Pushing Murder: A Henry Holt Mystery

The fourth appearance of New York City amateur sleuth Clara Gamadge finds the white-haired widow trying to trap her own would-be murderer. Clara is hospitalized after eating poisoned hors d'ouevres at the opening of her friend Sal's new mystery bookstore. Very soon, Clara and readers learn whodunit; the point of the tale is to prove the perp's guilt before he succeeds in murdering Clara and possibly Sal, who is his new wife. While still confined, Clara survives another poisoning attempt, but a third friend, also aware of the poisoner's intentions and his shady past, is strangled in the hospital chapel. Clara, her loyal cousin and friend Charles Saddlier, her grown children and a private detective all work together to foil a murderer whose access to the hospital frightens everyone. The fiesty Clara is more sharply etched than the other characters and the plot exhibits some gaps and slow patches, but Boylan ( Murder Machree ) nevertheless tailors a diverting and sprightly old-fashioned cozy in modern dress. (Sept.)