Asey Mayo Cape Cod Mystery

First published in the US in 1931 by Bobbs-Merrill: Indianapolis, ''The Cape Cod Mystery'' is the first whodunnit to feature the series detective Asey Mayo, the "Codfish Sherlock". Dale Sanborn has made a lot of enemies in his career as a muckraking author, philanderer and occasional blackmailer. When he vacations at a cabin in Cape Cod, any of his many visitors-an old girl friend, his fiancée, an outraged husband, a long-lost brother and a few more-the night he died could have killed him, and all of them wanted to. When a respectable Boston matron is involved in the crime, local character Asey Mayo takes a hand and brings the case to a successful, if unexpected, conclusion.

When a famous author turns up dead, it's up to Asey Mayo to find the killer. First in the series.

First published in the US in 1946 by Farrar, Straus and Company, New York. The discovery by Asey Mayo and Doc Cummings of the bludgeoned body of Carolyn Barton Boone in an antique Pullman car of the Pochet and Back Shore Railroad marks the beginning of a wacky murder chase highlighted by the disappearance of the body until after the killer strikes a second time. All in all, it's a typical Asey Mayo adventure full of sparkling wit and crisp dialogue.

First published in the US in 1951 by Little, Brown: Boston. When a cast member of a New England historical pageant is murdered, Asey Mayo is called in to investigate.

"Buff" Orpington arrived in picturesque Quanomet to find the little Cape Cod town in ferment. A stupendous pageant of American history was being staged, and the inhabitants of Quanomet had time and thought for nothing else. But all was not as it should be in the small community. There had been more curious incidents than could be attributed to the usual petty jealousies and maneuverings for the best parts and positions. Quanomet was, in fact, in its modest way about to make history, and Buff finds himself taking an uncomfortably prominent role when he discovers a newly made corpse in the cemetery. After too long an absence, Asey Mayo, the salty Cape Cod Sherlock, returns in fine form to solve the baffling murder in his own inimitable way.