The Amethyst Spectacles

A marine home on leave from WWII "does a first-class job of detecting" in this tale of puzzling murders and misleading clues ( The New York Times).

An injured Pat Abbott is back in New Mexico with his wife, Jean, while he recovers from his war wounds, but he's still fighting-to find a killer, or possibly more than one.

After one of the couple's friends, Ray, was found dead at the bottom of a canyon, rumors started swirling. He'd recently shocked the town by bringing a wife home from Hollywood-when he was meant to marry local girl Karen. To complicate matters, Karen's distinctive amethyst-colored glasses were found in Ray's abandoned Cadillac convertible. It could have been suicide, but there's reason to suspect both the not-so-grieving widow and poor, spurned Karen. But soon the widow asks Pat's help and he and Jean are drawn into a whirlwind of intrigues, jealousies, and motives in this clever whodunit from the Golden Age of Mystery...

Praise for the Pat and Jean Abbott Mysteries

"Amusing and sophisticated." - The Star(London)

"[A] well-plotted and mystifying case." - Saturday Review

"One of the more interesting married teams of detectives." - Thrilling Detective