The Mystery of the Cape Cod Players: An Asey Mayo Mystery

Asey Mayo Cape Cod Mystery #3

by Phoebe Atwood Taylor, Otto Penzler (Introduction)

Asey Mayo, the “Codfish Sherlock Holmes,” investigates the murder of a traveling performer. When the Cape Cod Players roll into towns along the lower Cape, the locals expect a great show, replete with games, magic, and merriment. Of course, they usually have an audience, too. When Boston widow Victoria Ballard, visiting the Cape to recover from a near-fatal bout with pneumonia, comes upon the troupe near her rural convalescent home, she ascertains that someone has played a nasty trick on the players, sending them to a remote destination in the wild backcountry in search of a paying gig. Sympathetic to the plight of the ragtag group, Vic invites them to stay the night with her, but when day breaks to find the lead magician with a bullet in his head, she realizes the cruel trick that brought the travelers to her home may have been part of a deadly plot―and that she may have been an unwitting participant.

Enter Asey Mayo, Cape Cod’s answer to Sherlock Holmes. Armed only with folksy wisdom, Cape Cod dictums, and plenty of common sense, the jack-of-all-trades is quick to tackle the puzzling case of the murdered performer. But in order to solve the case, he’ll have to confront a curious assortment of clues and suspects odder than any he’s encountered in his long career.

An amusing and atmospheric mystery set in early 1930s Cape Cod―a region still struggling to reemerge from the Great Depression and at the same time carefully guarding itself against the burgeoning tourism industry― The Mystery of the Cape Cod Players is a delightful Golden Age whodunnit that glimmers with period detail. Anyone interested in classics of the era, or in Cape Cod history in general, will find plenty to enjoy herein.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Golden Age Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1933

About the author

Taylor is an American mystery author. She is best known for her Asey Mayo series, based in Cape Cod. She additionally wrote and published under the pen names Alice Tilton and Freeman Dana.

Phoebe Atwood Taylor, born in 1909 in Boston, Massachusetts, was the first member of her family to have been born off Cape Cod in more than 300 years. Upon graduating from Manhattan's Barnard College, she moved to Weston, Massachusetts, to pen her first work, The Cape Cod Mystery (1931), which was published when she was 22. The book was written while Taylor was caring for her invalid aunt, Alice Tilton (the source of one of her two publishing pseudonyms, the other being Freeman Dana). Taylor was one of the first mystery writers to give a regional and rural rather than urban focus during the time known as the "golden age" of mystery writing (1918 - 1939). Gone with the Wind's author, Margaret Mitchell, was a great fan of the Asey Mayo series, and encouraged Taylor to pack the books with Cape Cod detail. In all, she authored 33 books. She died in 1976 at age 67.
- Bio by The Countryman Press

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL685...

Reviews

[Erik Tolvstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several Asey Mayo mysteries and have enjoyed them all. The settings and the charaters are unique and always hold your interest as a reader.

Like most Golden Age Mysteries, there's a small set of suspects/innocent bystanders confined one-way-or-another to a remote location. As with most Asey Mayo tales, his Watson is a middle-aged spinster or widow. She's invariably amiable and intelligent, providing useful background information on some of the group and that intelligence makes her a good sounding board for Asey's ideas.

Mayo sets out methodically checking motives, means, opportunities, and alibis. Usually all the bystanders are eliminated early on, only for additional developments bringing them back into play.

The guilty party was a bit of a surprise, but the explanation was logical, if a bit labored.

[Ron Kastner · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are loose ends; and perhaps a few too many coincidences.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came late to this very enjoyable series. This 1933 novel is the third in the Asey Mayo Cape Cod mystery series.

Mayo is an old Cape Codder. He knows all the longtime residents. He is competent at everything. He can fix a car, cook a meal, sail a sloop, and solve a murder.

Taylor does an interesting thing in this book. The first two books in the series were first-person narrations by Prudence Whitsby, a proper Boston lady. This one is also a first-person narration, but it is told by a different narrator. Victoria Ballard is a Boston widow. She is actually a friend of Prudence's.

