Book Review: The Mysterious Strangler

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Mysterious Strangler     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Peter J. Heck
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Historical
Series: Mark Twain # 5
Berkley, Oct 2000, $6.50, 309 pp.

Wentworth Cabot is a member of the Boston Brahmins with a social standing that allows easy entrance to the social elite and the highest political powers. If he desired, he could become a lawyer in the family firm, gain some experience, and run for office. Instead, Wentworth opts to become the personal secretary to Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens as a means of seeing the world.

The Clemens family travels to Florence, Italy, along with Wentworth and he makes friends with people his own age at a café in the heart of the city. He takes a liking to Virginia Fleetwood whose brother-in-law want to hire him to run an art gallery back in Boston for him. She wants Wentworth to accept the position, but he prefers staying with the Clemens brood and rejects the offer. The next day, the police arrive to question Wentworth about the disappearance of Virginia. Also missing is a valuable Raphael masterpiece owned by her brother-in-law. The police find the murdered body of Virginia in a graveyard and next to her strangled corpse is the frame from the Raphael picture. Wentworth is now the chief suspect, leaving it to him and his employer to prove otherwise.

Anyone wanting to see a different perspective on Mark Twain will want to read THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGLER and the previous works in this series. Readers observe the man behind the literary legend because Peter Heck has the ability to provide a lucid look through the media image. The well-drawn mystery provides an interesting amateur sleuth investigation led by Twain into the who-done-it realm. As with the previous novels, this tale retains a freshness that will please historical mystery readers and Mark Twain fans.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner