
I’ve been wanting to get back to Q Patrick ever since reading Cottage Sinister earlier this year. The author collective known as Patrick Quentin, Jonathan Stagge, and Q Patrick has been a bit of a mixed bag for me, but Cottage Sinister provided a marvelous British village mystery that felt like it could have come from the pen of Agatha Christie during her better years. The problem is that these Q Patrick books are very hard to find, much less for the price range that I’m willing to pay. When I spotted a Popular Library edition of Death for Dear Clara for cheap, I snatched it up.
The story concerns Clara Van Heuten, a respected fixture of New York high society. She runs a literary advice agency, reviewing manuscripts on the behalf of fledgling authors. The story kicks off with a day in the office, and throughout the day, Clara receives seven visitors. Her “gargoyle faced” secretary (who will later turn out to be pretty once some rouge is applied) provides witness to the comings and goings, which is a fortunate piece of evidence, since Clara ends the day slumped over her desk with a knife buried in her back. The obvious solution is that the final visitor committed the crime, but it turns out that there’s a little known rear entrance to Clara’s office. Anyone could have snuck in and committed the murder.
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