What do you think?
Rate this book
Pat and Jean Abbott Mystery #3
The Yellow Violet
In this mystery filled with "lively and exciting doings," a PI in 1940s San Francisco tries to determine whether a beautiful woman is being framed (The New York Times).
Corpses have been turning up with yellow violets accompanying them, and the clue seems to point to a Spanish performer who is in town with her dachshund, Pancho. But private detective Pat Abbott suspects the plants were a plant--and now he's juggling the murders with a missing person case that may involve a fascist conspiracy, even if means postponing his wedding, in this compelling crime novel in the acclaimed long-running series.
Praise for the Pat and Jean Abbott Mysteries
"Amusing and sophisticated." --The Star (London)
"[A] well-plotted and mystifying case." --Saturday Review
Corpses have been turning up with yellow violets accompanying them, and the clue seems to point to a Spanish performer who is in town with her dachshund, Pancho. But private detective Pat Abbott suspects the plants were a plant--and now he's juggling the murders with a missing person case that may involve a fascist conspiracy, even if means postponing his wedding, in this compelling crime novel in the acclaimed long-running series.
Praise for the Pat and Jean Abbott Mysteries
"Amusing and sophisticated." --The Star (London)
"[A] well-plotted and mystifying case." --Saturday Review
273 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1942
6 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Frances Crane
48 books16 followersFrances Kirkwood Crane was an American mystery author, who introduced private investigator Pat Abbott and his future wife Jean in her first novel, 'The Turquoise Shop' (1941). The Abbotts investigated crimes in a total of 26 volumes, each with a colour in the title.
She died in an Albuquerque, New Mexico nursing home, where she had spent the previous few months because of ill-health. Her ashes were scattered across her home town of Lawrenceville.
Frances Crane, author of the colorful Pat and Jean Abbott mystery stories, was born in Lawrenceville, Illinois. After graduating from the University of Illinois, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, she travelled in Europe. While living there in the 1920s she began contributing to magazines, including The New Yorker, in which her satirical "Mrs. Craig-Higgs" pieces from England appeared. Her articles did not prevent her from expanding into mystery fiction, a genre in which she found great success on both sides of the ocean.
Mrs. Crane spent a good part of her life traveling the world, living for extended periods in the places that provided the settings for many of her mysteries. San Francisco was one of her favorite cities and the home of the Abbotts. Her love for that cosmopolitan center was reflected in Thirteen White Tulips, The Amber Eyes, The Man in Gray, and others. Similarly, her fascination with Tangier was evidenced in The Coral Princess Murders (1954), and her love of New Orleans in The Indigo Necklace (1945). Paris, Louisville, Texas, and many other interesting locales were also backgrounds for her mysteries.
From 1941 to 1965, Mrs. Crane completed 26 novels featuring the Abbotts, whose adventures were broadcast in two radio series in the 1940s and 50s, Abbott Mysteries and Adventures of the Abbotts.
She died in an Albuquerque, New Mexico nursing home, where she had spent the previous few months because of ill-health. Her ashes were scattered across her home town of Lawrenceville.
Frances Crane, author of the colorful Pat and Jean Abbott mystery stories, was born in Lawrenceville, Illinois. After graduating from the University of Illinois, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, she travelled in Europe. While living there in the 1920s she began contributing to magazines, including The New Yorker, in which her satirical "Mrs. Craig-Higgs" pieces from England appeared. Her articles did not prevent her from expanding into mystery fiction, a genre in which she found great success on both sides of the ocean.
Mrs. Crane spent a good part of her life traveling the world, living for extended periods in the places that provided the settings for many of her mysteries. San Francisco was one of her favorite cities and the home of the Abbotts. Her love for that cosmopolitan center was reflected in Thirteen White Tulips, The Amber Eyes, The Man in Gray, and others. Similarly, her fascination with Tangier was evidenced in The Coral Princess Murders (1954), and her love of New Orleans in The Indigo Necklace (1945). Paris, Louisville, Texas, and many other interesting locales were also backgrounds for her mysteries.
From 1941 to 1965, Mrs. Crane completed 26 novels featuring the Abbotts, whose adventures were broadcast in two radio series in the 1940s and 50s, Abbott Mysteries and Adventures of the Abbotts.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 18, 2022
Author Frances Crane should be much more well known. No-nonsense private eye Pat Abbott wants to marry Jean Holly, but fascists keep getting in the way! This novel having first been released in 1942, we’re talking literal Mussolini-loving Fascists. A pretty blonde thing named Molly Terrill’s brother was declared dead seven years ago, but she thinks he’s still alive and wants to find him. Pat sends her to a colleague, but that private detective ends up dead. Pat then takes Molly’s case as well as looking for a murderer. There will be plenty of twists and surprises before readers get to the last, satisfying page.
