The Line Up

Inspector McKee #4

by Helen Reilly

There was no doubt who killed Timothy Arden, but who killed the killer?

Daisies never tell....and Daisy Arden was no exception. Only she knew the answers to some of the questions McKee was asking:

Who was Mrs. Van Sant, the unknown woman who visited Timothy Arden the day before he was killed?
Why were the four cigarettes so carefully hidden in the dead man's bedroom--especially because he didn't smoke?
What had become of the extra key to the Arden duplex?
Why was the family still terrified now that the police were holding Arden's secretary as the murderer?

McKee knew Daisy had the answers. Why wouldn't she talk?

Genres: Mystery

223 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Helen Reilly was an American novelist. She was born Helen Kieran and grew up in New York City in a literary family. Her brother, James Kieran, also wrote a mystery, and two of her daughters, Ursula Curtiss and Mary McMullen, are mystery writers.

Reilly's early books were police procedurals based on her research into the New York Homicide squad. Her most popular character is Inspector Christopher McKee. Reilly also used the pseudonym Kieran Abbey.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wealthy Timothy Arden dies in his sleep--apparently from natural causes resulting from a weak heart. But when a shabby man with a scar presents a check for $10,000 written by Arden in the name of his secretary, the bank officials get a little skittish. And their skittishness brings in Inspector McKee who heads to the Arden home to see if things are as fishy as the bank's attorney thinks they might be. He takes along his favorite physician Dr. Fernandez to give Arden the once-over. On the face of it, there's nothing to counter Arden's doctor's pronouncement. But McKee's interactions with the secretary, one George Benson, and the other members of the household set off alarm bells and he commits Fernandez to an autopsy.

McKee's instincts prove right. Arden was given a nice hefty dose of chloroform to speed his long, endless sleep. The D.A. is convinced that Benson is the culprit and greed is the motive, but McKee is sure that there is more to the murder than meets the eye. When Benson also falls prey to poisoning, he knows he's right. But the murderer is clever, covering his/her tracks well....and has already gotten away with one previous murder. Will McKee be able to find enough evidence to put a stop to the killing before more of Arden's family and friends fall victim?

The Line-Up by Helen Reilly (1934) would appear to take its title from the standard police procedure. Here, a police line-up parade serves not necessarily to identify the current murderer (although it may), but it definitely helps McKee to discover the alternate identity of one of his main suspects. That initial clue sets him on the trail that will lead straight to the clever mind behind the murderous plot. But there is also a nice line-up of suspects to sift through along the way. There's the son Eric who has creditor breathing down his neck and who could stand an early inheritance. And Eric's wife Diana--a real beauty who likes nice things and would like Eric to have more money to spend on them. And Daisy, Timothy's daughter, who happens to love a man that Daddy didn't approve of...and who seems not too bothered that Daddy isn't around to disapprove any more. Daisy's darling is Dr. Philip Lawless--not only did Timothy take exception to his attentions to Daisy, he booted Lawless out as his personal physician when he discovered his intentions. Add in Diana's mother, Daisy's godmother, and a mystery woman who visited Arden when no one else was home and McKee has his choice of culprits.

After Reilly presents us with a nicely done police procedural in which we follow McKee and company as they track down clues and make connections between the suspects, she gives us a lovely wrap-up in Golden Age style. McKee calls the group together, runs through all the evidence (pointing first here and then there), and finally springs a surprise witness or two on them. It's quite fun and when the dust settles and the villain is unmasked, we see that Reilly has also played fair with us. The clues are there for the taking...if the reader is clever enough to spot them. ★★★ and a half--verging on four. (rounded up here)

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

[Victoria Mixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, am I a total Helen Reilly convert now. I'd never heard of her before I picked this up in my local used bookstore, and the day after I started it, I went back for everything else of hers I could find. In fact, I was a little worried the ending wouldn't live up to the beginning. But it did.

Detailed, concrete, intricate--everyone's got a motive, everyone's acting freaky, even the daughter of the house whom you're told early on isn't the murderer. The solution's not a ridiculously-impossible Christie, it's perfectly plausible and you might even have suspected the murderer, although you didn't know why. My only complaint is that you're misled by authorial voice in the beginning into believing something about the murderer that isn't actually true.

Excellent mix of two mysterious plotlines, with a great "evil-smiling" sleepwalker thrown in for good measure.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason police are suspicious at the death of millionaire Timothy Arden is the check he supposedly gave his secretary the day before. Even the police doctor agreed that Arden's death was natural--until Inspector McKee insisted on an autopsy. Even then, he ran into a second line of defense prepared by a cunning and ruthless murderer, and then a third.

[Regine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably good.