Lament for the Bride

Inspector McKee #21

by Helen Reilly

Inspector McKee is drawn into a thrilling case of poison pen letters and murder which takes to the plush atmosphere of St. Augustine and Key West where someone is trying to kill Horace Fescue, the well-known financier.

Dell #621.

Genres: Mystery

249 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Helen Reilly was an American novelist. She was born Helen Kieran and grew up in New York City in a literary family. Her brother, James Kieran, also wrote a mystery, and two of her daughters, Ursula Curtiss and Mary McMullen, are mystery writers.

Reilly's early books were police procedurals based on her research into the New York Homicide squad. Her most popular character is Inspector Christopher McKee. Reilly also used the pseudonym Kieran Abbey.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judith Kingsley marries well-known financier Horace Fescue on the rebound. She had fallen in love with Charles Darlington, but he never came back to her as promised from a supposed trip to break off his engagement to another woman. And she never heard another word from him

On the day of their wedding, Fescue takes his bride to his house in St. Augustine for their honeymoon where she immediately see Darlington and his fiancee. In fact, the honeymoon is crowded with people who know either Fescue or Judith--from Fescue's ex-wifer, to the Darlington family (who have reason to hate Fescue) to Fescue's factotum--a man who seemed downright evil to Judith and whom she had asked Fescue to dismiss. He had told her he had. None of the servants at the St. Augustine house seem to approve of the new bride and none of them are friendly.

Before their first night is over, Judith overhears Fescue telling his ex that he deliberately brought Judith to St. Augustine knowing Darlington was in town, that he had intercepted a letter from Charles meant for Judith and he knew of their ill-fated love. It seems that Judith's new husband has a cruel streak and is going to enjoy torturing his bride with the nearness of the man she cannot have. Judith decides to leave him at once and have her marriage annulled...but before she can escape Fescue is shot and he tells her that Darlington is the man who did it. If Judith leaves him, he will turn Darlington over to the police. If she stays, he will play dumb.

Judith feels caught in a trap and determines to find out who really shot her husband. She doesn't believe Fescue for a moment when he claims it was Darlington. Before she can make much headway, Fescue begins receive death threats ("You are going to die"), another attempt is made on the recovering man, and then Hudson is killed. Who is behind it all? Is it Darlington's fiancee, the pretty girl with the scarred cheek? Could it be Darlington's sister, who has reason to hate Fescue for ruining her family? Or maybe Fesuce's ex-wife still has reason to want him dead? Then there's the mystery man Chesneck who claims to have known Fescue's brother--does he know a few secrets as well?

Inspector McKee is in the case from the beginning and comes to Florida to unravel all the clues. But the more clues he discovers, the worse it looks for Darlington and Judith is afraid that neither she nor the man she really loves will escape the traps laid for them.

This novel is much more of a romantic suspense mystery than others I've read by Reilly. While it is still a good read--Reilly is a more than competent writer--I really enjoyed her earlier books more with their focus on the police procedural rather than the damsel in distress. McKee has generally had a damsel who needed rescuing in each of the cases, but they haven't been so very tense. I would have appreciated more focus on McKee and his efforts to discover the killer than to have spent so much time with Judith and her constant fear that Darlington would be arrested any minute. Decent mystery with a twist at the end.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Tracyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lament for the Bride, published in 1951, is a vintage mystery novel, part of a long series featuring Inspector McKee of the Manhattan Homicide Squad. It is a hybrid, part romantic suspense, part police procedural. This is a story of its time -- the 1950’s. The characters are mostly rich and powerful, or once rich and powerful. People who are used to having money being about to do what they want. The bride is from outside of that world, a woman who worked for a company her husband owns. Only the bride's motivations and character are fully fleshed out. The remaining characters are murky and threatening. This is the first Helen Reilly novel I have read. I would like to read some of the earlier mysteries that focus more on McKee and his police work.

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a mystery that takes you to St. Augustine Flordia in the 1950's.

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

typical 50s pulp mystery, but with interesting characterization & excellent police procedure details.