Kay Cleaver Strahan

Doubleday published mysteries for many years under the "Crime Club" imprint (not to be confused with the imprint of the same name from British publisher Collins). The very first, in 1928, was The Desert Moon Mystery by Kay Cleaver Strahan. The book also offers a professional woman detective, Lynn Macdonald, who went on to star in several more mysteries by Strahan. I had never heard of Strahan or Macdonald until I started reading mystery reviews of the 1920s. Will Cuppy, mystery reviewer for the New York Herald Tribune, gave The Desert Moon Mystery]a rave review.

My first thought when I started reading was that Strahan was derivative of Mary Roberts Rinehart, since the first page has not one but two classic had-I-but-known (HIBK) sentences. I'll just quote one to give you the flavor: "More than likely the shivery, creepy sensation I felt, when Sam said that, was due to the cold he had brought in with him, and was not due to the fact that those words of his were the forerunners for all of the grim mysteries and the tragedies that made the Desert Moon Ranch, before the end of July, a place of horror." The narrator, an older woman with a dim view of the capabilities of men, also reminded me of Rinehart characters, specifically the narrator of The Circular Staircase. Fortunately I always enjoyed Rinehart so I kept reading. And I came to the conclusion that Strahan was much more careful with plotting than Rinehart, and not dependent upon people foolishly keeping secrets, as Rinehart usually was.

The mystery is set on a ranch in northeastern Nevada, 25 miles from the train station and further from anywhere else. Sam Stanley is the rancher; Mary Magin is his housekeeper and the narrator. His two adopted adult children, John and Martha, Hubert Hand the assistant ranch manager, Martha's nurse Ollie Ricker, and John's friend Chad Caufield are the ranch inhabitants. Sam's words at the start of the story are that Gabrielle and Danielle Canneziano, twin sisters whose mother was at one time Sam's wife, are coming to visit. When Gaby and Danny arrive, they bring quite a bit of turmoil with them. Gaby and Danny have very different personalities, and while John and Danny promptly fall in love, Gaby creates havoc by causing both Chad and Hubert to fall in love with her. At the same time it's obvious that Gaby and Danny have some kind of hidden agenda at Desert Moon ranch. Disaster strikes on the 4th of July.

Plotting is quite complicated, with secrets from the past being revealed. It's a talky novel, with lots of reviewing of clues. And sorry to say I did get the idea of what the solution was, perhaps because Strahan really does give the reader fair play--no clues were concealed. The unusual ranch setting was interesting. I'll be seeking out the next in the series.… (altro)