A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #33 - Who's Next?

This thirty-third entry into the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series is the second book authored by Joan Allan, whose true identity remains a secret (although there is a clear connection with author Martin A. Grove, who wrote a number of books in this series under the pseudonym "Marjorie Grove").  While the first book by Allan, Who Killed Me?, has a dedication to "Marjorie, Martin and Geoffrey Eric Grove," this book has a dedication to Marjorie and Geoffrey - with Martin noticeably missing!  Once again, this begs the question as to whether "Joan Allan" is just another pseudonym for Grove himself.  In any event, this book sees the return of advertising executive Valerie Lambert, who must play amateur sleuth once again when faced with an ever-growing pile of dead bodies!

 

Who's Next? takes Valerie and her assistant, Oscar Fryman (known simply as "Fry"), to Paris, France, where they are to meet with the owner of her agency's latest client, Abbe-Roi, a vineyard famous for its champagne that is hoping to break into the American market.  Joining Val and Fry for the trip is wine expert Franklin Hertford, an Englishman who has agreed to offer his expertise to assist Val in coming up with a campaign for Abbe-Roi.  While there for the weekend, the trio are staying with their host at a rather lavish - and, coincidentally, very isolated - chateau that once belonged to the original owner of the land - Pierre Alexandre Saulnier, who was brutally murdered on the property and who is said to still haunt the halls of the somewhat worn down homestead.  No one believes in ghosts, of course, but for Val, it does set the mood for what is about to be a terrifying weekend!

 

Allan eases readers into the story, with 60 pages of build-up as Val and Fry first meet Hertford, and the three travel more than a couple of hours by limousine to the chateau.  They are welcomed and introduced to their hosts, Henri-Robert Verlaine and his wife, Claudine.  At the lavish wine-tasting being held down in the wine cellar, Val and Fry also meet the other guests for the weekend:  Michael Rochambeau, the vineyard's chef de caves; Edouard Cherbourg, the vineyard's advertising director; Nicole Courteline, who is Edouard's secretary; Roger Saint-Benoit, head of sales for the vineyard; and Alexandre Saulnier-Carpeaux, descendant of the original owner of the chateau.  Of course, there is also Gerard (the butler), Caroline (the maid), and Alain (the cook).  With the cast fully introduced, Allan wastes no time at that point getting to the murder we've all been waiting to happen.

 

Rochambeau is the first to be killed, before the wine tasting can even get off to a good start.  With everyone there in the room, it's next to impossible to figure out who the killer is.  Then Cherbourg's secretary is killed rather gruesomely, with a mess left behind (hint: this is the scene from the cover of the book).  After that, Saint-Benoit literally has his brains beaten out of his skull, making him victim number three.  Before the night is even over, Hertford is nearly killed, saved only by the fortunate turn of his head at the most opportune moment!  One of the survivors of the group disappears, leaving everyone else to wonder if perhaps this points to the guilt of that person - but that suspicion comes into question when two more dead bodies turn up, bashed in their heads by a heavy tree branch (with a rather horrific image of those bodies depicted in one of the internal illustrations, page 171!).  With everyone being picked off so quickly, over the span of one evening, it leaves Val and Fry wondering - who's next?  (Hence, the book title!  In fact, the author asks this question three times in the story:  pages 82, 108, and 143.)

 

I was actually rather surprised by the rather explicit descriptions of the bloody deaths.  "Roger Saint-Benoit's skull had been cracked open ... The sight of his brains splattered among the bedclothes was sickening..." (p. 103).  The last two victims "had been bludgeoned to death ... and now lay in a shallow pool of blood that trickled directly across the narrow trail" (p. 165).  This is a murder mystery, so I would certainly expect some description of the crime scene; but I believe this is the most horrific descriptions I have seen to date in any book in this series.  And the illustration on page 171, with those last two victims - definitely not for the faint of heart!

 

Speaking of illustrations,  Sanford Hoffman once again provides the internal illustrations, and interestingly enough, three of the six internals are horizontal, rather than vertical.  Normally, we might see one or two in this way, but to see half of them depicted in this form is a bit unusual.  What is not unusual is the framing around the illustrations, since that seems to be a standard for Hoffman in this series, which, to be honest, I rather like.  Especially when he has part of the illustration extend beyond that frame (as he does with that gruesome scene on page 171).  The clues in the illustrations are not obvious at all, except maybe for the one on page 151, which becomes extremely clear once you know the identity of the killer.

 

There was a part of me, as I was reading the story, that was hoping this would all turn out to be some elaborate hoax, such as the film April Fool's Day (1986), and in the end, it would turn out no one was dead, but it was all staged just to test the analytical and detecting skills of the guests.  But, alas, it was not.  Instead,we got a replay of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, in which ten individuals at a secluded estate suddenly find themselves being picked off one by one (with the only obvious difference being not everyone dies in this tale!).

 

There are a few things worth pointing out about this book.  Published in October 1979, I was surprised to see a reference to Star Wars (p. 14).  Yes, the movie had been out for two years at this point, but normally I would not expect a pop cultural reference like this to appear so soon.  The author also throws in a number of real newspaper columnists, such as Dorothy Kilgallen and Louis Sobel from the New York Journal-American; Frank Farrell from the World Telegram; Earl Wilson and Leonard Lyons from the New York Post; and Walter Winchell from the New York Daily Mirror (p. 44).  These came up as Val revealed her original dream of becoming a columnist, before changing direction and working in advertising.

 

9 shattered bottles of champagne out of 10 for piling up the bodies, subtly laying out the clues, and providing readers with a creative climax to the story!