Victoria is recovering from pneumonia. One of the reminders that we are in the pre-penicillin 1930s is that her bout of pneumonia was life threatening, and she expects to take months recovering.

Her busy body son George has rented a house on the lower cape where she is going to recuperate for several months to stay with a cook and a maid. A group of traveling players get lost, and she lets then stay the night at her house. In the morning one of them is found shot to death outside the house.

Asey is in the neighborhood. He gets involved in the investigation. The players all have complicated stories and connections. We have a good pile of suspects and a solid ending.

The lower Cape at this point was raw. The roads were crooked paths. Rum runners were landing bootleg liquor on the beaches. Tourism was just beginning, although the complaints had started already. This sounds familiar;

"Tourist may make a lot of money for the Cape, but I'd like to chloroform the whole bunch of them. Sun visors an' im'tation silk shirts an' sunburn. Strewin' papers in clean pine groves an' throwing tin cans and beer bottles on bathin' beaches."

Taylor is also very good on the old Cape Cod types. A young delivery boy chasing every maid he meets, a Mayo cousin who has read allot of mystery stories, or the skeptical cook are all great characters.

A good solid mystery in an interesting place and time.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid enough mystery, the second I've read in this series. It was pretty entertaining, with a solid cast of distinct characters. One aspect I found annoying however was the constant string of reveals about lies told by the suspects that were used as a means to give the reader new information. It grew old pretty fast, and displayed a lack of ingenuity by Taylor. I feel as though a better author would have found more than one trick pony to move the story forward. And while the killer didn't come completely out of left field, it wasn't built up properly enough to be fair in my opinion. So average, but not great.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well it looks like I am going to reread this entire series. All are in my collection and am trying to determine which will stay and which will go. These are definitely staying as they remain fun to read no matter how often I return to them, and since it has been awhile am enjoying them even more.

[Micah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

Not the best plotted mystery that I have ever read, but I did enjoy the writing and reading from the perspective of Victoria Ballard. I truly did not expect the ending either, so that is always a satisfying plus!

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong points:
Narration (humor and cleverness saved this mystery for me)
Characters
Setting (details, charming inclusions of life in the 1930’s)
Dialog (colloquial sayings and pronunciation added to the fun)

Weak points
The plotting

For me, the good outweighed the bad.

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is one of my comfort reads. I always enjoy visiting Asey.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. Did NOT see that coming!!

Really liked this mystery. Good set-up, not so many suspects that one gets lost trying to keep track of who's who, and the reveal is terrific!

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really loving these Asey Mayo mysteries! This one was just as good as the first two.... I think I know what I'll be reading all summer!

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charmingly old-school mystery. I picked this up because I've been to Wellfleet and thought I'd enjoy the setting, and that turned out to be true!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boo

[Golden Age of Detective Fiction · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars.

Full review here: https://goldenageofdetectivefiction.c...

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars rounded up

Victoria "Vic" Ballard is recovering from illness and needs a vacation, especially from her domineering son George. George is one of those people who is convinced that the entire world would be better run if only he were in charge of it - and he does not hesitate to say so! Fortunately, Vic is able to escape to the small town of Weesit, home of the famous Asey Mayo. She is accompanied by Judith "Judy" Dunham, daughter of an old schoolfriend who has fallen on hard times, and Rose, her maid.

Immediately, Vic finds things are not as quiet and peaceful as she had expected. First, a traveling show of entertainers arrives, expecting to play for "the Guilds": Richard "Punch" Edson (head of the Punch & Judy show); Dan Allen, a baritone; his wife, Edie Allen, a dancer; Dan's sister Harriet "Hat," a dancer and actress; and John "Red" Gilpin, a former car salesman turned magician with a real eye for the ladies. Vic has no idea who the "Guilds" are, and it appears that someone has played a nasty practical joke on the poor players. Feeling sorry for the group of young people, Vic lets them stay over, a decision she soon regrets.

