Black Widow

Peter Duluth Mystery #8

by Patrick Quentin

Duluth, a Broadway producer and amateur detective, is baffled when his wife, Iris, discovers the body of Nanny Ordway, an aspiring writer he had recently befriended.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction

186 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge were pen names under which Hugh Callingham Wheeler (19 March 1912 – 26 July 1987), Richard Wilson Webb (August 1901 – December 1966), Martha Mott Kelley (30 April 1906–2005) and Mary Louise White Aswell (3 June 1902 – 24 December 1984) wrote detective fiction. In some foreign countries their books have been published under the variant Quentin Patrick. Most of the stories were written by Webb and Wheeler in collaboration, or by Wheeler alone. Their most famous creation is the amateur sleuth Peter Duluth. In 1963, the story collection The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow was given a Special Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

AKA:
Πάτρικ Κουέντιν (Greek)

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read many years ago, perhaps more than once, this classic novel of paranoia, gaslighting and what John Clute, when he and I were doing The Encyclopedia of Fantasy together, christened godgaming -- the process whereby a usually malicious person or group persuades another or others that a fictitious reality is what's actually going on. (The godgaming type-novel is John Fowles's The Magus.) More recently, in 2014, I watched Nunnally Johnson's screen adaptation of it, Black Widow (1954), with the splendid Van Heflin as Peter, Ginger Rogers as Lottie, Gene Tierney impeccably cast as Iris and Peggy Ann Garner as Nanny Ordway.

Broadway producer Peter Duluth's actress wife Iris is out of town for a while visiting her ailing mother. Peter is induced to go to a party held by their overweening upstairs neighbors, belle dame actress Lottie Marin and her subjugated husband Brian. There he meets Nanny Ordway, a young wannabe writer who seems like a fish out of water. Because he's lonely and she's broke and hungry, he takes her out for a burger. They see each other a few more times, always strictly platonically, and finally he lends her the key to the Duluth apartment so she can write there during the day, while he's out, rather than try to do so in the dumpy Greenwich Village bedsit she shares with another girl.

It never dawns on him that others might regard his friendship with Nanny rather differently until, on Iris's return, they go back to the apartment from the airport to find Nanny dangling from the chandelier in the master bedroom, having apparently hanged herself. Even then Peter doesn't really recognize the hazard of his situation until it's revealed that Nanny was both pregnant and murdered. Furthermore, everyone heard from Nanny's own lips that she was engaged in a passionate affair with Peter . . .

In a way it's a pity that whoever of the various partnerships who used the rubric "Patrick Quentin" chose to employ the series character Peter Duluth in the main role rather than making this a standalone, because there are times when it seems absolutely pellucid that, despite his innocence, Peter has no escape from the predicament that has so deftly been stitched around him -- that he's destined for the Big House or more likely the chair. Or perhaps it'll prove to be the case that he's been lying through his teeth to us, his readers? Of course, we know that neither of those can be the outcome because there are other Peter Duluth novels to come.

(He might lose Iris, though, as he almost did in A Puzzle for Fools, so there's at least that level of uncertainty left.)

In the end everything's neatly worked out, as we knew it would be, with Peter solving the bulk of the mystery himself only to discover that the NYPD's Inspector Trant, whom he's been regarding as a foe, has not only gotten there before him but also worked out the real truth, which is somewhat beyond the explanation that Peter achieved.

So far I haven't come across a Patrick Quentin novel that doesn't stand up well under rereading or, if being read afresh, hasn't stood up well to the passage of time. The social attitudes in the books are, too, often surprisingly open for their day; in Black Widow, for example, the most intelligent and likable of the witnesses whom Peter interviews is a hatcheck girl/waitress, Anne, about whom he reflects that it's purely because of the color of her skin that her existence is relatively so humble -- a pleasingly human reaction in 1952 America, where the lynch mobs were still active.

