Took from the Little Free Library on San Marcos Court in San Luis Obispo.

Odd little tale.

I haven't read anything by Nabb before and had not heard of her.

The Marshal is almost always referred to as "the marshal" in the book, rather than by his first or last name. That gives the story a funny kind of edge.

The Marshal is called to the scene of a death: Celia Forbes, a respected, well-known writer is found dead in her bath. Her husband is found in a room nearby, drunk and out of control. There are no signs that the victim was held under water or of any force used at all, yet the Marshal suspects murder. And he suspects the husband. It is logical, given that the man is not grieving, is quite a bit younger than his wife, has a woman on the side, loves spending money yet makes none. The victim was well-off financially.

Another odd side: Celia has a daughter. She has been staying with someone else and it appears that there is no love between her and her stepfather. Does this play into it?

At times the story seems to move jerkily. We are in a courtroom hearing another case or we jump from one location to another. Almost as if Nabb was too impatient to fill in the blanks. Otherwise it was easy enough to follow. And reasonably entertaining. Good airplane reading.

Inside the box.