Penelope Passes: Or Why Did She Die?

The Rue Morgue Press brings back vintage mysteries from between 1900 and the 1960's. Joan Coggin was primarily a writer of books for teenage girls, under the name of Joanna Lloyd, but took a brief foray into the world of mystery. Lady Lupin Lorrimer Hastings, the daughter of an earl, who is now married to Andrew, a vicar of St. Marks Parish in Glanville, Sussex, is the heroine and scatterbrained sleuth in Coggin's mysteries. There are four in all, and PENELOPE PASSES is the third of the series, first published in 1947. Coggin herself was the granddaughter of Edward Lloyd, founder of LLOYD'S WEEKLY LONDON NEWSPAPER. She graduated from Wycombe Abbey in 1916 and worked as a nurse under 1930, when her writing career began. She was an epileptic, and a woman of class. Lady Lupin and her husband, Andrew, now have two children and have seemed to settle down into life at the parish in Glanville. But it seems that wherever Lady Lupin goes, murder follows. This is a most unusual case, since Penelope Stevenson is a most beloved 39 year old, who has always taken care of her father and brother. The trouble is, her brother, Dick, is married and has just had a new baby. When their father dies, Dick thinks that Penelope will now be free to marry the man who has loved her for herself for the past twenty years. She has refused him once again, and suddenly there seems to be a big mystery surrounding her death and who she truly was in life. Therein lies the true puzzle, and it seems to be up to Lupin to solve it: "What on earth was she to do? What she wanted to do and what common sense told her to do was to go home tomorrow. She would take Christopher with her and there would be Andrew and Peter and Jill! It wasn't as if she could do any good here. Or could she? Was there anything left for her to do? Surely Mr. Borden would be able to clear up everything. She probably made things much worse with her cockeyed notions. Lady Deering, for instance! One could hardly imagine Lady Deering strolling into the garden on a Sunday evening, shooting Penelope and returning to the hall to sit at the head of the dinner table, looking charming in gray chiffon." PENELOPE PASSES is an exquisite mystery, and Lupin is endearing. A great read! Shelley Glodowski Senior Reviewer