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Vic Varallo Mystery #1
The Borrowed Alibi
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune
Vic Varallo is an ambitious police officer. He and his wife Laura fix up a room for a guest, Ross Duncan, who seems extremely likeable but a little odd. Ross reveals to Vic that he is flat broke, financially crippled by alimony to his ex-wife Helene. That is, until Helene is killed, and Ross charged with her murder.
But against appearances, Vic believes in Ross's innocence. So he sets to work through a tangled mass of evidence and discovers some very odd things about a certain Mr Reilly, an eccentric old mother - and the dead woman herself . . .
Vic Varallo is an ambitious police officer. He and his wife Laura fix up a room for a guest, Ross Duncan, who seems extremely likeable but a little odd. Ross reveals to Vic that he is flat broke, financially crippled by alimony to his ex-wife Helene. That is, until Helene is killed, and Ross charged with her murder.
But against appearances, Vic believes in Ross's innocence. So he sets to work through a tangled mass of evidence and discovers some very odd things about a certain Mr Reilly, an eccentric old mother - and the dead woman herself . . .
- GenresMystery
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1962
7 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Dell Shannon
157 books24 followersPseudonym of Elizabeth Linington.
Barbara "Elizabeth" Linington (March 11, 1921 – April 5, 1988) was an American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Her 1961 book, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category. Regarded as the "Queen of the Procedurals," she was one of the first women to write police procedurals — a male-dominated genre of police-story writing.
Besides crime, Linington also took interest in archaeology, the occult, gemstones, antique weapons and languages. Linington was also a conservative political activist who was an active member of the John Birch Society
Barbara "Elizabeth" Linington (March 11, 1921 – April 5, 1988) was an American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Her 1961 book, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category. Regarded as the "Queen of the Procedurals," she was one of the first women to write police procedurals — a male-dominated genre of police-story writing.
Besides crime, Linington also took interest in archaeology, the occult, gemstones, antique weapons and languages. Linington was also a conservative political activist who was an active member of the John Birch Society
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 4, 2022
“Let’s face it,” said Varallo. “People in real life aren’t half as smart as the people in books. It just doesn’t work that way.”
In this case, however, the alibi has been borrowed from a book! A year after releasing Case Pending under her Dell Shannon moniker, the book which launched the decade-spanning and groundbreaking Luis Mendoza police procedural, Elizabeth Linington, writing as Lesley Egan this time out, introduced Vic Varallo in A Case for Appeal. This book was actually the start of her Jesse Falkenstein series. Though connected in a crossover way, the series were also distinct and separate. The actual first entry in the Vic Varallo series is The Borrowed Alibi, and it’s terrific! Those who loved mystery and crime bought and read everything Linington wrote, regardless of the name she chose to write under, and this book is a splendid example of why she was so popular.
Thirty-three-year-old Vic Varallo, a tall and muscular cop with Northern Italian blood running through his veins has resigned from his post as Police Captain in the small town of Contera. One of the reasons is because he has seen an innocent woman be tried and convicted. The other is because Vic has just married brown-haired and lovely, twenty-nine-year-old Laura. Even as a patrolman, Vic knows the money he’ll make in a bigger city will help out the struggling but very much in love newlyweds.
Vic lands in Glendale, California, beneath the San Fernando Mountains. In order to help the couple along until Vic can get promoted and stop wearing a uniform — a bit humiliating considering his twelve years of experience — Vic and Laura fix up a room above the garage to rent out. As Vic and Laura settle in domestically, they become acquainted with their new tenant and decide he’s a good egg. But then there’s a murder, and it looks like Ross Duncan, their new tenant, had every reason to kill his ex-wife…
No one ever blended the cozy mystery, puzzle solving type of crime with the police procedural in the way Linington did with such ease — at least to the reader. The domestic side is wonderfully done in this one. The reader not only likes Vic and Laura, but Linington imbues a warmth and realistic feel to their marriage, circa the early 1960s. The house they’ve bought had a huge and beloved rose garden where the previous owner grew exotic and prize roses. Somehow, thanks to a sense of obligation at first, and then a love for them, Vic becomes just as keen on keeping up the roses as the deceased former owner of the house. Laura can barely believe it, but jokes that if a man like Vic is going to have a hobby, it’s a safer one than other women. It’s all very domestic and fun, and what’s more, Linington makes it feel natural.
Equally natural is the couple’s struggle to make ends meet, and Vic’s early suspicions about his genial but oddly hermit-like new tenant, Ross Duncan. Vic learns that the insurance salesman had been taken to the cleaners by an ex-wife from Hades, and has no life because he can’t afford one. But then Ross meets a wonderful girl named Susan, and Linington shines. She makes the reader empathize with the desperate Ross Duncan, who knows that no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much he loves the sweet and levelheaded Susan, the poverty brought upon him by his ex has destroyed any future they might have together.
“He lay still in the dark. He thought, I could kill her.”
