A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #34 - Death Through the Mill

It only took 11 books for Ian McMahan (writing under his pen name, Laura Colburn) to return to the world of Zebra Mystery Puzzlers.  After confronting Death in a Small World, McMahan brings back his amateur sleuth / artist Carol Gates to solve yet another murder - this time in a small town of Vermont.  I, for one, am thrilled to see the return of Carol Gates, as I rather enjoyed her first book in this series, and I was definitely not disappointed with this one - although, I did find it surprising that McMahan literally waited until about 40 pages before that sealed chapter before the murder actually took place! That does not leave much time for crime-solving - but, then again, perhaps many of the clues surrounding the mystery were already in place before the murder ever happened...

 

Death Through the Mill sends illustrator Carol Gates on a potential new assignment: illustrating a true-crime novel for Henry Marston, an author whose previous book took an unsolved murder and gave readers Marston's own solution to the crime.  His new book intends to look at several unsolved murders, not necessarily ever in the public eye, and reveal potential solutions to those horrendous killings - including one that hits very close to home.  Carol travels to Millerton, Vermont, where she learns that not everyone in this small town is thrilled with Marston's return.  There appear to be a lot of bad feelings simmering just under the surface because of what took place decades ago:  Marston's father allegedly killed John Howard's father over a land dispute; years later, Marston left town rather suddenly after a young woman with whom he was in love took off with her unborn child in tow.  There is certainly enough drama in this town to give Peyton Place a run for its money!

 

The author leads the reader through a family rivalry from the past, giving bits and pieces here and there from various members of the Millerton community, and like Carol herself, the reader must put the pieces together to figure out what really happened all those years ago.  Howard was found shot on the Marston's old mill property, the trunk of his car filled with gas cans.  Was Howard really planning to burn down the mill in order to get Marston to sell it to the land firm that was intent on building a ski resort in town?  Did Marston kill Howard to prevent him from following through with his plan?  Why did Marston refuse to sell out to the prospectors, when all the other adjacent land owners had sold out and were waiting to make their fortune off the planned resort? And why did the new land owners just suddenly walk away from the deal when Howard was killed and Marston died just months later?  And how in the world did Ellen Whittier fit into all of this?

 

A break-in at the mill seems like a simple case of an inexperienced thief looking for something of value.  But the stolen antique gun and the shattered picture frame of Ellen Whittier are bigger clues than one might first think.  Then there's an argument Carol witnesses at an auction.  And an argument at the old mill between the Marston and Howard sons.  And, of course, the rather gruesome death of Henry Marston himself - and when I saw gruesome, I mean it - described in the book as the "internal framework was gone, broken, dissolved; it had no more structure than a six-foot bag of strawberry gelatin" (p. 131).  How else would you describe the remains of a human being that was crushed after it went through the millstone?  Or, as Carol herself puts it when she calls the local sheriff, "I guess you could say he's been through the mill" (pp. 131-32).  Too soon?  (Personally, I thought it was a hilarious line!)

 

While the cover artist remains uncredited, the internal illustrations are yet again provided by the talented Sanford Hoffman.  Hoffman seems to have been doing more and more of the internals for the Zebra Mystery Puzzlers as the series progresses - perhaps the earlier titles he illustrated sold better, so the publisher decided to utilize her services more?  Whatever the reason, I have to admit, his work has rather grown on me, and I just love the fact he outlines his illustrations, with portions of the scene overflowing beyond that outline.  It gives the feeling to the reader that the action within the scene is trying to burst right off the page!  All there are clear clues in each one of the illustrations, if you simply know what you are looking for (and since I had a fairly good idea of who the killer was going to be early on, it was somewhat easy to spot the clues that pointed to him - even if I did have the wrong motive!).

 

As a fan of children's mystery series, I was surprised to see not one, but two references to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in this particular book!  The first is the obligatory name-calling, when a has-been, drunk attorney asks Carol, "Would you like to see the medal, Nancy Drew, or have you done enough for the day?" (p. 90).  The other reference is not quite as obvious, but it is definitely there.  When Carol is seeking help in setting the stage for her big revelation at the end, she says, "The old mill holds a secret, a deadly secret" (p. 175).  This is a clear reference to the third Hardy Boys book, The Secret of the Old Mill.  I mean, seriously, could it be anything else but that?

 

This book was definitely a winner, and I'm glad to know I still have one more Carol Gates' mystery before the series ends!

RATING:  10 old-fashioned wrought iron nails out of 10 for setting up a superbly plotted murder mystery with plenty of back story, plenty of suspects, and plenty of great reading!