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Masao Masuto #4
The Case of the Poisoned Eclairs
Eclairs are mysteriously delivered to a quartet of Hollywood wives at a bridge party. They don't eat them, but the maid does and dies. Cunningham updates Berkley's Poisoned Chocolates with Masuto at the helm.
191 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
E.V. Cunningham
35 books10 followersEV Cunningham is a pseudonym used by author: Howard Fast, and under that name he wrote 21 mystery novels plus two others, one under his own name and one using another pseudonym Walter Ericson.
He was educated at George Washington High School, graduating in 1931. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York before serving with the Office of War Information between 1942 and 1943 and the Army Film Project in 1944.
He became war correspondent in the Far East for 'Esquire' and 'Coronet' magazines in 1945. And after the war he taught at Indiana University, Bloomington, in the summer of 1947, a year in which he was imprisoned for contempt of Congress, concerning his communistic views.
He became the owner of the Blue Heron Press in New York in 1952, a position he held until 1957. And he was the founder of the World Peace Movement and a member of the World Peace Council from 1950 to 1955 and was later a member of the Fellowship for Reconciliation. In 1952 he was an American Labour Party candidate for Congress for the 23rd District of New York.
He received a great many awards between 1933 and 1967.
He married Bette Cohen in 1937 and they had one son and one daughter.
Under his own name he wrote 35 works of fiction plus a variety of history and critical works, short stories, plays and a screenplay, 'The Hessian' (1971) plus a book of verse with William Gropper.
He died died at his home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, on 12 March 2003.
Gerry Wolstenholme
March 2022
He was educated at George Washington High School, graduating in 1931. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York before serving with the Office of War Information between 1942 and 1943 and the Army Film Project in 1944.
He became war correspondent in the Far East for 'Esquire' and 'Coronet' magazines in 1945. And after the war he taught at Indiana University, Bloomington, in the summer of 1947, a year in which he was imprisoned for contempt of Congress, concerning his communistic views.
He became the owner of the Blue Heron Press in New York in 1952, a position he held until 1957. And he was the founder of the World Peace Movement and a member of the World Peace Council from 1950 to 1955 and was later a member of the Fellowship for Reconciliation. In 1952 he was an American Labour Party candidate for Congress for the 23rd District of New York.
He received a great many awards between 1933 and 1967.
He married Bette Cohen in 1937 and they had one son and one daughter.
Under his own name he wrote 35 works of fiction plus a variety of history and critical works, short stories, plays and a screenplay, 'The Hessian' (1971) plus a book of verse with William Gropper.
He died died at his home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, on 12 March 2003.
Gerry Wolstenholme
March 2022
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 14, 2015
A light, fast read, very much of its time. Someone has laced pastries and chocolates with pure botulin toxin. Who, and why--not to mention, where did it come from? You can't just buy botulin like it was rat poison.
Written in the mid-seventies, by a man born at the beginning of the 20th century, when it could be said in Beverly Hills that "nobody can afford sixty thousand a year"; when $5000 a month was a huge amount of alimony in California, and when a Beverly Hills mansion fetching a million and a half was exorbitant. Also, the avowedly gay hairdresser claims that he could "stop being gay" to marry an attractive, pleasant young woman. True to its time, the novel glosses over gory details in favour of the puzzle and the police work, but there's nothing wrong with that. The author obviously doesn't know the Japanese American culture (or Zen) except from the outside in, and to be honest, his LA tropes could just as easily have been gleaned from TV, movies and books--both are just window dressing. At one point, Masuto thinks that eating with a knife and fork "turns the approach to food into an attack"; the irony of reflecting thus while eating his tempura with ivory chopsticks is apparently lost on him--strange when you consider that he lives in S. Cal., where ivory was already considered infra dig at the time the book was published, coming as it does from killing an endangered species.
Quibbles aside, though, it was an enjoyable read that I finished in 24 hrs.
Written in the mid-seventies, by a man born at the beginning of the 20th century, when it could be said in Beverly Hills that "nobody can afford sixty thousand a year"; when $5000 a month was a huge amount of alimony in California, and when a Beverly Hills mansion fetching a million and a half was exorbitant. Also, the avowedly gay hairdresser claims that he could "stop being gay" to marry an attractive, pleasant young woman. True to its time, the novel glosses over gory details in favour of the puzzle and the police work, but there's nothing wrong with that. The author obviously doesn't know the Japanese American culture (or Zen) except from the outside in, and to be honest, his LA tropes could just as easily have been gleaned from TV, movies and books--both are just window dressing. At one point, Masuto thinks that eating with a knife and fork "turns the approach to food into an attack"; the irony of reflecting thus while eating his tempura with ivory chopsticks is apparently lost on him--strange when you consider that he lives in S. Cal., where ivory was already considered infra dig at the time the book was published, coming as it does from killing an endangered species.