When Vic gets up the next morning, she has the shock of her life:

"I don't think I ever understood the phrase 'rooted to the spot' before that minute. For there at my feet, lying in the tall sea grass, was Red Gilpin. Curiously sprawled. Rigid.

His red hair was wet with dew - but his face! I turned away from the sight.

Suddenly it came to me as I looked over the white flecked rolling waves that those sounds of the night before had not all been car exhausts. They had been gun shots. Someone had shot and done away with Red Gilpin.

Ironically the old tag line of the poem pounded in my ears along with the crashing of the surf:

'Away went Gilpin-dum-de-dum-and sore against his will.'"

Taylor does an excellent job with the setting. This is mostly definitely during the depression. Dan Allen and his little company of players have a gypsy existence and live hand to mouth. When Vic invites them to stay over, Edie luxuriates in the first real bed she has slept in for some time. Judy Dunham came to Vic's attention after fainting from hunger in the street. Unlike some writers of the era (Erle Stanley Gardner, Agatha Christie, Rex Stout), Taylor does not flinch from showing how the depression affects everyone's life to some extent. However, things are not hopeless. People don't just survive - they find reasons to enjoy life as well.

Taylor's female characters, especially the older women, are always well done, though they're not always likable. Her trademark humor is present, too, but this particular book is somewhat darker than most others I've read. The ending is rather grim, in fact. It shocked me. Also, I have issues with two plot developments:

Punch and Judy? Really? No indication of a romance there at all until the end.

The killer is really from left field. I'm not sure I consider that playing fair. Granted, you're supposed to suspect everyone, but still!

I couldn't bring myself to rate this higher (3 1/2 stars rounded up). It just wasn't as cheerful and fun like many other Mayo novels I've read, and the ending really bothered me. I don't think I'll be rereading it all too soon.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off better than it ends, though with one seemingly throwaway line that becomes much funnier later in the book. (And still another example of the wit and formal play in the genre in what were still its comparatively early days--this was published in 1933.) We start with some tart observations by the narrator about her busybody son and a decently pungent regional setup--really, all I can come up with regarding Cape Cod regionalism are Taylor's novels and Alec Wilkinson's memoir about policing in Wellfleet, which is an odd coincidence, but all these books share a sensibility with, it seems to me, the Maine novels of people like Carolyn Chute. There's a similarly weathered backwoodsy quality and genteelly down-at-heel dailiness, though more salt water here.

After that punchy opening, it's a pretty basic mystery plot, and though the central suspects are a troupe of struggling actors, none of them come across with special vividness. Series sleuth Asey Mayo, the downeast Holmes, is an appealingly prole Yankee in manner and full of local knowledge about tides and scrub pines, though he's given too much to "picturesque" homespun parables involving soup. (There's also a Mr. Dooley reference, which I always thought of as dating to the turn of the century....Let's see: turns out Finley Peter Dunne wrote them for a couple years in the 20s, though his high period was indeed the Gilded Age. I suppose an old salt like Asey Mayo would recall the 1890s columns.) I wanted to like this more than I did, ultimately.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victoria Ballard is recuperating from pneumonia at a remote Cape Cod cottage when members of a traveling acting troupe show up, looking for their new employer. Since the fog has come in, and there's no phone in the cottage, Vic agrees to let them stay the night. But morning finds one of the group dead--and everyone suspect. Fortunately, Asey Mayo is visiting his cousin Syl, practically next door, and is able to investigate. But each clue he finds points to a different person, and each trail proves a different suspect innocent. Yet someone shot the dead man!

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good Asey Mayo mystery--down a notch from Cape Cod Tavern due to all of the ballistics/handwriting folderol and some pacing issues. But a very pleasant weekend vacation to Cape Cod and the '30s.

[Ronald · Rating 2 out of 5]

read SOME TIME in 1999

[Ron Stetson]

A good murder mystery set in the 1930- 1950 Cape Cod