First Come, First Kill: A Captain Heimrich Mystery

Captain Heimrich #14

by Richard Lockridge, Frances Lockridge

Book by Lockridge, Richard, Lockridge, Frances Louise Davis

Genres: Mystery

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

An American writer of detective fiction, Richard Lockridge's frequent collaborator was his wife Frances Lockridge, who co-wrote the Mr. and Mrs. North mystery series and other popular books.

The couple also published under the shared pseudonym Francis Richards.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

For once, Captain Heimrich doesn't have to go find murder, murder comes to him. Well, at least it comes to his driveway. You wouldn't expect a killer to choose to shoot their victim on the doorstep of a State Police captain, but someone near Van Brunt, NY does. Heimrich's wife, Susan, is in their front yard when Colonel, their Great Dane, barks to announce a visitor. A very old man comes stumbling up the drive and falls over, dead, before the dog can reach him. It doesn't take long to discover that the man has been shot nor that he is a man known as "Old Tom" who often did odd jobs for various folks around Van Brunt. But nobody really knows who Old Tom was or were he came from.

Fortunately, for the detective, Old Tom's fingerprints are on file...but not as an old jailbird. The corpse in Heimrich's driveway is T. (for Thomas) Lyman Mitchell, a missing New York Supreme Court justice. Mitchell disappeared from Tonaganda six years ago--leaving behind a wife and daughter and a large estate that no one could touch since the man had not been proved deceased. That's not a problem now. The former Mrs. Mitchell expects to scoop the pot under an old will--but an eleventh hour holograph will turns up, leaving the judge's material possessions to his daughter. Had someone in the family gotten impatient for the estate to be handed over? And, if so, how did they know where to find Mitchell?

Of course, family members are the only suspects. There are rumors that the judge had ties to racketeers and when things got too hot he decided to disappear. But granted that there's any truth in rumor, the question remains...how did they know where Mitchell was? If Heimrich can't answer that question, then he needs to consider whether Mitchell was killed, not as missing Justice Mitchell, but as Old Tom. In his wanderings from place to place in search of odd jobs is it possible that he wandered into something he shouldn't have? Maybe saw something that someone would prefer to keep quiet?

I read most of the Heimrich series long ago and far away, before My Reader's Block was gleam in the internet's eye. Generally speaking, if it's been long enough since my last reading, I can reread mysteries and quite often be misled by red herrings all over again. Not so with this one. I knew who and what and why pretty much from the point when who showed up in the story. Fortunately, that didn't deduct much from the enjoyment quota. It was still very interesting to watch Heimrich and Sergeant Forniss at work and to wonder what clue was going to set the wheels in motion towards the grand finale. It was also fun to watch Trooper Crowley redeem himself after being knocked out by Colonel in the previous book. These books are pure comfort reads for me and I enjoy them every time.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Bird Book Deal | Red herrings galore, though not enough to obscure the truth | If you're worried about the dog, Colonel is fine and appears in later books. He does get shot, off-page, but is taken to the vet, gets surgery, and is said to be fine and to have licked Michael.. I knew the killer from their first appearance, so this was more Columbo-style, how will the Captain figure it out. But that tends to be the case for most cozies for me, so it's not an issue. Sgt Forniss has again been described as "lonely", which makes me hope an upcoming book will pair him off, and poor Ray Crowley is making up for having been knocked out in a previous book. Little Michael has never been on the page much--fine by me, avoids the awful Ramses Peabody effect--and that remains the case here, but he is around enough to see him call Heimrich "Dad", which made me happy. As for the actual point, the murder, a pretty good one, which may stump some readers. Plenty of suspicion to go around, especially if you miss the earliest clue right after the killing or don't know the trope no sudden, never-before-introduced neighbor shows up asking questions about a just-occurred shooting, especially with a wife out of the country. If you've got a series in a small town, newly-introduced characters are always suspicious.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

still re-reading series and enjoying it

[Jan Yarnot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to see more of the Great Dane Colonel!

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man walks up Susan Heimrich's driveway and then is shot and killed before her. He says one word then dies. The man is Old Tom, but he is more than that... he has another identity. And so the mystery begins, was Old Tom killed or was the life he ran away from the cause of his death.

Nice plotting of the book and a great way to see more of the Heimrich Family life as well.

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

slow, mellow Heimrich

[Ellen]

Author is Richard Lockridge, not Rockridge.