"All seemed to be well. Mavis was standing very straight, ice-cold and elegant as a snow princess, keeping her mouth shut." Until she was introduced to the Israeli ambassador, at which time she began singing a rather obscene song with the Israeli as the main character. Hustled into her bedroom by an aide, she was discovered murdered a short time later. Mavis was the ravishing wife of the Tampican Ambassador, and in Patricia Moyes' pleasant mystery, Black Widower, Chief Inspector Henry Tippett of Scotland Yard is called in to resolve the puzzle. Moyes writes in the most gratifying manner. Little passages like, "There was a time when we thought Jesus Christ was due for a comeback, but he's fallen a bit flat. A few months back people used to carry bumper stickers saying 'Honk if you love Jesus.' Now there's a crop saying 'Honk if You Are Jesus’ -- which has quieted the streets considerably.” ( )

Chief Superintendant Henry Tibbett and his wife hear from their good friends in Washington DC the exciting news--a murder, right in their neighborhood. And not some everyday crime, but an ambassador's wife shot to death right in the middle of a reception at their own house.

Sir Edward Ironmonger, sent to the US from the fictional Caribbean country Tampica, was devoted to his beautiful wife, Mavis. But many had reason to want the woman dead, some because they were incensed at the interracial marriage, some because Mavis was so stupid that she was likely to ruin Ironmonger's career, and some because of past love affairs likely to come back to haunt them. Since the crime took place at the embassy, Ironmonger's seizes the chance to avoid calling in the DC police (he's in the middle of delicate negotiations with the US Navy and doesn't want the US involved in the crime scene) and asks for help from Scotland Yard.

I'm not sure how plausible that is, and various other points seem pretty unlikely. But I like the mystery and the characters enough to go along with it. The story moves quickly. The Tibbets return again and again to the Caribbean in this book, The Coconut Killings, and Angel Death. This is the first in the Caribbean series, followed by the others in that order. ( )