THE BLACK DREAM (A Rue Morgue Vintage Mystery)

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2005. 1st prtg. A fine, unread copy of this trade paperback. Bickering ex-lovers and a disappearing corpse highlight this 1952 comedy by the queens of screwball. There was no question that Agatha Bunson hated her cook. Em could cook. Just about everyone agreed on that point. Agatha, however, despised Em's slovenly ways and was forever cleaning up after her. If she could, she would have fired Em ages ago. But an odd clause in her father's will prevented her from doing that. Now Em was dead and Agatha assumed she must have done it, although she had no recollection of killing her. But lately, Agatha had been prone to walking in her sleep and she figured it was during one of these nocturnal rambles that she did in the disgusting old creature. What's done is done, Agatha thought, and so she propped Em up in a rocking chair and squirreled her away in a sealed closet. There'd be time enough later to figure out what to do with the body. Of course Em was soon missed. Cleanliness might not have been her forte but her food tasted good and Agatha's cooking was a poor substitute. In fact, people were beginning to get a bit testy at meal times. And Christine and Allen, two doctors who had sleeping rooms as well as medical offices in the boarding house, were naturally testy-at least with each other, having once been engaged back before Christine went to medical school. Although Agatha had the most to gain from Em's death, Inspector Lewis had plenty of other suspects among Em's relatives and the other boarders. But everything got a lot more complicated when Em's corpse went missing and things started to go bump in the night in the basement. This 1952 charmer is vintage Little, writing in the second to the last year oftheir collaboration.. 1st Prtg. Pictorial Wrappers. Fine. Illus. by Pudim, Rob. Trade Paperback.