Amethyst Spectacles

A marine home on leave from WWII “does a first-class job of detecting” in this tale of puzzling murders and misleading clues (The New York Times).   An injured Pat Abbott is back in New Mexico with his wife, Jean, while he recovers from his war wounds, but he’s still fighting—to find a killer, or possibly more than one.   After one of the couple’s friends, Ray, was found dead at the bottom of a canyon, rumors started swirling. He’d recently shocked the town by bringing a wife home from Hollywood—when he was meant to marry local girl Karen. To complicate matters, Karen’s distinctive amethyst-colored glasses were found in Ray’s abandoned Cadillac convertible. It could have been suicide, but there’s reason to suspect both the not-so-grieving widow and poor, spurned Karen. But soon the widow asks Pat’s help and he and Jean are drawn into a whirlwind of intrigues, jealousies, and motives in this clever whodunit from the Golden Age of Mystery . . .  Praise for the Pat and Jean Abbott Mysteries   “Amusing and sophisticated.” —The Star (London)   “[A] well-plotted and mystifying case.” —Saturday Review   “One of the more interesting married teams of detectives.” —Thrilling Detective