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Asey Mayo Cape Cod Mystery #10
Figure Away
Flocks of tourists were arriving in Billingsgate for Old Home Week, unaware that odd things had been fires in Town Hall, stolen keys, and shots in the dark. Before it all gets further out of hand, Asey Mayo is called in to save the day, hardly expecting to confront a corpse down in sinister Hell Hollow.
- GenresMystery
286 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1937
About the author
Phoebe Atwood Taylor
44 books44 followersTaylor 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 21, 2024
The town of Billingsgate is getting ready to celebrate "Old Home Week" and planning to clean up on the tourist trade as visitors flood in for a taste of a quaint old town. They've lined up all the journalists and a radio station and a well-known singer and all sorts of public dignitaries to attend and see the glory of Billingsgate. Town officials hope that it will bring in enough surplus to put the town back in the black and have enough left over to pave roads and support schools and all the other things that have been neglected. But it seems that someone doesn't want Old Home Week to succeed. They tried to set the Town Hall on fire. They've stolen the official town keys--"every last one of them." They sawed through the grandstand supports. And they've taken potshots at the town's selectmen. And after every shot the victims have heard an eerie laugh floating in the night air.
Selectman Weston Mayhew asks his cousin Asey Maho, New England's answer to Sherlock Holmes, to spend the week in Billingsgate to act as temporary chief of police, State Police liaison, and private eye all rolled into one. Everyone knows how good a detective Asey is, so surely that will stop the saboteur in his tracks. Well...it does put a stop to the wanton destruction, but it doesn't stop murder. Mary Randall, owner of the local antique shop, gets word to Asey that she wants to talk to him about something, but when he arrives at her place, he finds her shot to death. Did she know something about who was behind the Old Home Week sabotage and the culprit wanted to prevent her telling? Or is there a more prosaic motive for her murder? After all, Mary Randall knew quite a bit about the secrets of Billingsgate and had a few of her own. There's the life insurance policy leaving a large amount of cash to her goddaughter (who definitely needs the money). There's the henpecked husband who has an eye for the ladies and doesn't want his wife to find out. There's the soprano who seems to attract all the men and the painter whose politics ruffles everyone's feathers. And there's the General whose love for fireworks allowed the noise of the shotgun to go unremarked. Asey has quite a bit of sleuthing to do before he'll be able to find the killer and save Billingsgate's status as a quaint old town.
I don't know if Covid-brain is still in play or what, but I had a really difficult time following Asey's conversations in this one. I've read several of Taylor's Asey Mayo mysteries in the past and I don't remember him being quite so cryptic. There were whole passages where I felt like I was missing about half the conversation. The mystery itself is good--nicely complicated with plenty of suspects running around. I was all set to buy into a certain person, but then Taylor gave things a bit of a shake at the end to show why it couldn't be them. Nice surprise ending. Would have rated it higher if I hadn't felt so out of touch with our hero throughout.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
Selectman Weston Mayhew asks his cousin Asey Maho, New England's answer to Sherlock Holmes, to spend the week in Billingsgate to act as temporary chief of police, State Police liaison, and private eye all rolled into one. Everyone knows how good a detective Asey is, so surely that will stop the saboteur in his tracks. Well...it does put a stop to the wanton destruction, but it doesn't stop murder. Mary Randall, owner of the local antique shop, gets word to Asey that she wants to talk to him about something, but when he arrives at her place, he finds her shot to death. Did she know something about who was behind the Old Home Week sabotage and the culprit wanted to prevent her telling? Or is there a more prosaic motive for her murder? After all, Mary Randall knew quite a bit about the secrets of Billingsgate and had a few of her own. There's the life insurance policy leaving a large amount of cash to her goddaughter (who definitely needs the money). There's the henpecked husband who has an eye for the ladies and doesn't want his wife to find out. There's the soprano who seems to attract all the men and the painter whose politics ruffles everyone's feathers. And there's the General whose love for fireworks allowed the noise of the shotgun to go unremarked. Asey has quite a bit of sleuthing to do before he'll be able to find the killer and save Billingsgate's status as a quaint old town.
I don't know if Covid-brain is still in play or what, but I had a really difficult time following Asey's conversations in this one. I've read several of Taylor's Asey Mayo mysteries in the past and I don't remember him being quite so cryptic. There were whole passages where I felt like I was missing about half the conversation. The mystery itself is good--nicely complicated with plenty of suspects running around. I was all set to buy into a certain person, but then Taylor gave things a bit of a shake at the end to show why it couldn't be them. Nice surprise ending. Would have rated it higher if I hadn't felt so out of touch with our hero throughout.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
June 21, 2021
Atwood Taylor had a definite skill at car chases. After reading 10 of these, I expected well flushed out characters but I was surprised by the action of a car chase through back roads of Cape Cod. Lots of red herrings and I didn't figure this one out. I wasn't surprised by the convoluted ending but it did provide a satisfying conclusion. On to number 11......