And suddenly she’s dead, murdered. No matter how Vic and his friend, Sgt. O’Connor look at it, everything points to Ross. A pen left at the scene, and then a wrench that bludgeoned her to death found in Ross’s old car. But Vic knows that thinking about killing, and carrying out a murder, are two different things entirely. It is at this juncture that Linington shows that not all cops are the same. The detective in charge, Lt. King, only sees an open and shut case. He’s a good cop, with years of experience, but he has no imagination, no intuitiveness. But Vic does, and so does Sgt. Charles O’Connor. What cinches it as a frame-job for Vic, is that it so closely resembles the Wallace case, an old British crime written about by Dorothy L. Sayers in a 1935 book, The Anatomy of a Crime. Knowing someone has done a number on his tenant and proving it, however, is problematic, especially since Vic is only a patrolman. Lt. King has all the evidence he needs to charge and convict Ross.
It becomes a wonderful puzzle to solve, with the girl Ross loves, and Vic’s wife, Laura, also becoming involved. Because Linington has made so much of this realistic, the reader doesn’t even question how these cozier mystery elements are highly improbable. Other crimes, including a triple homicide, pull O’Conner away from the case, and with quite a number of suspects, but no evidence, it’s a race to see if Vic, Laura and Susan can figure out who killed the awful woman before Ross is tried and convicted. There is charm and fun, and a little danger as the clock ticks. Vic is a cop who knows that the innocent can sometimes be convicted, but he keeps after it until he figures out who borrowed the clues, and the alibi, from that old book from 1935.
Whereas so many writers felt restricted by a series — or perhaps, and more likely, found the challenge too daunting — Linington not only embraced it, she flourished within her various series; the quantity and quality of her output is truly staggering. She had Luis Mendoza, a wildly popular series which ran for decades, Vic Varallo, the Ivor Maddox and Sue Carstairs mysteries, and the Jesse Falkenstein series. All were solid, enjoyable mysteries extremely popular with crime and mystery lovers for many, many years. If you enjoy a really good cozy, the domestic blended with police and crime, I can’t recommend The Borrowed Alibi highly enough.
In this case, however, the alibi has been borrowed from a book! A year after releasing Case Pending under her Dell Shannon moniker, the book which launched the decade-spanning and groundbreaking Luis Mendoza police procedural, Elizabeth Linington, writing as Lesley Egan this time out, introduced Vic Varallo in A Case for Appeal. This book was actually the start of her Jesse Falkenstein series. Though connected in a crossover way, the series were also distinct and separate. The actual first entry in the Vic Varallo series is The Borrowed Alibi, and it’s terrific! Those who loved mystery and crime bought and read everything Linington wrote, regardless of the name she chose to write under, and this book is a splendid example of why she was so popular.
Thirty-three-year-old Vic Varallo, a tall and muscular cop with Northern Italian blood running through his veins has resigned from his post as Police Captain in the small town of Contera. One of the reasons is because he has seen an innocent woman be tried and convicted. The other is because Vic has just married brown-haired and lovely, twenty-nine-year-old Laura. Even as a patrolman, Vic knows the money he’ll make in a bigger city will help out the struggling but very much in love newlyweds.
Vic lands in Glendale, California, beneath the San Fernando Mountains. In order to help the couple along until Vic can get promoted and stop wearing a uniform — a bit humiliating considering his twelve years of experience — Vic and Laura fix up a room above the garage to rent out. As Vic and Laura settle in domestically, they become acquainted with their new tenant and decide he’s a good egg. But then there’s a murder, and it looks like Ross Duncan, their new tenant, had every reason to kill his ex-wife…
No one ever blended the cozy mystery, puzzle solving type of crime with the police procedural in the way Linington did with such ease — at least to the reader. The domestic side is wonderfully done in this one. The reader not only likes Vic and Laura, but Linington imbues a warmth and realistic feel to their marriage, circa the early 1960s. The house they’ve bought had a huge and beloved rose garden where the previous owner grew exotic and prize roses. Somehow, thanks to a sense of obligation at first, and then a love for them, Vic becomes just as keen on keeping up the roses as the deceased former owner of the house. Laura can barely believe it, but jokes that if a man like Vic is going to have a hobby, it’s a safer one than other women. It’s all very domestic and fun, and what’s more, Linington makes it feel natural.
Equally natural is the couple’s struggle to make ends meet, and Vic’s early suspicions about his genial but oddly hermit-like new tenant, Ross Duncan. Vic learns that the insurance salesman had been taken to the cleaners by an ex-wife from Hades, and has no life because he can’t afford one. But then Ross meets a wonderful girl named Susan, and Linington shines. She makes the reader empathize with the desperate Ross Duncan, who knows that no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much he loves the sweet and levelheaded Susan, the poverty brought upon him by his ex has destroyed any future they might have together.
“He lay still in the dark. He thought, I could kill her.”