I also liked the openness about sexuality. To be plain, there's nothing remotely raunchy in the book, yet at the same time it's manifest that intimacy plays an important role in Peter and Iris's marriage, that extramarital sex is commonplace in their milieu, and that adultery, while frowned upon, is not necessarily some sort of precipice from which there's no retreat -- that it may even be, on rare occasion, morally acceptable. (I can't go further into this issue for fear of spoilers.)

What also remains undated is the Patrick Quentin narrative style, which remained remarkably unchanged from one novel to the next despite any changes of writing personnel. Always completely under control, it has a kind of coolness of tone, a sense of objectivity that makes what are often the most dramatic of actions and emotional turbulences all the more affecting. Here I was completely involved in Peter's emotional helterskelter as the noose seemed to be tightening around his neck, while also sympathizing fully with his plight: like I assume most of us, I've been in situations where outsiders have irritatingly misconstrued friendships as something else. Thank my lucky stars I've never encountered a Nanny Ordway in such circumstances, though!

Because it's so very smoothly and elegantly written, and because it's so engrossing, Black Widow, a short novel by today's standards, is a remarkably quick read. In case you haven't guessed, I think it's spiffy.

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick, Quentin Patrick and Jonathan Stagge were pen names under which Hugh Callingham Wheeler, Richard Wilson Webb, Martha Mott Kelley and Mary Louise White Aswell wrote detective fiction. Their books were extremely popular during the 1940-50s but have fallen out of favor and are rather hard to find. I found this one at a library book sale and grabbed it. This story stars a continuing character in their oeuvre, Peter Duluth, a Broadway producer and amateur sleuth.

Duluth's wife in out of town and he makes the acquaintance of a plain but interesting girl who he takes to dinner. They meet a few more times and when she tells him she is a writer, he lets her use his apartment during the day to work on her book. It is all very innocent, or so Duluth thinks. Things get a little dicey when Duluth brings his wife home from the airport and they find the girl dead and hanging from a chandelier in their apartment. Of course, Duluth is the prime suspect since it is not suicide but homicide and he starts investigating the girl's background to try to make some sense of what has happened before he is arrested.

This is a short book (186 pages) so it moves right along. It reminds me of the old radio programs that used to fascinate the public before television came along....crisp and to the point. I knew who the killer was about 1/3 of the way into the story. It is nothing special but good for a quick read.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plan was to read Black Widow by Patrick Quentin (pseudonym for a collaboration between Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Wheeler) written in 1952 and follow it up with a viewing of the 1954 film starring Van Heflin, Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, and George Raft. I mentioned in 2010 that I wasn't sure that the Peter Duluth novels were quite my cup of tea when I highlighted A Puzzle for Fools by Quentin for an A-Z blogging meme. I'm now pretty sure that the Duluth novels aren't my cup of tea...and neither was the film--despite the quite lovely cast in this classic noir piece. Either that or I'm just not reading/watching the stories at the right time. I may have to give it another go sometime in the future. As it is, I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. I read half and then skimmed the rest just so I could say it was done and to see what happened.

Anyway...here's the outline: Peter Duluth, director and former alcoholic, is left on his own when his beloved wife Iris leaves home to care for her ill mother. Their upstairs neighbors take Duluth under their wing and invite him to a party that he really doesn't want to attend. He shouldn't have. There, he meets a young woman who is a struggling writer and he enters into a strange friendship with her that results in her using his apartment as a place to write while he is away at the office trying to put together the next great play. He takes her for an innocent in the big city of New York and wants to help her out.

When his wife is set to return home, Duluth collects her from the airport and they return to their apartment to find Nanny Ordway, the young writer, has apparently committed suicide in their bedroom. Circumstantial evidence begins piling up, we discover that Ordway was pregnant, and witnesses come forward that paint a rather black picture for Duluth....the police go from thinking suicide to thinking that the role of murderer just might fit the director. Nanny Ordway definitely was not as innocent as she appeared and someone is guilty of her murder. But will Duluth be able to prove it wasn't him?

And somehow this plot just didn't do a whole lot for me. I found myself having a hard time believing that Duluth, who has supposedly been around the block a few times, would enter into the weird friendship with a young woman that he keeps telling us he doesn't enjoy being with. Oh, wait...he does. No, actually, he doesn't. Wait...changed his mind again. And the way he's sucked into the circumstances that make it look like he might be a murderer....well, that just seemed to me to be straight out of the Had I But Known school. If he had just thought for a few minutes how his behavior might look to an observer.....he might never have taken Miss Ordway out for hamburgers after that party.

The tightening net of circumstantial evidence was, I'm sure, supposed to create all sorts of dramatic tension. But, honestly, I didn't much care...and, knowing that there was another Duluth story written after Black Widow, I knew that he would manage to be proved innocent in the long run. The best part of the story for me? The dialogue...I do appreciate the Quentin team's way with the spoken interactions between the characters.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Laura K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great classic thriller. I would like to see the movie that was made from this book. I couldn't put this down!

[Filip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Patrick Quentin's book that I've read and it seems all of his books are equally enjoyable. While it definitely isn't a classic whodunnit it still makes a good detective/mystery story. While the plot isn't very original, it is presenting in a very entertaining way and all of the characters are really nice. It also did evoke some emotions from me, which is a big plus. Annoyance, anger, disappointment and the wonderful heartwarming feeling at the end.

If I manage to get more books of this "author" I'll definitely read them.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poslední knížka z Dulluthovské série (dobře, ve skutečnosti předposlední, ale já ji jako poslední četl). A ne, není to „to nejlepší na konec“. Tohle je spíš taková Quentinovská klasika na téma muž v osidlech. V mnohých příbězích autor zkoušel něco nového, tady sází na klasiku. Manželka Petera Duluthe je pryč a on se na večírku seznámí s mladou sympatickou dívkou. A začne se s ní občas scházet. Ve vší slušnosti, samozřejmě. Dokonce ji půjčí byt, aby tam mohla psát. Všechno v pohodě… až ji jednou najde ve svém bytě oběšenou. A začne zjišťovat, že se všeobecně ví že spolu měli poměr.
A samozřejmě, policie brzy začne podezřívat, že její smrt nebyla sebevražda.

Příběh je celkem klasika, ani vyústění není zrovna šokující, ale uvědomil jsem si, že jedna ze zbraní Patricka Quentina je to, že jak píše lehce a i svět, ve kterém se příběhy odehrávají, je takový idylický, jeho narušení násilím a podezřením působí o to silněji. Stačí strašně málo, aby se vyvolal pocit ohrožení a rozpadu. A to přitom moc netlačí… dokáže vyvolat stejné pocity, ke kterým byste dneska potřebovali veřejné lynčování.

[Midge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book I found in my parents' bookcase... It's a pretty straightforward mystery published in 1952. From the book intro:

How can an attractive man convince his wife -- and the police -- that a young woman found in incriminating circumstances in his apartment was "just a friend"? That was the problem confronting theatrical producer Peter Duluth.
It would never have happened if his wife Iris, whom he adored, had not been away. Even so, Peter Duluth's motive for paying any attention to the lonely girl at the party was simply kindness, touched with male vanity. She looked so dowdy, so forlorn, and she responded with such touching humility. It flattered Peter to help her a little.
It was all so innocent. Yet Peter was caught in a web of evil, in a labyrinth from which there seemed no escape, where every new turn brought fresh danger.

An easy read. Of course, all the evidence points to Duluth. And I really didn't know who killed Nanny until the book end.

[Dawn Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to check this book because I happened to come a cross a Readers Digest Condensed Book from Spring 1953 that included it. It was a quick read. There is a strong sense of the time in which it was set, the early Fifties, which I enjoyed. It was a page turner. Until I posted here, I had no idea that it was one of a series. I might have to check out some more of them. As mentioned above, I did read a condensed version of the book.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Duluth's wife is away and he lets a woman use his apartment to write a book. She gets murdered.