A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #19 - Write Me a Murder

This book introduces readers to another new author in the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series, as well as another new female sleuth.  The author, Amanda Carter, is an unknown.  I was not able to find anything at all about Carter, which is extremely surprising in today's day and age of information on the internet.  Even the copyright page for the book says the story is simply copyrighted by Kensington Pulishing Corp., which may simply mean the author's name is nothing more than a house pseudonym - in which case, the ghostwriter for the story will likely never be known.  Which is a shame, as the story itself is well plotted and a very enjoyable read!

 

Write Me a Murder introduces readers to Peg Ritter (no relation to John!), a struggling young literary agent who is desperately trying to resolve a conflict between two of her authors -  Buddy FitzWillaim, Peg's suitor who has been working hard to complete his first real stand-alone novel, and Ira Crichton, a hack who has stolen FitzWilliam's manuscript and rewrote it as his own!  FitzWilliam is more than irate, and Peg hopes she can work out a mutually agreeable resolution without the matter escalating.  The only problem is, on the day of the meeting, Peg walks into her office to find Crichton waiting for her - dead!  The plagiarist has Peg's letter opener sticking out of his chest, and in his lap lay a crossword puzzle that he had been working on.  Oddly, he had circled "down" and "4" on the page, leading Peg to wonder if it was a dying man's attempt to identify his killer - which would be bad, since the clue was "chum," and the space in the puzzle was a three-letter word beginning with "p."  And what's another word for "pal" or "chum"?  Buddy!

 

Carter crafts a wickedly good murder mystery.  Two rather gruff police officers are called to the scene, where they interrogate Peg, and ultimately bring Buddy in as their prime suspect.  But Peg is nearly sure the man who has been pursuing her for years is not a killer.  He couldn't be, right?  But if he is not the killer, then who is?   Perhaps it is Peg's mentor in the literary industry, Letitia Sayers, who also happens to be an ex-wife of Crichton's and for whom there is no love lost.  There is also Brainerd Corman, editor-in-chief at a large publishing house, who just happens to be the only other person who has seen the manuscript for FitzWilliams' unpublished novel - the plot of which seems to be being played out in real life! Perhaps it was someone from the strange political group of which Crichton was a member, as his book would have disparaged the FBI, an organization the group was dedicated to protect.  Peg is not a sleuth, but she has read enough mysteries to know that if she wants to get to the truth, she cannot rely on the police to do it for her.

 

The clues in this one are not necessarily easy to discern, but they are there for someone clever enough (and knowledgeable enough!) to pick them out.  And just for a heads-up - that crossword puzzle clue is important, but it is not at all what you think it means!  However, once it is revealed, it makes perfect sense, particularly in light of the characters.  And I have to wonder if Carter (or whoever actually wrote this book) is not poking fun at the literary world in general with this book, as her characters all have names associated with literature - "Crichton" from author Michael Crichton; "Sayers" from author Dorothy L. Sayers; "FitzWilliam" from the character Fitzwilliam Darcy in Jane Austen's novel, Pride & Prejudice; "Corman" from author Avery Corman, or perhaps even director Roger Corman.  There are also references to actual publishing houses, such as Bantam Books (p. 48).  And the name of the FBI agent, Anson Kiick - well, let's just say that name "Kiick" has some real world connections that actually do connect to the story and some very important clues to solving the crime.  In addition, the author references the film Modern Times, a Charlie Chaplin film that FitzWilliam says he watching for an article he is submitting to Filmview magazine (p. 49).  

 

Not sure who provided the cover art for this book (and it's definitely not one of the better ones - Peg Ritter does not at all look "glamorous" on the cover, as she is described on the back cover blurb), but the interior illustrations are once again provided by Sanford 'Sandy' Hoffman (1937 - 2017), who provided the internals for the 15th book in this series, Time to Kill (not to be confused with the John Grisham thriller of the same name).  Hoffman's illustrations in this book are not quite as well done as the previous book, but I do enjoy the fact that he does "box in" each illustration, and that, in some cases, the illustration itself extends beyond those borders.  His characters in these illustrations appear very stiff and two-dimensional, and the drawing where Peg is shot at (see image to the left), the young sleuth appears like she is a mannequin, with arms and legs that do not bend at all - a very unnatural pose, to say the least!

 

I was, however, happy to see the author included my home state in the story.  Peg is from Kentucky, and her father is said to have owned a garage in Shelbyville, Kentucky (p. 14), which is only about 35 miles from Louisville, where I grew up!  On top of that, there is a moment in the story where Peg begins to wonder what various literary sleuths would do if they were in her shoes: Mike Hammer, Philip Marlowe, Nero Wolf, Maigret, Poirot, and even my favorite gets a mention - Nancy Drew (pp. 104-05)!  Such a nice nod to the world of fictional detectives in a fictional story about a literary agent turned sleuth.  

 

The last thing I wish to note is the author's choice to switch points of view during the course of the story.  While most of the book is told from Peg's third-person point of view, after the shooting, the POV switches to the investigating police officers, as they inspect the roof of the building from which they believe the shot came (p. 64).  Later still, chapter 11 opens with a scene involving Detective Casey and his wife, Maureen, as he warns her to not use the family car, as he believes there may be a bomb in it (pp. 86-88).  These shifts in the POV were not at all expected, but they are not overly jarring, and they do not impede the readers' ability to sift through clues and solve the crime before they do in the story.  Shifting POVs are not common in this series, but I suppose when the moment calls for it, it is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

I truly enjoyed this book, and although the identity of the killer is not overly difficult to figure out (the motive is not necessarily that easy, though), it is still a great read.  It's a shame this is Amanda Carter's one and only entry into the series, as I would have loved to have read more adventures of Peg Ritter!

 

RATING:  10 crystal snow globe paperweights out of 10 for a wonderfully written murder mystery with some intricate twists and entertaining moments that will keep you turning page after page!