"I must say, for a charming, intelligent girl, you certainly surrounded yourself with a remarkable collection of dopes."  - "Laura" (Directed by Otto Preminger, 1944)

Like most mystery buffs, I know Vera Caspary primarily through "Laura", the film inspired by her novel of the same name. Many years ago I read LAURA out of curiosity and, though I enjoyed it, I never felt the desire to reread it -- on the other hand, I've seen the film countless times. My affection for the movie is so strong that I jumped at the chance to read THE MURDER IN THE STORK CLUB, a collection of four of Caspary's novelettes newly published by Crippen & Landru.

The four stories, Stranger in the House, Sugar and Spice, The Murder in the Stork Club, and Ruth are uniformly enjoyable and competently executed. While Caspary is no Leigh Brackett, she understands the requirements of the genre and, like so many women writers of her era (in particular crime writers), she has a good deal to say about the politics of gender and class -- often in witty, sly asides -- that most contemporary readers will find surprising and enlightening.

The collection begins with Stranger in the House, which is startlingly reminiscent of the Loretta Young film "The Stranger". It is World War Two, and Alice Remsen is a young wife and mother who has been content to submerge her own personality and values beneath those of her handsome, domineering husband. The Remsens live a comfortable, prosperous life in a small, average American town. One day, without warning, an old friend of Alice's husband arrives for an extended visit. The man claims to be Swiss, but only the slowest of readers will not instantly recognize him as a Nazi spy. Alice also suspects all is not well, but she ignores her instinct in an effort to preserve her happy home -- with predictable results.

The second story, Sugar and Spice, is the tale of two cousins: the beautiful, poor Phyllis and the rich, plain Nancy. The novelette is told through the reminiscences of Mike, a successful playwright and a long-time friend of the two women. There is some very nice writing in this story and, while I thought I knew the direction Caspary was going, she left me in enough doubt that I really was still guessing until nearly the end. Caspary's characterizations -- especially of women -- are one of the real strengths of her writing.

The best story in the collection is The Murder in the Stork Club. In the foreword, A.B. Emrys writes, "At the conclusion of Laura, Mark McPherson and Laura Hunt are in love, and there are hints they will marry. But what would such a marriage have been like between the policeman who once gave a dame a fox fur and the self-supporting ad writer with her own apartment and a house in the country?" The Murder in the Stork Club attempts to answer that question. Sara Collins is dining with an ex-beau at the famed Stork Club. The man is threatening to publish Sara's old love letters; when he dies shortly after Sara leaves the club, suspicion naturally falls on her. Joe Collins, an ex-cop newly back from the war, sets out to clear his wife's name -- although he himself entertains doubts of her innocence. The story veers occasionally into madcap territory, but it's a tightly written classic mystery all the same. For this story alone, the collection is worth the price of purchase.

For me, the weakest of the four stories is Ruth. Like all the novelettes contained here, Ruth is a mostly capable young woman who has saddled herself -- even if only temporarily -- with a charming cad. It just takes Ruth a bit longer to figure it out. By the time she does, she is literally on the wrong end of a pistol.

Chuckles and suspense are plenty in THE MURDER IN THE STORK CLUB And Other Stories -- the 29th volume in Crippen & Landru's popular "Lost Classics Series." Fans of vintage mystery are in for a rare treat.

                                                                                                 - D. L. Browne