In New York, Debutante Kitty Jocelyn is found dead one morning, in a snow bank, killed by heat stroke. But how is that possible when she was seen at her own party until early in the morning and has not been reported missing, and in winter. Assistant Chief Inspector Patrick Foyle investigates with the help of psychologist Dr. Basil Willing.
An entertaining well-written golden age mystery. A good start to a new series with a likeable main character.
Originally written in 1938.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

The discovery of a debutante's body in a snowdrift is the starting point of this "puzzle" murder mystery set in the 1930's New York City. Kitty Jocelyn was the centre of attention at an extravagant "coming out" dance at a family mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The evening of the dance she suddenly takes ill and, in her place, a look-alike cousin plays the role of debutante. This ruse complicates the identification of the body for both the police, and the reader: who is dead -- the debutante, or her cousin?
The resulting investigation takes place in a high society setting involving the New York City Police Commissioner, the District Attorney as well as the city police, led by Inspector Foyle. A psychiatrist Dr. Basil Willing participates too, as an ally of the District Attorney, and plays the role of the semi-professional detective providing psychiatric advice. This is the first of several mysteries by the author in which Dr. Willing plays this role.

It's a cleverly plotted whodunit, with several plot twists and numerous red herrings to divert attention. There's plenty of scientific and psychiatric information too. It's a tossup whether this is meant to misdirect readers, or to educate them. Regardless, it provides some tedious reading.

The cast of characters (and suspects) includes several exotic mysterious people: a shady East European businessman, a swarmy South American artist/gigolo, Kitty's wealthy uncle and several incidental hangers on. The story moves along briskly for the most part (there's bit of a sag towards the middle of the story). In due course, Dr. Willing unveils the identity of the killer and there's a flurry of activity to prevent another murder. It's a plausible resolution of the puzzle and results in a satisfying conclusion.

It's an entertaining mystery story, with no gore or violence. Recommended for fans of sophisticated cozy mysteries. This edition includes an excerpt from "The Man in the Moonlight", another Dr. Willing mystery story.

I received a complementary advance reading copy of this eBook from Agora Books via Netgalley. Opinions expressed here are entirely my own. ( )

Though I have always been a fan of Golden Age crime novels I had not heard of this author before a pre-publication copy was offered to me by Agora Books through Netgalley.

Dance of Death introduced a novel type of “detective” in the person of Dr Basil Willing, a psychiatrist attached to the District Attorney’s office. He believes that it is possible to solve a crime by looking for psychological evidence, a theory that is derided by his friend, Assistant Chief Inspector Foyle.

The death that begins the book is that of an unidentified young woman found dead in the street under a deep covering of snow. Impossibly, her body is not frozen, but hot.

There is a richly varied cast of characters, none of whom are as they first appear, and it is entertaining to see the frustrations of the official detective, constrained by law and the political and social aspirations of his Commissioner, contrasted with the cool flouting of the rules that Dr Willing allows himself.

I very much enjoyed the writing style and the inventive plot of Dance of Death and look forward to reading more by Helen McCloy.

I was tempted to deduct a star for the typos (really, OCR errors) but they are not the fault of the author, and were not numerous enough to interfere with my enjoyment. ( )