A STRANGE PLACE FOR MURDER
By
Most recently author of a tepid historical (The Iron Crown, 1975), Barroll now goes to Cape Cod for something between a gothic and a mystery. Lisa Thorne, a lodger from chic N.Y., finds her heart pounding (on pages 1, 8, and 9 just for a start) when the battered body of her Finnish landlady's niece is spotted underwater. Her heart pounds yet further when she fears that the murderer might be the sailing doctor she's fallen in love with. And her heart really gets going when someone starts trying to kill her--she's been making inquiries into the family history of the murdered girl, turning up another suspicious death and even some incest. One of the culprits is fairly hard to spot, but otherwise there are no surprises here--just a lot of pounding hearts, faceless characters, and mildly genial seaside atmospherics.