Murders and Acquisitions

Reuben and Cynthia Frost Mystery #3

by Haughton Murphy

When Flemming Andersen, head of the huge Andersen Foods Corporation, is murdered, private investigator Reuben Frost delves into the heart of corporate aristocracy and the eccentric Andersen family to find the killer who, could be any one of the dead man's associates

245 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published January 30, 1989

About the author

The pseudonymous Haughton Murphy, in real life former Wall Street lawyer James Duffy, and his wife have vacationed frequently in Venice.

Mr. Duffy is a member of the Bar of the City of New York and a former member of the American and New York State Bar Associations. He served as a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Commission for Cultural Affairs during the administration of Mayor Edward Koch. In 1995 President Clinton named him to the Board of Directors of the Albanian-American Enterprise Fund, a government-sponsored entity to foster economic growth in Albania.

While a partner at Cravath, Mr. Duffy was an avid writer and a member of the Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America and the British Crime Writers Association. He was a part-time and summer reporter for the Daily Times of Watertown, New York, from 1952 to 1956, and wrote reports for Professor Seymour E. Harris of the Fund for Advancement of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1958. After he became a partner at Cravath, he authored Domestic Affairs: American Programs and Priorities in 1979; Funding for Culture: The Cultural Policy of The City of New York, a report to the Mayor by the Mayor’s Advisory Commission for Cultural Affairs in 1983; and two murder mystery novels, under the pseudonym Haughton Murphy, in 1986 and 1987. Since retiring as a partner, he has written five additional mystery novels under his pseudonym and another novel, Dog Bites Man: City Shocked!, under his own name.

Mr. Duffy received an A.B. magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1956, where he was a Senior Editor of the Daily Princetonian and research assistant to Professor Alpheus Thomas Mason in connection with his biography of Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, and an LL.B. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1959. Mr. Duffy served in the military for six months prior to joining Cravath in 1959, and was recalled to active duty in 1961. He returned to Cravath in 1962 and became a partner in 1968.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in Vegas in Jan of 2007. The main character is a retired lawyer who someone gets involved in cases around his friends. I enjoyed this. I like the way he talks about New York, society, his groups of friends, career and the restaurant he goes too. I will read more of his work.

[Elena Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enjoying it. It is one of the few books I've read that is heavy on the exposition. Dry to some people, but not for those with a civil law background. I am also learning a lot about mergers and acquisitions and hostile take-overs; the concepts are very well explained, including humorous jargon such as the "bear hug."

[Elliot Weeks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent mystery written by someone who clearly knows the world they are writing about. It was cool to get that inside perspective but I think the ending ‘twist’ was almost too obscured to see coming but I did piece together the clues after the fact.

[David Malmberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as good as Emma Lathen's John Putnam Thatcher

An excellent business-based mystery. Great plotting and excellent characters. Read it if you like both business and mysteries. You won't be sorry.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 4-1/2 stars. Very good mystery and I enjoyed how it unfolded.

[Regine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series. Believable characters - a story line without gratuitous sex, violence or profanity.
what a concept!