Who Killed the Husband? (An Amos Lee Mappin Mystery)

Excerpt:

Chapter 1


Mr. Amos Lee Mappin was breakfasting by the fire in the immense living room of his apartment. With the steam heat, a fire was not in the least necessary, but he enjoyed it. The date was November 4th. During the pleasant fall days it was Lee?s habit to turn off the steam, open the windows and toast himself in front of the cheerful blaze. ?I am a primitive creature,? he would say, which was one of his innocent affectations. Nothing could have been farther from the truth.

He was wearing a crimson damask dressing gown with a blue silk scarf around his throat and blue morocco slippers. His taste in dress ran to such flamboyant effects but, conscious that they sat rather comically on his little, roly-poly figure, he sported them only in the privacy of the home. He nibbled his grilled kidney and sipped his coffee in great peace of mind. His big book, ?The Psychology of Murder,? was progressing well.
He was revolving the day?s work in his mind while he ate, and occasionally put down his knife and fork to make a note in his little pocketbook.

Since he had become famous, somebody was always trying to engage his services in this case or that. Being as fastidious as a cat, he hated to soil his paws with the actual investigation of crime; his job, as he told himself over and over, was to study crime in the privacy of the library a long time after it had been committed. So he refused all offers, however tempting the fee; he didn?t need the money; nevertheless, every now and then such pressure was brought upon him that he was forced to take a case. When he had solved the mystery he always drew a sigh of relief and vowed that it should be the last. At the moment there was no important criminal case to agitate the public mind and he envisioned a long succession of serene days to be devoted to his philosophical treatise.

His servant, Jermyn, tall, lean, leathery and correct, entered bringing the _Herald Tribune_, which he placed folded upon the table beside the breakfast tray. Jermyn did not speak, but he had been working for Mr.
Mappin for a long time, and his master could read him like a printed page. It was evident from Jermyn?s overcasual air that there was something in the morning?s paper that he considered it important his master should see. He left the room.

Opening the paper, Mr. Mappin saw at once what it was. Jules Gartrey, the prominent banker, president of the famous Hasbrouck firm, had been found shot dead in his apartment and the police were looking for young Alastair Yohe, society?s pet photographer. Mrs. Gartrey, whom they called ?the most beautiful woman in New York,? was said to be ?prostrated.?

Mr. Mappin threw the paper aside pettishly. The vulgarest of crimes! He was annoyed that Jermyn should have supposed he would be interested. Of course, it would cause a terrific sensation because of the conspicuousness of the principals. Mappin hated empty sensationalism. He disdained to read the details.


More Reading:
Other Books by Hulbert Footner by ADB Publishing
(The Original) A Self-Made Thief
(The Original) Death of a Celebrity
(The Original) Easy to Kill
(The Original) Madame Storey Intervenes
(The Original) Madame Storey's Way
(The Original) Murder Runs in the Family
(The Original) Sinfully Rich
(The Original) Thieves Wit
(The Original) Who Killed the Husband (This Book)