She held death in her arms!
Unfortunately, despite the excellent cover art in which she holds up bloodied hands, it never happens. This is actually a comic mystery about a disappearing body.
Published in 1930, this features too many characters, yet somehow winds up with a convincing solution within 160 pages.
A man claims to the police his funny feeling a murder has been committed, and will take them to the address. They must go now, as he suffers from short term memory - in fact he doesn't know his own name and has no identification. The place he shows them is where New Jersey businessman Frank Daniels was killed just days ago. Two men found Frank on the sidewalk and carried him across the street to the undertakers.
That night junior assistant Tommy Freeman was performing an embalming on wealthy attorney Charles Macnaughton. When the dead wagon arrives, Tommy has disappeared, and they take the only body there. The funeral home owner claims Tommy took off with $8000 cash from the safe. Upstate New York, a young man spots a limosine dumping a bundle of clothes into the river - the belongings and ID of Frank Daniels.
Police Detective Brubacher begins investigating where Tommy went, where Frank Daniels wife has disappeared to, and who exactly was buried in the Macnaughton coffin. Also investigating are Ray Fitzgerald (a film writer full of ideas), Sybil (the amnesiac's girlfriend), and Frank Daniel's father, who claims he has just seen Frank on the street.
They find more answers at the Macnaughton vault, which has already been broken open, hoping to exhume whomever is in there, and by page 125 there is enough evidence for Fitzgerald to give his reporter friend from the Gazette a front page story.
If there seems too much going on in this mystery, I have only touched the surface. I didn't even mention the robbery at the gem wholesalers. This is fast paced and full of period banter - like telling the cops, "Aw, go roll a hoop".
I enjoy the novels of Tiffany Thayer for what they are, knowing they are not held in any regard. His novels were generally disliked as "just plain awful" by his contemporary critics such as Dorothy Parker and F. Scott Fitzgerald (who called them "drug-store slime"). His most popular title is Thirteen Women (filmed in 1932 with Myrna Loy). The Illustrious Corpse was also filmed in 1932 as Strangers Of An Evening starring Zazu Pitts.
I read these old novels for the entertainment, travelling back to the 1930's for a quick lark - and much like watching a fast-paced 1930's Torchy Blaine or Nick Carter detective film, they have a certain charm. If you like the pulp titles published by Popular Library, well worth a try.
1930 / Paperback / 160 pages
Seems like an enjoyable read. I like all the confusion. Incidentally, I have sent you a mail. Plz respond to it immediately.