Murder in the East Room: An Eleanor Roosevelt Mystery

The latest of Elliott Roosevelt's ( New Deal for Death ) posthumous mysteries starring his mother, Eleanor, as sleuth offers more tantalizingly risque glimpses into the First Family's personal lives than previous titles did. In 1940, Idaho Senator Vance Gibson, feeling a little queasy, leaves a White House party only to be found by his wife Amelia in the East Room with his throat slit. Eleanor soothes the distraught widow and vows to do everything in her power to see that the killer is caught. Again teaming up with chief of the D.C. homicide division Edward Kennelly and Secret Service agent Gerald Baines, Eleanor learns that Gibson had made many enemies with his proposed insurance bill and that he had shared his bed with at least two women other than his wife. The trio probes the senator's private and political affairs, as well as those of other guests who had attended the White House dinner. At the same time, FDR tries to decide whether to run for President again and the Germans creep closer to Paris. Adding considerable spice to the tale are delicately intimate scenes featuring Eleanor with her companion, Lorena Hickock, and others in which, for instance, FDR and his secretary Missy LeHand snuggle in bed watching a John Wayne movie. (Nov.)