The Black Honeymoon

I adore all the Little Sisters series - every one is a delightful romantic-comedy-mystery. They are very much of their time and I like reading about these independent young woman during WWII and knowing that this was my grandmothers' generation ( and that these are from the time, not some retro-feminized take on the past. The Black Honeymoon first came out in 1944 ). The Little Books are slight and very formulaic, so if you like your books thick and emotionally deep, they are probably not for you. But truly, if you're a fan of films like "The Thin Man" and "Arsenic and Old Lace" it's almost a guarentee that you'll enjoy these.

This was my first exposure to the Little sisters, and I'm a definite fan. I couldn't put the book down; it was like watching a good old black-and-white movie set in the 40s. It has a cast of great characters (the batty old aunt, the young lovers, the pompous older relatives and a smart-alecky detective), and lots of humor. I'm so glad the sisters wrote many of these mysteries!

Young nurse Miriel Mason marries Ian, an army officer on leave. who she's known less than a week. His gravely ill Uncle Richard is one of her patients, and she's soon to meet the rest of her husband's family because their honeymoon (to her surprise) is to be spent in the old family mansion, already filled with assorted relatives. Almost immediately Miriel is given reason to doubt Ian's motives for marrying her. She decides he'll have to court her during their honeymoon. When Uncle Richard dies under extremely unusual circumstances, Miriel asks her father's friend and P.I. Montgomery Kelly for help. Kelly gets himself hired as a butler to find out who might have killed Richard, and might be trying to frame Miriel. Unfortunately, Kelly says he can't think and work at the same time, and he's not too interested in serving others anyway. He tells Ian's Aunt Mabel that serving breakfast before 10 a.m. would be beneath his dignity, and he has Miriel doing his job, along with her own. Due to a shortage of nurses, she's working overtime at the hospital, cooking and cleaning at home, and trying to figure out which of her new relatives might be her enemies.Not quite as delightful as the Little sisters' THE GREAT BLANK KANBA. Indeed, there are some dark, creepy goings-on in that mansion. Still, there's much to like here. The main trio of characters are wonderful. Miriel is a clever, independent, hard-working nurse, whose supply of sarcastic remarks is apparently inexhaustible. Ian gains sympathy as the put-upon husband, despite his murky motivations. Ian and Kelly of course take an instant dislike to each-other and it's a tribute to the authors' writing that their animosity never feels forced, and their verbal jousting is fresh and funny. Hilarious dialogue and great characters make this book an entertaining read. Sometimes, Kelly and Miriel behave foolishly, in seemingly self-destructive ways. I wasn't too annoyed by that because the book had so many good qualities.

This is a Golden Age mystery written in the 1930's. The story is of a young man and a young woman who get married and plan to spend their honeymoon in the young man's family mansion. When they arrive, they find that his whole family is staying at the mansion, much to their chagrin, and because of an old aunt who is very ill. There are several murders, husband and wife try to find the murderer, and at the very end, surprisingly, we find out who did it. And it is a surprise ending! I really liked this book because it gives a certain flavor of the 1930's and how people lived and spoke, etc. Very well written! It's funny and also keeps you on the edge of your seat.