Rather Cool for Mayhem

On his return home from Europe, a World War II veteran gets an invitation to a murder in this Golden Age mystery from the Edgar Award–winning author.

Once a crack reporter/photographer team, a quarrel—and the Second World War—have kept journalists Jim Lawrence and Grace Boyd apart. Making up for lost time, the old friends head up to Grace’s Ramapo Mountain cabin after Jim returns to New York City. But their solitary weekend at Blindman’s Lake is immediately crashed by carloads of friends who have been invited for cocktails by telegrams that Grace didn’t send. Among the unexpected guests is a dead body.

The murder victim is none other than Dr. Norman, one of two men Grace considered marrying. In her circle of friends there is no shortage of suspects, for the departed doctor was known for a cruel streak a mile wide. As the party attendees are sequestered and questioned by the police at a nearby inn, Jim dusts off his journalism skills to catch a killer. The trails at Blindman’s Lake may lead straight to a murderer, but Jim must find out where they started in order to save himself and Grace from a life behind bars . . .