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Jupiter Jones #5
Keep Cool, Mr. Jones
When four missing guests are found, still alive, inside a locked game freezer, Jupiter Jones suspects a failed murder attempt
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
9 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Fuller
47 books5 followersBorn in Massachusetts, Timothy Fuller attended Noble and Greenough School and later Harvard, which he quit his junior year to focus on a writing career.
He once held a record of the longest hitch-hike from Salt Lake City to Cambridge.
He once held a record of the longest hitch-hike from Salt Lake City to Cambridge.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 24, 2015
In Keep Cool, Mr. Jones (1950), Ed "Jupiter" Jones has grown up, left Harvard, stopped professoring--although he's still an academic at heart, and moved to the country for the quiet life with his lovely wife Betty and a nice place to raise their children. He's put amateur detecting behind him. Or so he thinks. That works just fine until the night of the annual square dance (in aid of raising funds for the local library) at Jack Maney's place.
Somebody decides to lock Maney and three of his guests in the walk-in freezer when he takes them on a tour to show them his pheasants. There are many people in the community who may have wanted to get their own back on Jack Maney--whether through a practical joke or an attempted murder. But who could have wanted it so badly that they would include three innocent people? What may have been at best an ill-considered practical joke soon leads to definite murder and revived rumors of a long-lost treasure add a certain spice to the speculations.
Maney's wife "Slim" asks Jones to investigate and, of course, Jupiter can't resist poking his nose into another case...Slim is pretty difficult to resist as well. She promises him a reward that even the dedicated family man can't resist. But before he can earn the reward, he'll find that nearly every male in a 25 mile radius was interested in Slim to varying degrees--he just has to figure out if that's germane to the case; he'll have to decide whether Slim deliberately shot her husband in the leg; he'll have to find $90,000 in gold as well as a disappearing Indian; and he'll have to out-track a bloodhound and out-talk the killer in a dangerous grand finale.
This story is the fifth and final entry in Timothy Fuller's series starring Jupiter Jones. Jones starts his sleuthing career as a graduate student in Harvard Has a Homicide when his advisor, Professor Singer is murdered. The detective bug sticks with him through grad school through his term as a professor himself and then, when a convenient relative dies and leaves him enough money to exit the academic world, in semi-retirement. He's supposed to be working on a book in the relaxing little town of Saxon, but he quickly sets that aside when a murder rears its ugly head.
Jones is full of breezy, witty conversation and the story provides a nice feeling of the post-war period. The wit and social commentary are smoothly integrated into the tale, making for an enjoyable read. As is well-known here on the Block, I do love those academically-inclined amateur detectives and Jones is perfect. He has an educated wit without being pedantic and his academic mind helps him ferret out the details necessary to solve the mystery. The characters are fleshed out as nicely as one could hope for in a short (160 page) crime novel and they add plenty of local color. A good, solid post-war read. ★★★ and a half.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Somebody decides to lock Maney and three of his guests in the walk-in freezer when he takes them on a tour to show them his pheasants. There are many people in the community who may have wanted to get their own back on Jack Maney--whether through a practical joke or an attempted murder. But who could have wanted it so badly that they would include three innocent people? What may have been at best an ill-considered practical joke soon leads to definite murder and revived rumors of a long-lost treasure add a certain spice to the speculations.
Maney's wife "Slim" asks Jones to investigate and, of course, Jupiter can't resist poking his nose into another case...Slim is pretty difficult to resist as well. She promises him a reward that even the dedicated family man can't resist. But before he can earn the reward, he'll find that nearly every male in a 25 mile radius was interested in Slim to varying degrees--he just has to figure out if that's germane to the case; he'll have to decide whether Slim deliberately shot her husband in the leg; he'll have to find $90,000 in gold as well as a disappearing Indian; and he'll have to out-track a bloodhound and out-talk the killer in a dangerous grand finale.
This story is the fifth and final entry in Timothy Fuller's series starring Jupiter Jones. Jones starts his sleuthing career as a graduate student in Harvard Has a Homicide when his advisor, Professor Singer is murdered. The detective bug sticks with him through grad school through his term as a professor himself and then, when a convenient relative dies and leaves him enough money to exit the academic world, in semi-retirement. He's supposed to be working on a book in the relaxing little town of Saxon, but he quickly sets that aside when a murder rears its ugly head.
Jones is full of breezy, witty conversation and the story provides a nice feeling of the post-war period. The wit and social commentary are smoothly integrated into the tale, making for an enjoyable read. As is well-known here on the Block, I do love those academically-inclined amateur detectives and Jones is perfect. He has an educated wit without being pedantic and his academic mind helps him ferret out the details necessary to solve the mystery. The characters are fleshed out as nicely as one could hope for in a short (160 page) crime novel and they add plenty of local color. A good, solid post-war read. ★★★ and a half.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
February 24, 2016
Edmund Jones--formerly nicknamed Jupiter--is now a staid suburban husband and father, but his detective persona comes out when four people are locked in a large freezer at a party. Jones gets them out before damage ensues, but it makes him wonder who would be willing to kill three innocent people to get rid of one. The next morning, the part-time chief of police is found dead, and Jones is asked to fill in for him temporarily. A bit too much philosophizing about the post-war world--this was written before 1950--slows the mystery.
July 14, 2012
Poor beat up, broken bound paperback I really enjoyed. Copyright in 1950, according to the book. A clean and interesting story.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews