Something Blue

by Charlotte Armstrong

Something Blue

In a whirlwind courtship Nan Padgett was swept off her feet by Richardson Bartee, and they planned their life together amidst the peaceful vineyards of his family estate in Southern California...until the transatlantic phone call telling Nan that she must not go ahead with her plans for the wedding. After that came the mysterious bequest with the condition that her marriage to Bartee never take place. Like an ominous cloud obscuring the sun something in her fiance's past was a threat to Nan's future. Did the man she loved live only in her imagination or was he the instrument of a sinister vengeance?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Classics, Gothic, Novels

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Full name Charlotte Armstrong Lewi. Wrote 29 novels, plus short stories and plays under the name Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine. Additional writing jobs: New York Times (advertising department), Breath of the Avenue (fashion reporter).

Reviews

[Sarah Joint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a bit too old-school for me to enjoy. I didn't connect with any of the characters and kept getting confused on who was who, was left a bit unsatisfied with the ending. There were also a few plot holes that bothered me, and the female characters are written quite ditzy. I guess it was the 50's, but I'm a modern reader! It's a quick read, so might be worth a shot if you're in the right mood. Old house, old money, older secrets. It all takes place over a very short amount of time, when a young woman named Nan announces her engagement to a man named Richardson Bartee. They've had a whirlwind romance, but are still surprised when Nan's aunt, who has cared for her most of her life, is dismayed by the news. She tells Nan that under no circumstances is she to follow through with the marriage, but no one knows why! Her friend Johnny Simms knows that dear Aunt Emily must have her reason, and is determined to find out why she's so against the marriage before Nan and Richardson are tied together forever.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book from this author, I expect to find a lot of twists and turns. This book did not disappoint me. Nan Padgett plans to married Richardson Bartee in spite of the displeasure of her elderly aunt, Emily. Before her suspicious death, Aunt Emily told Johnny Simms, a boyhood friend that seventeen years ago Nan's Mother was murdered. Her father was convicted of killing her. Emily felt Richardson Bartee was the killer. She took the baby and changed the names so Nan would never know her past. She asks Johnny to look into the case and she if he can find clues to what happened. Johnny must decide if Nan is to be told to prevent the marriage. Johnny must solve the mystery before the marriage or Nan might join her Mother. I recommend this book.

Disclosure: I received a free copy from Open Roads Integrated Media for an honest review. I would like to thank them for this opportunity to read and review the book. The opinions expressed are my own.

[Peacha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this the other day for a quarter , read it the same night. Don’t be deceived by the cover , it’s not really a gothic more a tense mystery in the vein of Mary Roberts Rhinehart. The plot follows a hero rather than the dingbat heroine as he races against the clock to prove that her finance is really a crazed killer who wants to bump her off as soon as they’re married for her secret upcoming inheritance. Whew. That’s a load of information. But that’s not the half of it - secret pasts unravel, double and triple names exposed all with the heroine linked up to a family you’d need a chart to keep track of. I’m still not clear on the role that two pearl and diamond pins play in the past murder or how the hero winds up solving it. Just skip over this with a hmm interesting , and pretend you got it. Not nearly as picturesque as most gothics instead it’s appeal lies in it’s crisp tension. However two thirds of the way through our heroine Nan became so obnoxious , I wanted to shout at the hero oh just let the dingbat get strangled and marry her sister already! Pretty good - the next day I bought another Charlotte Armstrong!

