Sandbar Sinister

Asey Mayo Cape Cod Mystery #5

by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

The picturesque village of East Pochet in Cape Cod is not its usual self when Elizabeth Colton drives into it; the previous evening, a bootlegger dumped two hundred cases of liquor offshore, and the whole town reaped the windfall. At some point during the boozy celebrations, however, a bearded mystery writer ended up dead in the boat house at the Sandbar estate. Asey Mayo must figure out the comings and goings of a number of interested parties before he puts together the meaning of a mysterious fire in the living room and a tube of salve and solves the crime.

Genres: Mystery

294 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

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

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too frenetic Asey--why so many comic situations, bizarre behaviors, drunken villagers, plane crashes, fires, characters, etc.? There's a better, quieter book in here, but it never calms down enough to come out.

"I wonder," he said, "how much of this foolin' is covering up feelin's, an, how much is sheer desp'ration."

[Phillip Sawyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I would say that jumping in on this novel without its predecessors is a bit of an tough road. I have read all of the earlier novels and I have grown in my respect for Asey Mayo and his side kick "generic middle age lady" (actually the author??).

The novels have a slam bang feel similar to the 1930s screwball comedies that Atwood Taylor must have been a fan of. Characters from the Cape are a staple along with their slang and dialect. Some are put off by this and it seems to have gotten "thicker" as the novels progress. Also if you are offended by light racist or misogynistic behavior or language, you will find an occasional references disturbing.

I must say I have never stepped foot on Cape Cod. I have used Google Maps to visualize a couple of settings. But the setting is rooted in Boston and Cape Cod and if that has meaning to you, it may increase your enjoyment. But since this is 1930s Cape Cod, the area is greatly changed.

"Sandbar" from the title is a large shingle style home that Caleb Frost has recently built for himself and his extended family on the dunes of Cape Cod. Into the house for a summer vacation comes his mother, sister, college friends, business acquaintances, servents, etc. Plenty of suspects for a double murder!!

As far as the solution, while satisfying, I have to call foul on some of the logic made by our detective. But it is a small quibble and Asey is so much of a delight that I tend to overlook a flaw just like I would with a friend. I intend on reading the whole series, so you can call me a satisfied customer.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Resubscribed, so direct from publisher.

A very New England in 1934 book, which is to say there are a few weird sideways slams at the New Deal (very Liberty League, also founded in 1934), and some interesting geographical/historical peculiarities that Dwyer Murphy's uncommonly useful intro makes clear. As a Golden Age mystery, there's also the requisite meta stuff, including two characters who write mysteries, one of whom pens van Dine-type hysterical-realist novels that turn on Byzantine architecture and the other whose series character is "the detective who's different." Also: discussions of the frequency of coincidence in real life and pointed comments about what happens next, given where we are in the narrative: Asey Mayo, our saltwater Holmes, is told he's at the point where he should "push forward the transcendental detective, who shows up all the common or garden thinking."

Asey is given to more homespun comparisons than I would like, some of which clang: "Like ole Martha Watts used to say of her son John's wife. 'She's as smart a girl as ever stepped up to a flour barril, but nothin' on earth will make her beach plum jelly jell.'" On the other hand: "I'd most likely of doubted you real strenuous." Solution is not fair play, since there's quite a bit of offstage detecting that leads to it, and I'm not entirely clear why the person who did it did it. On the whole, tangy, tart narration, decently enjoyable.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

UGH.
Too many characters; boring time getting to the reveal; too many red herrings etc.

The only good news: the plot takes place on Cape Cod (in this case, it didn't make a difference, but still...) and secondly, this particular volume was old and definitely had that "old book smell!"


*Note: These books are written in the 1930s and there are some rather prejudicial comments that, IMO, aren't even necessary. Since these books are NOT re-prints or updated, readers need to be aware of such comments.


Not worth it.

[Erik Tolvstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a half-dozen Asey Mayo mysteries now - love 'em. As usual, the characters are interesting - there is always more to them than what we first see. The setting is also common with the Mayo universe - an isolated rambling Cape Cod beach house and its near surroundings. The storyline clips along nicely. The only real gripe is that sometimes in this story, needed clues appear too conveniently. Still, this is another well-spun yarn, where you're continually guessing who-done-it right up to the end.

