MURDER IN THE WEST WING

One more of Elliott Roosevelt's posthumously published novels centered on his able mother Eleanor's role as detective. It's 1936, nearing the end of FDR's first term, and Paul Duroc, a White House special assistant, has died of cyanide poisoning. Circumstances point inexorably to the guilt of purchasing agent Terry Roland, but Eleanor believes she's innocent and teams up with Special Agent Stan Szczygiel and D.C. Police Lieutenant Ed Kennelly (Murder in the Red Room, p. 574, etc.) to find the true culprit. Before it's all over, they've uncovered several hidden identities and relationships, plus a network of theft, blackmail, and worse involving the powerful reach of the late Huey Long. The plot has its incoherent moments but remains steadily interesting, as does the White House background with its parade of names and events barely remembered but headline news of the day. The most compelling so far of this fact-and-fiction series.