[Carolyn Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

For suspense I love the books of Charlotte Armstrong. This one was published at the beginning of 1959, so it's of its period. Somehow I find suspense books of this era more enjoyable than current ones. Maybe they're less creepy or horrifying? Maybe it's because there are definite good guys and bad guys as well as some you're never sure about? I find it hard to say. But Armstrong always gets you involved right off, keeps the pace up, and you know who to root for. There are decent people and scoundrels and those who are merely self interested. The male protagonist in this, John Sims, is a twenty-eight-year-old graduate student and researcher who grew up as a neighbor in San Francisco to Nan and Dorothy Padgett and had squired Nan around to dances and outings as a dependable date. Dorothy, on the other hand, was a stunner and never had a lack of beaux. Nan was shy and not sure of herself, and at twenty, quite a bit younger than Johnny. Back home for the summer, Johnny is surprised to learn that Nan is engaged to Dick (Richardson) Bartee after a two month courtship and is on cloud nine. Dick Bartee is tall and handsome and his family owns a vineyard. Dorothy (Dotty) is worried about such a quick engagement, and Aunt Emily who had raised the two cousins after their parents' deaths in a car crash is traveling abroad. When they reach her by phone to tell her of the engagement, she says that Nan must not marry that man and she is coming straight home from Paris. Nan is upset, obviously. Aunt Emily arrives home but is ill and is taken to the hospital and confides in Johnny why Nan must not marry the man, but swears him to secrecy. It turns out all their names have been changed and Nan's father is in San Quentin for murdering her mother. Emily never believed her brother was guilty of the crime and was convinced that the real murderer was Dick Bartee, a fifteen-year-old at the time, who now is Nan's thirty-two-year-old fiance. Also, Nan, unknown to herself or Dorothy, is an heiress from a grandfather's legacy. But apparently this Dick Bartee, though no blood relation, is part of Nan's family, and has found out about her wealth which she'll inherit when she's twenty-one or her aunt dies. Emily had told John that her brother, Nan's father who is in jail, must decide whether to reveal to Nan the truth as he believes it, but he equivocates. John isn't even sure that her father, the convicted murderer, can be trusted. Aunt Emily dies suddenly in the hospital, and Dick is urging Nan to get married immediately and brings her to his home at the Bartee vineyard. Johnny has to stop the wedding but can find no evidence of Dick's guilt in the murder. He and Dorothy join forces as they go to the Bartee estate and try to find the truth of the past and convince Nan of the danger. Yet John who knows the truth according to Aunt Emily and the family lawyer can't confide it all to Dorothy and doesn't want to totally crush little Nan's new found pride if he can help it. Nan, oblivious to her real identity, is intent upon marrying Dick that very week and thinks Johnny is just being mean and jealous. Can John stop the wedding without divulging the secrets of her family's past? The tension builds until a final explosion on the wedding day, because Dick Bartee has already murdered twice and lets nothing get in his way.

Armstrong's novels of suspense are always rather quirky, which adds to the interest for me. The omniscient point of view skips around and can be disjointed. The mysteries hinge on weird details. Here, there are two identical jewelry pins that play a part of the evidence of who the original murderer was, a confusing scenario. Then there are blue ceanothus petals that are a clue to a second murder. It was a bit difficult to follow, as were all the convoluted inter-relationships of the Bartee family. Armstrong doesn't do a lot of explaining, keeping the suspense taut, but if you pay close attention and keep up (reading at one sitting helps), you can follow along. There are some things that aren't really explained. (For example, what happened to Dorothy's parents - were they the ones who died in a car wreck? And when did John, a student and a teacher, find time to work for the investigative writer Roderick Grimes, who gives him a convenient excuse to be investigating an old murder? And there's a confusing conversation with a witness at a bar when John gives away that he knows where the stranger went to school, but the guy doesn't wonder how he knew.) There seemed to be little editing. The final confrontation with the murderer is a bit far-fetched, but I went along with it, and it ended quickly. Though abrupt, the ending was satisfying.

The 1959 gender roles are obvious here, with John being the protector and lead investigator. But Nan and Dorothy were raised by a single woman who supported herself by writing stories, and they both worked in clerical jobs. And while Nan was a dreamy romantic in need of rescuing, Dorothy was savvy and intuitive and quickly put two and two together.

This isn't Armstrong's best, and is more of a three and a half star read than a four, but I rounded up for the sheer pleasure of the immersive storytelling and the likeability of the main character.

As for this Kindle edition, unfortunately there are lots of typos, which may have been from the original paperback. Annoying, but I'm glad to have her books available and inexpensive.

[Evelyn Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great suspense story from this author

This book is from the 1950s – – and the pace may be a little slow for some readers, but it is a relationship suspense story and you will love it. Just get past the first chapter which can feel a little slow going. Yet another wonderful book from Charlotte Armstrong

[Virginia Kessen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a who-done-it but a how-will-they-catch-him. About half-way through I thought about skipping to the end but Ms. Armstrong's writing is compelling enough that I kept reading and I'm glad I did. Not fast-paced but not overly long. It took just the right amount of attention for me for these strange days we're in.

[Jeffrey Marks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Armstrong is one of my favorite authors, and this books does not disappoint. It's not her best and a tad melodramatic, but it has you guessing until the let moment.

[Debra Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book cost 60 cents years ago and the setting is the wine country of California near where I lived for a quarter of a century of my life. Mystery, suspense and romance is all there!

[Angel Hatfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nan had her arm around Johnny as he came up the stairs. Dorothy/Dot asked Johnny how college had been. Dot was Nan’s cousin. Nan then told Johnny she was in love and engaged to be married to Richardson Bartee. Nan called her aunt Emily in Paris to tell her and as soon as Emily heard the name she told Nan not to get married that Emily was flying home . Emily and Dorothy were the only family Nan had. Both Nan’s and Dorothy’s parents had died in a car accident together. Emily had raised the girls and Emily wrote short stories for a living and worked from home. When Nan was younger there had been a school dance and Nan didn’t have a date so Johnny’s mom had talked him into taking Nan and he was there for her in every way he could be since. Nan was the shy and sensitive one while Dot was the more outgoing and very popular one of the two girls. Emily Had changed her and the girl’s names as in reality Nan’s father was in prison for the murder of her mother but Clinton- her dad was innocent and Richardson Bartee had killed Nan’s mom when he was fifteen years old. Then while on the plane Nan’s aunt Emily had heart problems and was taken right to the hospital. Emily then leaves a message that she needed to see Johnny and told him the whole story and made him promise to see her brother Clinton. Later that evening Richardson came to the hospital and killed Emily. Then when Johnny does go to see Clinton he finds out Nan has a lot of money coming to her. Old man Bartee had been sending money to Emily for Nan since her mother’s death. Johnny was asked to find out if he could if Richardson did or didn’t kill Nan's mom.
Excellent story I loved this. It kept me interested all the way through the story until the last page. I loved how Emily sacrificed for her two nieces even giving up her trip around the world to rush home. I was kinda disappointed in Nan how she was turning her back on everyone she had known most of her life for a man she hadn’t known very long and how she could be cruel to them as well. She was suppose to be the sensitive one and in parts acted the spoiled little brat but got past that and kinda understood she had been swept off her feet. I did feel bad that she had to find out on her wedding day her new husband was a murderer and only wanted her money not her. But all and all a great story. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this story as well as the plot and I highly recommend.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. After writing my review, I had to edit as I realized that this book was originally published in 1959 and is being recovered, converted to EBook and republished.

I was excited to read “Something Blue” by Charlotte Armstrong after looking at the cover and reading the synopsis. I often decide whether to read or move on after viewing only the cover. I was also intrigued as to why the title is “Something Blue” but the girl is wearing red. This was a great cover, but does not seem to fit with the story. The main character, Nan, is not running from anything in the book as shown on the cover. Additionally, I would think that Nan is the girl portrayed on the cover, but she has dark hair (Dorothy has blonde). The new cover implies that the story is set in modern times. However, it is approximately 1955 in the book. That explains some of the phrases used (e.g., ring-tailed doozer). I would make it obvious on the cover with time-appropriate clothing or simply have the year at the beginning of the first chapter.

Moving on. I mentioned that this book is older and has been converted to EBook format. I hope before that happens (in 17 days), someone runs spell check and gives it a quick edit.

