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THE SENSATIONAL MUSIC CLUB MYSTERY by Graham Landrum

THE SENSATIONAL MUSIC CLUB MYSTERY

by Graham Landrum

Pub Date: Dec. 19th, 1994
ISBN: 0-312-11331-5
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's

Monica Taybrook Gaulton has a wealthy old husband, the proceeds from her sale of the Gaulton family furniture and silver, a mysterious past as a Las Vegas entertainer, and a bellyful of cyanide she swallowed moments before she was to serve as emcee for the Borderville (Va. and Tenn.) Music Club's annual fashion show. Efficient Music Club past president Helen Delaporte naturally suggests saving the show by putting off the inevitable call to the police until after the performance is over; but it's grand dame Harriet Gardner Bushrow (The Rotary Club Murder Mystery, 1993, etc.) who really shines by picking Monica's murderer out of a crowded field that includes paralyzed Douglas Gaulton's three nurses, a possum-like man whose blue car has one brown fender, a dozen midnight revelers, and the Gaulton relatives, who can scarcely hide their elation over Monica's death: ``Every time I asked myself who could have wanted to murder Monica,'' Harriet reports, ``I just had to say: almost anybody.'' Even dead, Monica is full of surprises: her resourcefulness in getting two different Gaulton sons to pay child support after her nonexistent pregnancy; her links to a group of New Age channelers and a nearby casino; her success in selling her rental car. But it's the unexpected testimony of her infirm—and speechless—widower that finally turns the case around. The leisurely pace and tag-team narration of Harriet and her friends work against the more obvious kinds of suspense, but Harriet is delightful as she patiently rousts the skeletons from the Gaulton closets.