The Yellow Violet was my introduction to the Abbotts, but it won’t be my last. Although this is the third book in the series, I never felt lost. I’m so grateful Crane is back in print!
The Yellow Violet was my introduction to the Abbotts, but it won’t be my last. Although this is the third book in the series, I never felt lost. I’m so grateful Crane is back in print!
November 17, 2017
see review of another edition
August 22, 2024
2024 bk 128 When is a red herring not a red herring? When it is a yellow violet. Warning, this book is filled with all sorts of red herrings, that might change from a red herring to a 'gasp' real clue. Pat and Jean picked a day for a wedding, alas it wasn't to be when a colleague dies and an Italian fascist is on the prowl. This run up to WWII shows us some of the west coast talk and preparations and what is on the minds of folks like Pat and Jean. Well done!
July 21, 2013
In this story Jean Holly is a young woman in her mid twenties who has come to San Francisco to get married to Patrick Abbott a detective she met on an earlier case. While the blurbs refer to Jean as a sleuth as well as Patrick, in actual fact what she does best is wait for Patrick. She waits in bars, in hotels, in his office, in her room and more. She does THINK about the case while she is waiting.
Despite the fact that the mystery is written by a woman known for her feminist views, all the women in the book are a bunch of dull knives in the drawer. Jean has a wild imagination , the secretary Mrs. Murphy can't find her way out of a taxi cab, the client behaves very inconsistently and she wavers wildly between self confidence and irrational dithering fear, and none of these ladies is at all a good judge of character as they accept everything at face value.
Thankfully the man in the case is capable of taking care of everything: secret agents, murderers, suspicious Germans, Spaniards, Italian cabbies and Orientals as well as spies while making sure that Jean is somewhere waiting for him.
The first two books in the series were more enjoyable.
Despite the fact that the mystery is written by a woman known for her feminist views, all the women in the book are a bunch of dull knives in the drawer. Jean has a wild imagination , the secretary Mrs. Murphy can't find her way out of a taxi cab, the client behaves very inconsistently and she wavers wildly between self confidence and irrational dithering fear, and none of these ladies is at all a good judge of character as they accept everything at face value.
Thankfully the man in the case is capable of taking care of everything: secret agents, murderers, suspicious Germans, Spaniards, Italian cabbies and Orientals as well as spies while making sure that Jean is somewhere waiting for him.
The first two books in the series were more enjoyable.
September 25, 2017
I pulled the book off the shelf meaning to put it on my TBR pile. My mistake was opening it to the first page!
Set to the back drop of Pat Abbott's home town of San Francisco. Pat is about to marry Jean Holly...if people would just leave them in peace.
When a young woman comes in to ask for his help in finding her brother, Pat sends her downstairs to another private detective. A couple of hours later that detective is found dead.
Pat sets out to find the mans killer, with the solicitous help of his bride-to-be.
A fast paced mystery, with plenty of colourful characters. In a plot with twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.
As always, these books are a pure joy to read.
My copy is the UK Hammond, Hammond & Co. Ltd. reprint edition of 1946 (above), sadly without the lovely dust jacket.
If you like the review and would like to read reviews on other books I have read, visit my blog at www.finalchapterreadersgroup.wordpres...... like, comment and follow.
May 17, 2025
The third book gets us to San Francisco and Jean begins to settle into a detective mentality. The wartime setting (actually written in 1942) adds an immediacy to what is, essentially, a cozy mystery that is both contributory and a bit of a red herring to the central story. The story is full of red herrings and false clues with a very satisfactory feel. And, the actual mystery is very well done and pleasing.
January 16, 2025
I really like this series, but the casual racist language and attitudes brought down the rating for me.
October 1, 2013
This kind of case is tricky from the very first and sometimes it keeps getting more and more so right up to the minute you solve it. ~Pat Abbott
The Yellow Violet is the third novel in the Pat and Jean Abbott (though still Jean Holly here) mystery series by Frances Crane. Jean has come to San Francisco in order to marry the man of her dreams, detective Pat Abbott. The trousseau is all ready and the orchid corsage has been delivered. Jean has changed into her wedding apparel (a new dress suit--no white wedding dress in the war years for her) and is ready to head to the chapel with her handsome hubby-to-be when a case intervenes.
Before Pat can make his romantic get-away with the lovely Jean, Molly Terrill comes to his office looking for his help to locate her missing brother who managed to get himself mixed up with the Fascists when they were in Italy. With an eye towards his honeymoon, Pat suggests that Molly consult a fellow detective so he and Jean can get married. Molly agrees. Swell. Except, then Charley Dickens (the fellow detective) is found shot in his office...with a single yellow violet as the only clue. Toni Ravel, a beautiful Spanish entertainer, is on tour in the Western United States. Toni's trademark just happens to be the yellow violet corsages that she always wears. There are Fascist spy rings, suspicious Asian bellboys, and a man in a brown hat who follows Jean wherever she goes. There's a dachshund named Pancho and the ubiquitous taxi driver Angelino Angelo. It will all end with a struggle over the tea set...and the teapot will come in handy when Jean needs to lend Pat a hand in subduing the bad guys.
Very fun war-time mystery, although not quite as humorous as the Pam & Jerry North series. Jean is very determined to help Pat--but she tends to misjudge each and every person she encounters. She doesn't trust Toni Ravel's boyfriend/manager because his name sounds German. She doesn't trust the bellboy because...well, he's always there. She doesn't trust Molly's housekeeper/mother-figure because because of the way she talks about Molly's brother. But, for all her misplaced (and sometimes well-placed, but for the wrong reasons) distrust, Jean is there for Pat when it counts and helps him collar the villains in the end. Three and 3/4 stars (rounded to four on Goodreads).
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
The Yellow Violet is the third novel in the Pat and Jean Abbott (though still Jean Holly here) mystery series by Frances Crane. Jean has come to San Francisco in order to marry the man of her dreams, detective Pat Abbott. The trousseau is all ready and the orchid corsage has been delivered. Jean has changed into her wedding apparel (a new dress suit--no white wedding dress in the war years for her) and is ready to head to the chapel with her handsome hubby-to-be when a case intervenes.
Before Pat can make his romantic get-away with the lovely Jean, Molly Terrill comes to his office looking for his help to locate her missing brother who managed to get himself mixed up with the Fascists when they were in Italy. With an eye towards his honeymoon, Pat suggests that Molly consult a fellow detective so he and Jean can get married. Molly agrees. Swell. Except, then Charley Dickens (the fellow detective) is found shot in his office...with a single yellow violet as the only clue. Toni Ravel, a beautiful Spanish entertainer, is on tour in the Western United States. Toni's trademark just happens to be the yellow violet corsages that she always wears. There are Fascist spy rings, suspicious Asian bellboys, and a man in a brown hat who follows Jean wherever she goes. There's a dachshund named Pancho and the ubiquitous taxi driver Angelino Angelo. It will all end with a struggle over the tea set...and the teapot will come in handy when Jean needs to lend Pat a hand in subduing the bad guys.
Very fun war-time mystery, although not quite as humorous as the Pam & Jerry North series. Jean is very determined to help Pat--but she tends to misjudge each and every person she encounters. She doesn't trust Toni Ravel's boyfriend/manager because his name sounds German. She doesn't trust the bellboy because...well, he's always there. She doesn't trust Molly's housekeeper/mother-figure because because of the way she talks about Molly's brother. But, for all her misplaced (and sometimes well-placed, but for the wrong reasons) distrust, Jean is there for Pat when it counts and helps him collar the villains in the end. Three and 3/4 stars (rounded to four on Goodreads).
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
October 11, 2012
Jean Holly has come to San Francisco to marry Pat Abbott, and they are just leaving his office when beautiful Molly Terrill appears, desperately appealing to Pat to find her missing brother. Pat reluctantly gets involved in the mystery surrounding the Terrills, as do many others in the seemingly limitless pool of suspicious characters in wartime California, including a beautiful Spanish singer and the man in the brown hat, who keeps following Jean. This is one of Crane's earlier books, and full of energy.
April 22, 2014
Fun, smart and lively. The 1940s milieu was fascinating. Loved the descriptions of the clothes that Jean wears, especially the hats. Just happened to buy this book at a local library book sale, and will now look for more by this author.
October 30, 2023
The third in the series: It takes place in San Francisco during WWII. Jean and Patrick are trying to get married but murder keeps getting in the way.........
I enjoyed this story very much and it's enjoyable to get to know these two characters as they grow and sleuth together.
I enjoyed this story very much and it's enjoyable to get to know these two characters as they grow and sleuth together.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews