Two Names for Death

by E.P. Fenwick

Barney drives a Boston cab and is surprised to pick up a fare downtown who gives his own address as her destination. Barney rents a room with the Shafft family—old Mrs. Shafft, her son Theo, and their granddaughter Edith—but has no idea that his customer is Lenore Bellane, Theo’s wife and Edith’s real mother. So when Lenore is found with two slashed wrists in her hotel room the next morning, Barney feels that something here just doesn’t make sense.

The supposed-suicide doesn’t make sense to Lt. Eggart either. He suspects murder. Lenore had been seen the day before with a Mystery Man who turns out to be her brother-in-law, Francis Bellane, but what motive could he have for killing the woman who seems to have meant so much to him? Why is Barney’s boss, Mr. Bottman, getting involved? And how do the Shaffts figure into this?

Genres: Mystery, Crime

167 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2020

About the author

E. P. Fenwick was born Elizabeth Jane Phillips on April 5, 1916 in St. Louis, Missouri. After high school, she wrote poetry and an unpublished first novel which she destroyed when it was rejected by a publisher. She then enrolled in secretarial courses and became a French translator for two years. She adopted the pseudonym E. P. Fenwick in the early 1940s and resumed writing, publishing three detective mysteries with Farrar & Rinehart. After turning to mainstream writing for ten years as Elizabeth Fenwick, she returned to writing crime fiction with the suspense novel Poor Harriet. Fenwick married noted harpsichord maker, David Jacques Way, in 1950, and continued to publish more suspense novels until 1973. She died from Alzheimer's Disease on November 20, 1996.

Reviews

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

full post, no spoilers, here:
http://www.crimesegments.com/2020/04/...

Boston is the location for this whodunit written in 1945 by yet another author I'd never heard of. Elizabeth Fenwick Way wrote her first three mystery novels under the name E.P. Fenwick; the rest of her crime/mystery fiction she wrote under the name Elizabeth Fenwick. In 1963 she won the Edgar Award for The Make-Believe Man which I just bought used; it looks like most of her work is out of print but luckily there are used copies out there to find. I say luckily because if Two Names for Death is any indicator, I will have to read them all, especially the two Fenwick wrote before this one.

As in many of the best mystery/crime novels from this time period, the skills shown by the author here are first rate, especially since Two Names for Death is only Fenwick's third novel. There is nothing superfluous that detracts from the plot, the solution to the two deaths that occur in this story is most cleverly crafted, and the police action here seems logical and realistic. But it's the complicated web of family relationships that the author has constructed that takes center stage here; given all of the possible suspects along with a variety of motives, it's certainly not an easy task trying to discover the who. I didn't, right up until the very last.


Definitely recommendable, Two Names For Death is perfect for readers of old crime/mystery novels, for people who enjoy old police procedurals before they really became known by that name, and perfect for readers who are into discovering forgotten women writers of the past. It's also perfect for readers who are looking for just good, solid mystery reading with no clutter getting in the way of the story, so hard to find these days.

it's a big yes.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

The terrific cover art of the Black Gat edition apparently is the cover from Frank Castle’s “The Violent Hours” Gold Medal edition repurposed. It’s definitely a better cover than the older covers for “Two Names for Death.”

Elizabeth Fenwick Way wrote her firs three novels as E.P. Fenwick: (1) the Inconvenient Corpse (1943); (2) Murder in Haste (1944); and (3) Two Name for Death (1945). She wrote ten mystery novel under her own name (Elizabeth Fenwick): (1) Poor Harriet (1957); (2) A Long Way Down (1959); (3) A Friend of Mary Rose (1961); (4) A Night Run (1961); (5) The Silent Cousin (1962); (6) The Make-Believe Man (1963); (7) Disturbance on Berry Hill (1968); (8) Goodbye, Aunt Elva (1968); (9) Impeccable People (1971); and (10) The Last of Lysandra (1973). To date, Stark House has republished nine of her mystery novels, with only Inconvenient Corpse, Murder in Haste, A Long Way Down, and Impeccable People escaping republication so far.

“Two Names for Death” is a murder mystery novel that doesn’t quite feel like one. It does not pursue things via a singular point of view although taxi driver Barney and police lieutenant Eggart are the primary viewpoints.

The story begins with Barney picking up a fare whose destination is none other than the rooming house he himself lives in. “She was not more than forty-two or three, but the masklike face made her seem timeless and even sinister, like a witch in the stolen body of a young girl. Her dark red hair, worn in long, smooth waves and curls, shone in the hall light with wig-like perfection.”

Barney finds it odd but he keeps to his own business so doesn’t say anything, agreeing to take Lenore Bellane there and back a few hours later, not realizing that the family that lived there was Lenore’s, her husband, Mr. Theo Shafft and her daughter Edith. Barney doesn’t know all this when he takes Lenore back to her hotel, where she is found with her wrists slashed the next morning. It is not until after he reports his encounter to the police that Barney learns that Lenore is the estranged wife of Mr. Shafft and that Edith is her daughter from a previous marriage and that she rarely comes by.

The mystery of her death doesn’t unravel under a confession comes forth in the very last pages of the novel. In the meantime, the reader is given an odd tour of the family background and possible suspects for Lenore’s murder.

Fenwick offers up an atmospheric novel set in Brookline, Massachusetts, that simply doesn’t feel like a run of the mill murder mystery.

[tortoise dreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique blended family situation that reads as much like a domestic drama as a murder mystery. Two parallel investigations, one by the police and a second by a cabby who rents a room in the family's house. Enough twists and turns with believable and interesting characters. Although the set-up was there, no romance ensues. The author had an interesting career, writing three mysteries in three years under the name here, then three mainstream novels over ten years as Elizabeth Fenwick, and then 11 more mysteries over the rest of her life with the same pseudonym (real name: Elizabeth Jane Philips). This was the Black Gat reprint by Stark House Press -- the series has been uniformly good so far. [3½★]

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the new Black Gat Books edition of Two Names for Death by E.P. Fenwick. Originally published in 1945, this is a finely written mystery, filled with complex characters and layers of motivations. What impressed me most was how Fenwick found the humanity in her characters. They could be good or bad within a few sentences, but never boring. Thanks to Black Gat Books for the chance to review this and for bringing it back into print.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...