Rachel Buckmaster returns to her small midwestern hometown, Coreyville, from Chicago when her brother, Hartley, calls to tell her that Rose Henshaw, the housekeeper who had lived with them for decades, has died from a fall on the stairs to the cellar. They both hated the housekeeper and their father, now deceased, insisted that she could live in their house until her death. Now they can sell the house and use the money to pay for Hartley's college education. The death is initially considered an accident, but the housekeeper's sister won't accept this. Eventually Hartley is arrested for the murder of the housekeeper.
The story focuses as much on the relationship of two families in Coreyville as on the crime and the investigation. Bix Bovard, a 16-year-old girl, and her father and mother live near the Buckmasters. Hugh Bovard, the local newspaper editor, was a close friend of the Buckmaster's father. His wife, Althea, has never recovered from the death of their son, years earlier. Bix and Hartley are very close and spend a lot of time together. The story has a dark ending, but it is not a depressing story.
My thoughts:
This was Jean Potts' first novel, and she was awarded the Best First Novel Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America for it. It is the only one of her books that I have read so far, but I will be reading more of them.
The characterization was exceptional. It was the younger female characters who pursued the search for the real murderer, Rachel and her young neighbor Bix. Bix is clearly the person most upset by Hartley's arrest.
There is a romance between Rachel and the doctor who took over her father's medical practice, which I would usually consider a distraction. But I liked the way it was handled. Neither of the characters will admit to themselves that there is any attraction between them.
The author was successful at convincing me that anyone could be guilty of the crime. On the other hand, I had pretty much eliminated the person who did it, and was totally surprised at the ending. It was shocking and very well done.
Because two characters use the phrase "go, lovely rose" when talking about the victim, I looked into the source of the title. I assume it was based on Edmund Waller's poem of the same name.
The first few lines are:
Go, lovely rose!
Tell her that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.
John Norris wrote the introduction to the Stark House reprint edition, which also included The Evil Wish, first published in 1962. In fact, my biggest motive for buying the Stark House edition of the book was for John's introduction.
This is the second book I read for the 1954 Club, hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings.
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Publisher: Stark House, 2019 (orig. publ. 1954)
Length: 152 pages
Format: Trade paperback
Setting: Midwestern small town, US
Genre: Mystery
Source: On my TBR piles since 2019.
