Proof of the Pudding

Asey Mayo Cape Cod Mystery #22

by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

The war is over and Asey Mayo has come home to Cape Cod bag and baggage. He arrives to a bake sale going on at his house to raise money to repair destruction wreaked upon the Cape by a recent hurricane. — Jenny, his cousin-housekeeper, sends him off to wander in the woods dressed in the business suit he was wearing to travel. He finds the body of a well-dressed young woman who turns out to be the daughter of a former enemy. Other people are about, sorting through the debris left by the storm. He chases someone, is chased himself and gets thrown into a muddy swamp. He even becomes the primary murder suspect. Soon he's cleared and free to detect by talking to the characters that people these books, a bitter writer, a love-lorn ex-Wac, a grouchy old lady, and a chubby eleven-year-old girl named Mildred, who all lead to the murder's solution.

Genres: Mystery

189 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

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]

Asey Mayo returns home after the end of World War II to find that a hurricane has hit the area and people are trying to put things back to normal. Asey gets a bit of shock when he arrives at his home. His cousin Jennie has enlisted a large group of women to help her clean things up, and it is made very clear to Asey that he will just be in the way.

Asey decides to explore the town he has seen little of for the past four years, and is struck by the changes wrought by the hurricane. Trees are gone and the steeple from the Congregational Church and the clock tower from the town hall are both missing. Ironically, it looks like a war zone. Of course, there are probably looters as well, eager to cash in on this disaster.

Asey comes across a cod line, which he curiously follows into the Pogue inlet woods - to the body of a young woman. Asey thinks she looks familiar, but he cannot pin a name on her. It is only when he speaks to Jennie again that he learns the dead girl is Ann Tinsbury, the only child of his old foe, King Tinsbury. King had stolen some blueprints that had belonged to Asey's employer 30 years earlier. This theft made King's fortune, but almost ruined the Porter Company. Asey had confronted King on Main Street and beat him to a pulp. Asey had threatened not only King, but "his children, an' his sisters, an' his cousins, an' his aunts, an' all his dogs an' cats, too."

King Tinsbury passed away of natural causes a year earlier. Asey finds it hard to believe that anyone would believe that he of all people would kill a girl he didn't know simply because she happened to be the daughter of someone he hated, but hadn't seen in 30 years. However, that is exactly what the police think. Lt Hanson of the local police firmly believes that Asey is a killer and is determined to catch him. Asey finds himself having to clear his name and catch a killer.

This is a fast-moving mystery. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first, but Taylor's trademark humor, well-drawn characters, and an intriguing mystery. Taylor has a gift for creating likeable, memorable characters. Every time I read one of her mysteries, it seems like the killer is someone that I like, and this book is no exception. I have yet to figure out who did it before the end of the book. Of course, some of that is because I'm enjoying the experience too much to think about it.

[Chazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Asey Mayo expects a warm welcome home after being gone serving in WWII. Instead he arrives home to the destruction of a hurricane that hit Cape Cod and his housekeeper-cousin setting up for some sort of shindig in his house. Not quite what he was expecting. Seems the insurance wasn’t renewed on the Women’s Club clubhouse, so…and outdoor fête to raise money to rebuild is being held.

It’s not the type of thing Asey enjoys so he takes off to survey the damage, and look for any of his stuff that may have been carried off by the hurricane.

During his stroll he finds the dead body of a young girl in the nearby woods. She is well dressed, but her pocketbook, found nearby, contains no form of ID. She did look vaguely familiar, but then Asey has been away.

There also seems to be looters in the area taking advantage of the antiques and jewellery to be found in the homes. Items keep mysteriously disappearing.

When Asey is suspected as the possible murderer, due to the murder weapon being one of his lobster pot buoys, and a serious disagreement from the past, between Asey and the dead girl’s father is remembered, things cause Asey to have to sneak around to do his investigation.

Greed, secrets, envy, family and personal relationships about among the characters.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brisk Mayo—not too silly, but not too well-planned, either. Long eavesdropping scene as a substitute for detecting. And a murderer out of left field. Good thing I like Asey, or I wouldn’t have finished it.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another in the series. Asey finally gets to come home to Cape Cod after his wartime job ends, only to become involved in another murder case and this time he is one of the suspects!

[Denise M.]

AKA: Alice Tilton, Freeman Dana

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asey Mayo returns home from doing war work only to find himself a murder suspect.