“While we out here fumbling with that music… the lousy bastard was in there, KILLING HER!”

24. Case with Three Husbands – Margaret Erskine

Bastardy. A word not often used, probably because it has less impact than “bastard” by itself – a fact proven by Linda Day George in the movie Pieces during her pivotal scene of mostly yelling “BAAAAAASTAAARD!” for quite a long time. Pivotal. Anyway though, this whodunit revolves around a family secret and those who know and those who want the family fortune.

There’s the usual cast of eccentric family members, two daughters with ex-husbands, that one hypochondriac guy who swims in the ocean every day, that actor one of the daughters brought home, a lovely poodle who dug up some shoes and started all the controversy. But… there might not have been any kerfuffle or solution if there hadn’t been a doctor living essentially next door who was hosting a recuperating policeman after he’d been shot in London. And actually, the way he got there via a visit to that very doctor’s father where he overheard the daughter with the many supposedly dead husbands.

Eavesdropping, a poodle who dug up shoes in the sand, and Septimus Finch, who has zero ability to relax even after being shot are the pillars of this story. I can’t say I was as concerned about the many probably dead husbands or the violation of the policy about not using the front gate until Edward VIII ditches that American and unabdicates the throne or the “obviously I love my childhood friend who keeps talking about me like I’m a feral cat” romance.

 

Snuffy is about to yell “BAAASTAAARD” at Thorfy, who is definitely not a bastard in any traditional sense of the word or talking about her like she’s feral. She’s far too intimidating for that.