Old Bones

by Herman Petersen

Marian Wayne, wife of our narrator Ben Wayne, is in search of old pine boards for redecoration. Her search leads her to the abandoned Wight mill. She enters and peers down a deep standpipe, and is shocked to see a skull deep in the water. She heads home to tell Ben, who returns with Doc Miller to investigate. Sure enough, there are bones in the water; and timbers had been added above the bones apparently to prevent the body from floating to the surface. This leads to a murder investigation. RM

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1943

About the author

Herman Petersen (1893-1973) sold his first story, “ The Seven Gilded Balls, ” to Black Mask in 1922. He worked for Utica (NY) newspapers and was the postmaster for Poolville, New York. All his mysteries were set in this area.

Reviews

[Bev]

Marian Wayne, wife of our narrator Ben Wayne, is on the hunt for local-sourced, vintage pine board for a redecoration project. She's hunted high and low in abandoned barns and farmhouses with no success. But then she remembers the grist mill on the property of the area's power family--the Wights. She finds what she's looking for there...and a bit more. While looking around she happens to look in the stand pipe, a well-like opening with water in the bottom, and sees a jumble of bones lying at the bottom. When her husband hears her story, he brings in Doc Miller, the county coroner, who in turn calls upon the D.A. Even before they try to retrieve the bones, Miller is convinced that they've an old murder to solve because someone dumped in old timbers as well in an effort to hide the remains.

Since it is after dark and there's no lights in the mill, they decide to return in the morning to drain the stand pipe and bring up the bones. But when they get there, they find that someone has beaten them to it and the bones are gone. Fortunately, the person who snatched them in the night wasn't so great at the "hiding" part of hide-and-seek and the bones are rediscovered fairly quickly. The Wights, however, immediately use their influence to try and railroad the D.A. into calling the death an "unfortunate accident to John Doe." But as soon as Doc Miller gets a good look at the bones, he isn't having any. He recognizes healed bones representing injuries that he treated himself and declares that the bones belong to Nate Wight, the black sheep of the family who supposedly slunk off to New York City a few years ago. All clues seem to point directly to the Wights--no wonder they wanted things hushed up. And one of them will go to any length to keep the secrets of the past unseen. Now Doc Miller with Ben acting as his leg man must race to identify Nate's murderer before more people are hurt...or killed.

Lots of action--from a chase through the swamps to a midnight rescue from the stand pipe to blazing (literally) grand finale. Ben Wayne endures some very pulpy private eye encounters--all in the dark, so we don't know who the villain is till the end. Doc Miller spends a fair amount of time tending to Ben's injuries and you have to sympathize with Marian who is afraid that her husband won't survive the next go-round with the culprit. There is also a good amount of good old fashioned deduction on Doc Miller's part, making for a good detective story on top of the pulp action. The characters are great from the interactions between the good doctor and Ben, the good doctor and all the Wights. I especially enjoyed the two younger Wights--Peg and Lightning. They made good sleuthing sidekicks for Ben.

There are a few drawbacks--like the overall motivation of the killer. The initial murder and cover-up I get. But the follow-ups are bit tenuous--especially if the Wights and their entourage stick together as they've always done. It might have helped if there had been a bit more attention to the background of the characters (delightful as most of them are, we don't learn a lot about them). And I don't see the point of the fire at the end--not even with the murderer explaining it. But the pluses outweigh the minuses and I thoroughly enjoyed Petersen's story. I'll definitely pick up the first two in the Doc Miller series if I come across them.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Rick Mills]

Synopsis: Marian Wayne, wife of our narrator Ben Wayne, is in search of old pine boards for redecoration. Her search leads her to the abandoned Wight mill. She enters and peers down a deep standpipe, and is shocked to see a skull deep in the water. She heads home to tell Ben, who returns with Doc Miller to investigate. Sure enough, there are bones in the water; and timbers had been added above the bones apparently to prevent the body from floating to the surface (as pictured on cover). This leads to a murder investiagtion.

Review: This book is structured much like The D.A.'s Daughter, with a first-person narrator, a sidekick of a young wisecracking girl-next-door on horseback, and an underwater rescue scene which is a typical entry in his books. It is the third and final book featuring Doc Miller and Ben Wayne.

The Wight family was complicated with all its relations, but I didn't need to follow that as it wasn't germane to the story.

There was also a little hint of a possible relationship with the older (and married) Ben Wayne and the much younger Peg, but it did not develop.

I enjoy all of Petersen's writings and this one did not disappoint. The books place you right in the peaceful countryside of upstate New York. I am a rural person myself, and felt right at home.