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July 7, 2023This 1937 novel is the tenth Asey Mayo book. He is a crusty Cape Cod character who solves crimes as a favor for friends.
His cousin Weston Mayhew, he still spelled the name the old way, calls him for help. Weston is the chairman of the Board of Selectmen for the Cape Cod village of Billingsgate. They are having a big Old Home Week celebration and someone is trying to disrupt the celebration with threats and gunshots.
Asey agrees to try to get to the bottom of it. The owner of an antique store is shot and killed and the shooting continues. Asey tries to investigate while the celebrations go forward. No one wants to scare the tourist away.
Taylor gives us a nicely complicated plot and an interesting set of suspects. Asey is a little more physical than usual in this one. Usually, he is more of a cerebral detective. The ending surprised me. A solid mystery story.
Signs of the time.
1. A young woman has a hard run through the woods. Asey tells her to sit down and rest. She says, "Give me a cigarette! I haven't done anything so strenuous since I played hockey in my youth."
2. Asey Mayo's boat is named "Rock and Roll" because it rocks and rolls so much when he sails it.
His cousin Weston Mayhew, he still spelled the name the old way, calls him for help. Weston is the chairman of the Board of Selectmen for the Cape Cod village of Billingsgate. They are having a big Old Home Week celebration and someone is trying to disrupt the celebration with threats and gunshots.
Asey agrees to try to get to the bottom of it. The owner of an antique store is shot and killed and the shooting continues. Asey tries to investigate while the celebrations go forward. No one wants to scare the tourist away.
Taylor gives us a nicely complicated plot and an interesting set of suspects. Asey is a little more physical than usual in this one. Usually, he is more of a cerebral detective. The ending surprised me. A solid mystery story.
Signs of the time.
1. A young woman has a hard run through the woods. Asey tells her to sit down and rest. She says, "Give me a cigarette! I haven't done anything so strenuous since I played hockey in my youth."
2. Asey Mayo's boat is named "Rock and Roll" because it rocks and rolls so much when he sails it.
February 27, 2024
Weston Mayhew needs help and cousin Asey Mayo is the person to do it. “Old Home Week” is happening and that means droves of tourists will be arriving in Billingsgate. Not something usual for this sleepy town.
Leading up to this celebratory week, there have been strange happenings — stolen keys, gun shots, fires and murder. Asey’s reputation for crime solving is the only solution.
Mayhew thinks someone is out to kill him and possibly the other two selectmen of the town. Asey is given a visitors’ badge, police badge and state police badge and the authority to back them up. Mayhew just doesn’t want the police to be involved. This seems a bit strange, but Asey reserves the right to bring the police in, if there comes a need.
Asey feel there is more below the surface that is going on and starts finding threads that do lead to more. Such as a corpse found in Hell Hollow, for a starter, that needs to be kept hushed up until after the week-long celebration. Then there is blackmail, embezzling and more! Asey really has his hands full in this case!
Leading up to this celebratory week, there have been strange happenings — stolen keys, gun shots, fires and murder. Asey’s reputation for crime solving is the only solution.
Mayhew thinks someone is out to kill him and possibly the other two selectmen of the town. Asey is given a visitors’ badge, police badge and state police badge and the authority to back them up. Mayhew just doesn’t want the police to be involved. This seems a bit strange, but Asey reserves the right to bring the police in, if there comes a need.
Asey feel there is more below the surface that is going on and starts finding threads that do lead to more. Such as a corpse found in Hell Hollow, for a starter, that needs to be kept hushed up until after the week-long celebration. Then there is blackmail, embezzling and more! Asey really has his hands full in this case!
December 12, 2022
As long as you can get along with the localised American dialect, this Cape Cod murder/mystery offers something different to those typically drawn to British country house murders for their classic crime fix.
February 8, 2023
More Asey Mayo, this one gets more personal as it has both friends and relatives under suspicion of murder.
December 17, 2016
Billingsgate selectman Wes Mayhew sends for his cousin Asey Mayo to help the town of Billingsgate, which is celebrating its anniversary. Success is essential to the town's financial survival, but strange things are happening, and well-organized Wes is worried. When Asey finds a murdered woman, he's worried, too. Can he keep the murder confidential and save the town, while preventing other murders? This is a fine example of Taylor's Cape Cod mysteries.
September 27, 2014
Liked this one a lot--strong female characters, truly mystifying plot (a tiny bit too mystifying to solve) and excellent creepy bits involving life-size dummies and chases through woods and backroads. Taylor crams so much into these books and keeps them moving quickly--much fun.
September 1, 2008
Asey finally meets a crook as smart as he is. This one was a shift in direction from the others. Taylor definitely avoids being formulaic.
Want to Read
September 24, 2016AKA: Alice Tilton, Freeman Dana
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews