MURDER IN THE EAST ROOM

Yet another of the late author's posthumous novels, this one set in 1940 toward the end of FDR's second term, with France about to fall to Hitler's armies and isolationist forces in the US opposing every move to help Britain. These weighty matters serve as backdrop here to the murder of handsome, womanizing Senator Vance Gibson while attending a state dinner at the White House. Eleanor Roosevelt joins forces with Police Captain Kennelly and Secret Service agent Baines, her old allies in investigation (Murder in the West Wing, 1992, etc.), to ferret out the Senator's tangled private life. Married to amiable, overweight heiress Amelia McCabe- -and carrying on simultaneous affairs with elegant, married Constance Harrison, beautiful debutante Joanne Winthrop, and struggling law student Laura Mason—the Senator still had time to make powerful enemies in the insurance industry with a bill he was pushing toward passage. Attempted blackmail and a spot of arson further complicate events—until Mrs. Roosevelt gathers those involved to thrash out motive and method, and to garner a killer. Much the same mix as before, enlivened by its domestic and historical detail and a parade of celebrated figures of the era- -from J. Edgar Hoover to Greta Garbo. Easy to take and steadily entertaining.