Oldies But Goodies

Mary, the owner of the apartment, is in the country trying to get over the defection of her heretofore pliable husband, Homer, who has apparently run away with the next door neighbor, Betty. Both Betty's and Homer's spouses are sure this can't be happening, but Betty and Homer are both missing, and then the dead bodies start to turn up. One of them is wrapped in some fabric Mary had bought for curtains for her country house - this somehow morphs into a discussion about the suitability of the color of the curtains - and this is the tone of the novel. There may be bodies scattered around, but they're not too upsetting, and they certainly throw off neither the characters appetites nor their senses of humor. Mary can only be soothed by constant and extreme cleaning - when Eugenia suggests that Mary find a shabby chair for a policeman to sleep in, Mary says that of course has no shabby chair. None of this is done in any heavy handed way, it's all rather light and quick, and sometimes it's only in thinking about it later that it gives you a smile.

The mystery itself is suitably complicated and a little silly - I was sorry when I finished the book, was glad I had read it, and look forward very much to reading another. The cleaning mania of Mary Fredon will live on in my brain for a long, long time - especially when I see the cute little dust bunnies accumulate all over my own house.