And suddenly she’s dead, murdered. No matter how Vic and his friend, Sgt. O’Connor look at it, everything points to Ross. A pen left at the scene, and then a wrench that bludgeoned her to death found in Ross’s old car. But Vic knows that thinking about killing, and carrying out a murder, are two different things entirely. It is at this juncture that Linington shows that not all cops are the same. The detective in charge, Lt. King, only sees an open and shut case. He’s a good cop, with years of experience, but he has no imagination, no intuitiveness. But Vic does, and so does Sgt. Charles O’Connor. What cinches it as a frame-job for Vic, is that it so closely resembles the Wallace case, an old British crime written about by Dorothy L. Sayers in a 1935 book, The Anatomy of a Crime. Knowing someone has done a number on his tenant and proving it, however, is problematic, especially since Vic is only a patrolman. Lt. King has all the evidence he needs to charge and convict Ross.
It becomes a wonderful puzzle to solve, with the girl Ross loves, and Vic’s wife, Laura, also becoming involved. Because Linington has made so much of this realistic, the reader doesn’t even question how these cozier mystery elements are highly improbable. Other crimes, including a triple homicide, pull O’Conner away from the case, and with quite a number of suspects, but no evidence, it’s a race to see if Vic, Laura and Susan can figure out who killed the awful woman before Ross is tried and convicted. There is charm and fun, and a little danger as the clock ticks. Vic is a cop who knows that the innocent can sometimes be convicted, but he keeps after it until he figures out who borrowed the clues, and the alibi, from that old book from 1935.
Whereas so many writers felt restricted by a series — or perhaps, and more likely, found the challenge too daunting — Linington not only embraced it, she flourished within her various series; the quantity and quality of her output is truly staggering. She had Luis Mendoza, a wildly popular series which ran for decades, Vic Varallo, the Ivor Maddox and Sue Carstairs mysteries, and the Jesse Falkenstein series. All were solid, enjoyable mysteries extremely popular with crime and mystery lovers for many, many years. If you enjoy a really good cozy, the domestic blended with police and crime, I can’t recommend The Borrowed Alibi highly enough.
June 1, 2017
This is book one of Ms. Egan's Vic Varillo series who did, of course, make an important appearance in "A Case for Appeal". It is the book where Vic becomes enamored with the care, feeding and growing of roses. He and Laura have bought a house that comes with a rose garden. It also came with a huge mortgage. To offset the price of the house which is described by Laura as "twenty-seven five" which I think means $27,500, they rent out the apartment over their garage for $52.50. It is their renter, Ross Duncan, who is thoroughly framed for the murder of his ex-wife. Naturally, Vic, Laura and a new character Sergeant O'Connor to the rescue.
November 21, 2022
Anatomy of a Murder...my, my!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2022
Sheesh. Even for having been written in 1962, this book took my breath away.
Racist, sexist, misogynist...if there's an "-ist" missed I don't know what it is. And to beat all, the author was female.
Examples:
A main character who is a cop and swears often and fluently in two languages, doesn't like his wife to swear and often corrects her in the manner of a parent to child. He " lightly slaps" her behind to get her going when told to do so. He doesn't like her working and only permits her to until he gets a promotion and can pay for the overpriced house SHE insisted on against all good sense.
A side character brags about getting good and fed up with his wife "and I took my old man's advice and I belted her one. No good just using an open hand on a female-you give her a real good hefty one and it gets through." Another cop remarks that that wife is under her husband's fist and he (the cop) appreciates it.
There are other slurs such as:
the Irish are uncivilized;
only northern Italians are acceptable - presumably because they tend toward being blonde;
Germans are cold and didactic;
African Americans are either servile and stupid or well educated and sophisticated- nothing between;
and older women ( 50 and up) have lost all brain power, assuming they had the little bit that God allowed them in the first place!
I'm going to go against principle and read the other three books in this omnibus, just to see what happens.
Racist, sexist, misogynist...if there's an "-ist" missed I don't know what it is. And to beat all, the author was female.
Examples:
A main character who is a cop and swears often and fluently in two languages, doesn't like his wife to swear and often corrects her in the manner of a parent to child. He " lightly slaps" her behind to get her going when told to do so. He doesn't like her working and only permits her to until he gets a promotion and can pay for the overpriced house SHE insisted on against all good sense.
A side character brags about getting good and fed up with his wife "and I took my old man's advice and I belted her one. No good just using an open hand on a female-you give her a real good hefty one and it gets through." Another cop remarks that that wife is under her husband's fist and he (the cop) appreciates it.
There are other slurs such as:
the Irish are uncivilized;
only northern Italians are acceptable - presumably because they tend toward being blonde;
Germans are cold and didactic;
African Americans are either servile and stupid or well educated and sophisticated- nothing between;
and older women ( 50 and up) have lost all brain power, assuming they had the little bit that God allowed them in the first place!
I'm going to go against principle and read the other three books in this omnibus, just to see what happens.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews