Back in the 70s and 80s I read quite a few MacDonald crime novels including several in the Travis McGee series and pretty much enjoyed them all. It's been awhile since I've read him (although I did read CAPE FEAR a couple of years ago). Anyway, this one was quite different from any of his previous novels that I have read. It's a not-so-straight-forward murder mystery told from the perspective of several different people. The murder victim is Wilma Ferris who is the head of a profitable cosmetics company. She is also a very unlikable person and tends to antagonize most all of her acquaintances. The murder takes place at her mountain house on a lake during a party attended by several of her business acquaintances and friends. It appears she is drowned while skinny dipping in the lake but she is actually murdered by a stab to her skull. So who committed the crime?
The story is told from the perspective of the guests attending her party which include her accountant, publicist, ad agent, a female TV star that is sponsored by the cosmetics firm, and her artist lover. Spouses are also there including the wife of the accountant who is enthralled with Wilma and tries to emulate her. But otherwise most everyone had a reason to despise her and any of them could be the murderer. The novel is narrated by each guest as separate chapters that relate what happened before and after the murder.
I thought the story probably could have been told in a few chapters as a novella or short story. The alternating narratives tended to confuse the story for me and it was a little hard to keep track of all the characters. But overall, I thought it was well-written and showed the mind-set, frustrations, marital conflicts, and jealousies of well-to-do people of the time (published in 1954).
The story is told from the perspective of the guests attending her party which include her accountant, publicist, ad agent, a female TV star that is sponsored by the cosmetics firm, and her artist lover. Spouses are also there including the wife of the accountant who is enthralled with Wilma and tries to emulate her. But otherwise most everyone had a reason to despise her and any of them could be the murderer. The novel is narrated by each guest as separate chapters that relate what happened before and after the murder.
I thought the story probably could have been told in a few chapters as a novella or short story. The alternating narratives tended to confuse the story for me and it was a little hard to keep track of all the characters. But overall, I thought it was well-written and showed the mind-set, frustrations, marital conflicts, and jealousies of well-to-do people of the time (published in 1954).
