Murder in the Oval Office

This is another outing in the series Elliott Roosevelt wrote featuring his mother in a fictitious Nancy Drew-like role. Elliott was named for Mrs. Roosevelt's father, a sad and unlucky man, who had significant influence over his daughter's development. Elliott was, perhaps, the difficult child of the Roosevelt clan. He was notably entrepreneurial. When people criticized the Roosevelt children, Eleanor Roosevelt is purported to have said that the people elected only the president and that the presidential children had to make a living. It is believed that Elliott Roosevelt understood his mother's personality. The book opens with a scene at the White House pool. Jimmy Farley, Missy LeHand, and Harry Hopkins are swimming with the President. Louis Howe never came into the water and the President never splashed him. That morning Eleanor Roosevelt had gone horseback riding with Lorena Hickcock.A presidential dinner including Charles and Mary Beard, Upton Sinclair, Sam Rayburn, Cordell Hull, Carter Glass, and Robert LaFolette is described. Louis Howe learns of a problem of a possible suicide in the White House. He decides to let the President learn of the matter the following day. Perhaps a crime has been committed. The police seek to preserve the scene. There may be a need to lift finger prints. The deceased was on a congressional committee focused on banking regulation. Of special concern were auditing standards. Mrs. Roosevelt becomes convinced that it was not a suicide. Someone summoned the victim to the oval office from the dinner. It is not clear how the perpetrator left the office.Mrs. Roosevelt visits the widow the following day. She is cautioned by her associates not to become sentimental just because the widow is pregnant. A locked room mystery is involved. The gun has been wiped clean. Colmer, the victim, had a saturnine personality. A number of celebrities are drawn into this tale, Sally Rand included. The book is nicely written and well paced.

The crime in this book is the classic murder in a room locked and bolted from the inside. The difference was that the room was the oval office of the White House. However, once it was noted that the locks in the room were old and unsophisticated, the solution to that problem was obvious. Like the other stories in this series, the most interesting aspects are the presence of other historical figures. J. Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson get slapped down by a crooked banker and there are cameo appearances by a junior officer named Dwight Eisenhower and a rising politician named Lyndon Johnson. My greatest enjoyment from the book was engaging in idle speculation regarding the historical accuracy of the actions of the people other than the Roosevelts. It is quite possible that some of the events have a bit of historical accuracy. The mystery is ordinary and I solved it rather quickly. However, the other events kept me interested and I enjoyed the book anyway.

This is a mystery book that combines story with reality. The reality is the White House, its people, and events of 1930's. A very interesting way of learning history, through a mystery story which is told masterfully. If you like mystery and history books (tapes), this is for you.