Murder at the New York World's Fair

by Phoebe Atwood Taylor, Freeman Dana

Mrs. Daisy Tower, wife of the former governor, discovers a murder victim on the private train of Conrad Cassell, a wealthy art collector enroute to the World's Fair

Genres: Mystery

265 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1987

About the author

Taylor is an American mystery author. She is best known for her Asey Mayo series, based in Cape Cod. She additionally wrote and published under the pen names Alice Tilton and Freeman Dana.

Phoebe Atwood Taylor, born in 1909 in Boston, Massachusetts, was the first member of her family to have been born off Cape Cod in more than 300 years. Upon graduating from Manhattan's Barnard College, she moved to Weston, Massachusetts, to pen her first work, The Cape Cod Mystery (1931), which was published when she was 22. The book was written while Taylor was caring for her invalid aunt, Alice Tilton (the source of one of her two publishing pseudonyms, the other being Freeman Dana). Taylor was one of the first mystery writers to give a regional and rural rather than urban focus during the time known as the "golden age" of mystery writing (1918 - 1939). Gone with the Wind's author, Margaret Mitchell, was a great fan of the Asey Mayo series, and encouraged Taylor to pack the books with Cape Cod detail. In all, she authored 33 books. She died in 1976 at age 67.
- Bio by The Countryman Press

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL685...

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got bored with a rather dull historical novel, so I looked for something as different from it as possible - and boy, did I find it!

I've heard of Phoebe Atwood Taylor, but it's mostly as the author of the Asey Mayo and Leonidas Witherell stories. I had never heard of "Murder at the New York World's Fair" and had never heard of her pen name, Freeman Dana, which was used only for this book. The best description I can think of for this book is that it's a cross between a typical Golden Age mystery and a screwball comedy, heavy on the latter. I actually found myself laughing out loud while I read it. I loved all the crazy characters - Daisy, Sam, Cherry, Whitty, Gert (and her mysterious suitcase), and Ali Baba. Taylor did an excellent job of making you care about the characters early on. I was really surprised by how quickly I read this (one day).

The delightfully goofy story opens with Daisy Tower, the 67-year-old widow of a former governor, running away from home. Specifically, the home of her nephew (nicknamed "Eggy") and his dreadful wife Elfrida:

"She had been rebelling inwardly against Eggy and Elfrida for nearly a year, but she had not really felt unkindly toward them until that very morning, when she had been moved to a point of surreptitiously slipping away in the laundry truck to catch the Boston train. The thought of that truck ride brought a smile to Mrs. Boylston Tower’s face. She would never forget that ride with the Home Beautiful wash. She would never forget the jouncings, or the affectionate overtures of the driver’s dog, or having to duck back into the dirty linen at the stop light, to avoid being seen by Mrs. Lizzie Trimmingham."

Daisy is determined to make it to the fair and along the way, she picks up some fellow travelers - Sam, Cherry, Whitty, Gert, and later, Ali Baba - and becomes embroiled in a mystery that hits much closer to home than she expected. All of them except for Ali Baba, who shows up later, win tickets to ride the Golden Dart, the special train of the multimillionaire, Conrad Cassell. Only Cassell claims he had nothing to do with the tickets, and is angry over what he sees as a vengeful joke played on him by his former secretary. They are allowed to ride the train as his guests, but during the night a crime occurs. To say much else would spoil the fun - and there's lots of fun in this book - as Daisy and Company don costumes to avoid Elfrida and Lizzie Trimmingham, avoid the police and security, and hunt down a murderer.

This was a very pleasant surprise and a great deal of fun. I wish Ms Taylor had written more stories about Daisy. She really is a joy to read about.

Very highly recommended.

[Jan C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better known for her Asey Mayo stories. Light mystery where an older woman runs away from home - the home she had been given by her nephew (?) Egbert and his wife Elfrida. She was injured or something and was rehabbing at their place. They either sold or rented out her own house without her knowledge. The New York World's Fair (1934?) is about to open and she wants to go!

There's a big man hunt out for her. Her old maid/assisant has been duped into handing out tickets on the train to 5 strangers to go to New York from Boston on the World's Fair Special train. A motley crew gathers. During the night someone gets killed.

I thought it was a lot of fun. Daisy Tower is a great character.

[Mitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, I wanted so very much to like this book that was written in the late 1930's. I LOVE vintage books, and I love the realistic transportation that reading an actual vintage book gives you. Because you aren't just reading about a story that takes place at a certain time, but it was actually FROM that time, which makes all the references to 30's pop culture and events all the more authentic and exciting. Well, exciting if you are a dork like me of course. And although I loved the references and the descriptions of the buildings at the 1939 World's Fair, the story itself was lacking and uneventful.

The only reasons I give it 2 stars are the awesome 1930's pop culture references and the decriptions of the fairgrounds. I am fascinated by all of the World's Fairs, but particularly the 1939 New York World's Fair. And although this is a fictional "comedy mystery", it is almost like a giant advertisement for the fair because it was written before the fair opened. As different places at the fair were described, I would refer to my handy picture book of actual photographs of the fair so I could follow along with what the characters were seeing.

If it weren't for my love of the World's Fair and everything 1930's, this would easily have only been rated one star. Although I liked the beginning and enjoy the wacky main character Daisy (an old woman cooped up looking for adventure), the story kind of never really leads anywhere and the author seemed very distracted. Random characters who weren't introduced randomly come and go and sometimes I couldn't follow the story. And if they weren't mentioning the fair or 1930's stuff I was off to snoozeville. I gotta be honest. The story sucked.

However, if you are a dorkalicious fan of the 1939 World's Fair like I am, then you may appreciate aspects of it like I did. But don't expect a breathtakingly brilliant whodunnit tale, because you will be utterly disappointed.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Daisy Tower, widow of a former governor, becomes bored by the stifling atmosphere of her nephew's home, where she has been recuperating from a broken hip, she decides to run away.

She ends up on a millionaire's private train, in a compartment with four other random people, headed for the New York World's Fair.

When a murder occurs on the train, Daisy and her companions must find the murderer, while avoiding capture as suspects, as they mix with the fair throngs and search for clues.

This was a farcical, fun, quick read which was written specifically for the 1939 New York World's Fair.

I wouldn't say it was brilliant, but I did enjoy it quite a bit

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taylor was commissioned by the publishers to write something about the 1938 Fair, to piggyback on all the interest and publicity the Fair was receiving. She wrote it under a pen name, so her usual series detectives don't appear, although her madcap humor comes to the fore. Proper widowed Boston dowager Daisy Tower finds herself on a train belonging to an unpleasant millionaire, along with her former secretary, an unemployed newspaperman, a nightclub singer and a wholesale grocer. When they get to the fairgrounds, things get even stranger, as a dead body is discovered on the train. Not her best work, but lots of fun.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters were sometimes simple, sometimes shrewd, often times somewhat silly so it’s hard to root for them. The plot was of its time but the story overall enjoyable. Having been to a few World Fairs helped capture my imagination.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non-stop ditzy fun! Like the author’s Leonidas Witherall series, the plot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it moves too fast for the reader to have time to think about it. Just hang on and enjoy the ride.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

With strict editing this could have been so much better. Alas, it was chaotic and repetitive.

[Jest · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot is essentially stupid; however, it is about the 1939 New York World's fair. In fact, it was written about the 1939 New York Wolrd's fair before the year 1939. That alone makes it pretty special.

[Jeffrey Marks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really wanted to like this book, since I love her 2 other series, but the set-up took entirely too long and the solution to the case came too quickly. We had about 5 pages to see the clues and deduce the killer.