Good premise, but a couple of plot holes. First, Aunt Emily had to concoct new identities for their safety, yet she visited her brother every week. Not quite a clean break. Very hard to believe that so many people knew, yet no one tried to find Nan or ever let the cat out of the bag. E.g., Nan’s employer knew and even introduced her to Dick Bartee. A normal person would not really let that happen!

Secondly, the Bartee family hated Clinton McCauley. How would he even have opened the safe on the night of the murder? They would never have told him the combination.

Thirdly, When Johnny visits Dick’s old roommate and acts like he just happens to be sitting in a bar striking up a conversation, he says, “That’s right. We used to play you.” If this were a chance encounter, how would Johnny know where George Rush went to school. A normal person would have turned to him and said, “how do you know this?”

I wanted to reach through the book and smack Nan. She is such a simpering, needy girl that she cannot see Dick is a lying jerk even though all her friends and family keep telling her. She cannot wait a few weeks to get married to possibly sort things out.

And Dorothy. She goes back and forth from being apprehensive about the marriage to being cheerful about it… when telling Johnny that Nan “flew home with Dick.” What? Make up your mind.

Johnny is just as bad. He is in love with Nan and is upset when she plans to marry Dick. By the end of the book, he and Dorothy are going to make a go of it.

Lots of odd connections in this book. Dick dated Blanche who is now married to Bart, Jr. Blanche’s father is the family lawyer, Marshall. Marshall defended Clinton McCauley in the murder trial. Nate Bartee was involved with Kate Callahan who later was involved with Clinton McCauley when his wife was murdered.

The entire plot is based on Dick wanting Nan’s inheritance. It was mentioned that she received 5K for 17 years. Yes, this book was set in 1955, but 85K (even with interest) does not seem like enough money to justify the intense plan that Dick had to devise, implement and execute for that amount of cash. It was mentioned that her inheritance was going to be security for a loan, but again, just did not seem like enough security for a “rather large loan” to overhall an aging winery and restore a mansion.

The book was OK but a bit hard to read. Two stars.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book by Ms. Armstrong but it won't be my last! I love her writing style and the twists and turns kept me intrigued. I was given this ARC by Netgalley for an honest review

[Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't know until after finishing reading this book, that it was repackaged and rereleased and was originally published in 1959. I think my entire reading experience would have been different had I known, not sure if I would have liked it anymore.

Johnny Simms has been a friend of Nan Padgett almost their entire lives and quite possibly in love with her also. When all of the sudden she is engaged to be married and her aunt detests the suitor and flies home from Paris to hopefully stop the wedding. Johnny is bound and determined to help her aunt stop the wedding and he must solve a murder mystery to do so.

Although not a long book, it took forever for the real drama to pick up and I felt as though all of the action took place in the last few pages and I was wishing for more buildup throughout the book. I haven't read many classic murder mysteries and not sure after this one, I will seek any out.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It appears that this book was originally published in 1959. The writing itself seems a bit old-fashioned; however, the book was an enjoyable one. At less than 200 pages, it’s also a nice length if you don’t feel like reading one of the larger ones on the marketplace, or you’d like to try out an author whose books were very popular in the past. I have to say that I have been happy that so many good books are coming out again, so a new generation can enjoy them.

I loved how the author drew me into the story from the very beginning; the plot was definitely original, and I can see why she had a dedicated fan base. I also found her way of describing the characters actions to be spot-on because she does a delightful job of showing not telling.

I picked two more of her books to add to my to-be-read pile.

[Phair · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the publisher billed this as a "gothic romance" complete with a damsel in a long dress fleeing a menacing mansion on the cover there were almost no gothic elements. No hint of the supernatural, not told from pov of the "damsel" and no real romance either so this was more a mystery with hints of romance. Guess you could call this 1959 publication a proto-gothic. Not terrible, but not terribly good either.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah. Don't remember this particular plot. But then, Armstrong never changes, so I don't need to.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

To paraphrase Bilbo Baggins: "Too little story spread across too many words." Armstrong is usually much better than this.