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Mavis Ironmonger is nobody's idea of a good diplomatic wife. She drinks too much, she's awfully friendly with the staff at the Washington embassy, and her music-hall roots have a way of bursting out at the most inappropriate moments. Indeed, it's at an embassy reception that Mavis manages to insult a visiting ambassador and get herself hauled off to sober up. With the party winding down, Mavis is due downstairs, to say the official goodbyes, but in fact she has already made her final show more farewell, courtesy of a gunshot. The ambassador refuses to allow the Americans to investigate, demanding instead that Henry Tibbett be called in from London. But if you know Henry, you know he won't be staying in DC; in an eyeblink he is headed to the ambassador's island nation, before haring back to Washington to prevent a second murder. show lessTags
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"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 show more 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.” show less
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 show more 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. show less
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 show more 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. show less
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41+ Works 3,951 Members
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Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
SaPo (233)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Musta leski
- Original title
- Black Widower
- Original publication date
- 1975
- People/Characters
- Henry Tibbett (Superintendent); Emmy Tibbett; Sir Edward "Eddie" Ironmonger; Mavis, Lady Ironmonger; Michael Holder-Watts; Eleanor Holder-Watts (show all 14); Winston "Winnie" Horatio Nelson; Dorabella Hamilton; Dr. Alfred Duncan; Prudence Barrington; Matthew Barrington; Lucy Pontefract-Deacon; Otis Schipmaker; Inspector Robert Bartholomew
- Important places
- Washington, D.C., USA; Tampica
- Dedication
- This book is for Tony and Betty and Horatio, who look after our special island for us.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Members
- 187
- Popularity
- 174,077
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.79)
- Languages
- 5 — Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 6