[Ryan Malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun, twisty, entertaining Asey Mayo mystery from Phoebe Atwood Taylor. Definitely my second favorite in the series so far released by Penzler Publishers under their American Mystery Classics line. If you can't afford a real vacation to Cape Cod, then crack open these pages for a staycation. Ms. Taylor paints such a vivid word-portrait of the Cape circa the 1930s you can practically smell the salty air. Some enterprising film executive should buy up the film rights to these books and turn them into movies.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like reading vintage mysteries, and this one was … fine. The social history aspect and the sense of Cape Cod in the 1930s was interesting, and the story itself as fine. I liked Asey and the narrator. I just found the constant use of dialect a little wearing, and the “charming local folks” tropes got old in a way that seemed dangerously close to the most stereotypical British golden age works. A nice summer read, though, with extra points because I bought it at a tiny bookstore in Wellfleet.

[Dawn Tyers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me this one, perhaps it would have made more sense if it wasn’t my first Asey Mayo. I think there were a lot of characters who weren’t necessary to the plot and were too flimsy in description. The language was probably a bit too obscure for me too, maybe too much dialalect which didn’t make sense to me but to a reader from the local area would be amusing. Because I think this was meant to be a humorous tale and it did make me smile at times.

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit weaker than the first three in the series, but still an enjoyable read from 1932, when women were considered scandalous if the didn't wear stockings. A fair play mystery too, the clues were all there if you wanted to find them.

[Rebecca M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barely finished. Maybe it's not my type of genre but I found this book to be quite boring. I read about half, before skipping to the end because it was just...dragging on for me. Maybe it's the age of it, but it was just too predictable.

[Hyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2

[Charlene Huyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such character development! I never guessed the end!

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Asey Mayo mystery was published in 1934, the year after Prohibition ended. The murder in this mystery happens on the night that a former bootlegger throws 200 cases of alcohol overboard to escape the Coast Guard. The booze washes ashore in the small Cape Cod village of East Pochet. The towns people decided to drink it up before somebody tried to impound it. This led to a townwide drunk celebration.

The next morning a wealthy businessman, Caleb Frost, is found dead on the beach and an unidentified stranger is found dead in the businessman's barn. Asey Mayo, the amateur Cape Cod detective, starts to investigate.

The story is narrated by Penelope Colton, a classic Taylor heroine. She is a middle-aged single woman. She comes from good Boston stock, but she has fallen on hard times during the depression. She is brave, intelligent and persistent and Mayo quickly accepts her as his sidekick.

This is a classic murder mystery. There were a group of guests staying at Frost's large home, including step-children, friends and family. Everyone has a motive and an alibi. Frost, it turns out has a secret life and a complicated history. Frost also has enemies in the village.

The unidentified victim gets identified and that opens up a whole new set of possibilities. Taylor is very good at juggling the different threads. The plot gets a little wobbly sometimes. I was mystified about why a fire was deliberately set at one point.

The reason to read these books now is the feel it gives for Cape Cod in the 1930s. Many of the roads are unpaved. Fishing is a major industry. Everyone knows everybody. Food is plain and mostly home cooked. People pull off on the side of a road and pitch their tent for the night. Tourists are just beginning to get annoying.

By unconscious coincidence I read another Cape Cod mystery last week. "Stolen Coast" by Dwyer Murphy. It is set-in modern-day Cape Cod. The book features drugs, organized crime, the lazy rich, the hopeless white trash, the traffic, the phony Cape Cod commercialism, fast food and a general atmosphere of ennui. I draw no conclusion.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun entry in this series. One thing I am liking is the insight into people’s lives and changes during the depression years in the US (not the main thread of these stories but does underlie these early books just as World War II does in the later stories).

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When two dead bodies are found on Sandbar, everyone wants to hire Asey Mayo to find the culprit.

[Meredith VanOordt]

Excellent entry in the series! Asey Mayo at his best! Keeps you guessing to the end!