Quibbles aside, though, it was an enjoyable read that I finished in 24 hrs.
June 30, 2021
My wife grabbed this in a pile of used books at my favorite comic book store... I think the cover and title grabbed her attention, having no idea it was a series or anything, and she liked it enough for me to read it.
It definitely evokes Columbo a bit.. working class detective investigating the jet set, but the detective himself is very different. He's a second generation Japanese American and a Zen Buddhist, though I suspect the author knows little about either past the typical stereotypes. The book is massive a product of the time it was written... much of the humor is racial in nature, and Masao uses that as a weapon to make people underestimate him, just as Columbo uses his blue collar, messy persona to disguise his intelligence.
The mystery itself is very good, but be warned there's alot of language and more than a few stereotypes in here that would never be published or said today... the gay hairdresser is particularly bad, as is Masao saying 'Ah so' every now and then, and thinking to himself he should try not to.
I'm not sure the series can get away with having two many murders in Beverly Hills and keep making them seem like shocking events, so I wonder how it works as a series, but this particular book was quite good and well worth reading.
It definitely evokes Columbo a bit.. working class detective investigating the jet set, but the detective himself is very different. He's a second generation Japanese American and a Zen Buddhist, though I suspect the author knows little about either past the typical stereotypes. The book is massive a product of the time it was written... much of the humor is racial in nature, and Masao uses that as a weapon to make people underestimate him, just as Columbo uses his blue collar, messy persona to disguise his intelligence.
The mystery itself is very good, but be warned there's alot of language and more than a few stereotypes in here that would never be published or said today... the gay hairdresser is particularly bad, as is Masao saying 'Ah so' every now and then, and thinking to himself he should try not to.
I'm not sure the series can get away with having two many murders in Beverly Hills and keep making them seem like shocking events, so I wonder how it works as a series, but this particular book was quite good and well worth reading.
May 26, 2022
A total classic who done it. Like Murder She Wrote, including some bad racial remarks, hence published in 79 so I can see past that only for that purpose.
June 25, 2021
This book puts me in mind of my beloved Colombo. First of all it's set in sunny California, second of all it's about a humble detective, and third of all all of the suspects (and the targeted women) are extremely wealthy. I like the book overall, and I would read another by this author.
I like the writing of the book very much, but it's shocking to see the casual racism and sexism in a book published as recently as 1979!! From the Japanese detective saying a cliche phrase, to him being called "oriental" and assumed to be Chinese to him being referenced as "Charlie Chan,"(page 126) and being referred to as a person with a certain eye shape, the racism was so in your face. But then there's also the sexism of the detective having a wife who waits on him, and whom he gives permission to attend a feminist speaker event. I can see how society has changed what it accepts for the better!
I like the writing of the book very much, but it's shocking to see the casual racism and sexism in a book published as recently as 1979!! From the Japanese detective saying a cliche phrase, to him being called "oriental" and assumed to be Chinese to him being referenced as "Charlie Chan,"(page 126) and being referred to as a person with a certain eye shape, the racism was so in your face. But then there's also the sexism of the detective having a wife who waits on him, and whom he gives permission to attend a feminist speaker event. I can see how society has changed what it accepts for the better!
September 17, 2021
Much the same as the first three volumes, a pleasant read for characters, story and a little history/nostalgia for early California. Masao has evolved into a bit more intolerance it seems than in the first two volumes. I enjoyed the book and will continue into the next volume soon - I'm curious if he will continue this evolution or return to his more zen-like mode.
January 25, 2023
The mystery was wonderful. This book is very dated though. Lots of offensive terms and racist elements. It was definitely a product of the time and once you got passed that (which I never really did) and take the book in the context of its time, it was a very good mystery which kept me guessing!
November 29, 2020
. . . Another satisfying mystery featuring our Zen Buddhist detective in Beverly Hills.
January 24, 2023
Botulism cannot grow in eclairs, so someone is attacking a group of wealthy Beverly Hills divorcees as Masuto's traditional Japanese wife starts reading Betty Friedan.
October 11, 2013
love Masato mysteries.....
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews