SOLVED. Murder Mystery - Obsessively clean murderer, Punctures Lungs so victim cannot scream? [s]

[John]

Many years ago my grandmother had a mystery novel (That I thought was called Open House.. white Cover, the O had a keyhole in it). I have been searching Google, out of print booksellers, and just finished pouring through the LOC.gov to see if I could find it. No Luck. So I presume the title is wrong. I also thought the Author was Sidney Sheldon. Wrong again.

This is what I know and it is VERY little:

Book opens up to two detectives discussing the murder scene they are standing in. The house is clean and spotless. The body is clean and seemingly free of evidence. There is a clean hole in the woman's chest, lung punctured. There are one or two drinks on the table... again clean of usable evidence. The rug has been vacuumed After the murder. The detectives are discussing the patience it takes to commit a crime and then so painstakingly clean up afterward.

I was young when reading this so let's put the publication PRE 1990 but likely pre-1985.

[Juels]

Open House by William Katz? Victims found with puncture wound in chest, cleaned (vacuumed) crime scene, two glasses of soda on the table, papier-mache gondola found near the body.

[John]

Quite likely, yes! The problem I found is almost every description I have found does not hint at it being the same book. I looked at this book several times in searches. Some show it as written in 1985, some 2014. Today I found a cover that looks right. So, yes, I think we can call this solved. :)

Juels wrote: "Open House by William Katz? Victims found with puncture wound in chest, cleaned (vacuumed) crime scene, two glasses of soda on the table, papier-mache gondola found n..."

[SamSpayedPI]

If you go to Amazon and click "look inside," you can read the first chapter of the book, which is the murderer (not a spoiler, since it's revealed on page 6) posing as the victim's TV repairman, not detectives discussing the case, although that may well be in the next chapter.