I’ve ever encountered in a GAD novel. I think Taylor manages to pull it off, but your mileage may vary.