Murder
Makes the Wheels Go Round – Emma Lathen, 1966
In the glory days before the oil shock of 1973, Michigan
Motors aims to turn the Big Three into the Big Four. Trouble is that first it
must mend its reputation which was sullied by three of their top executives going
to prison.
The trio that was convicted of price-fixing has just been
released from the joint. Rumor has them either welcomed back or shunned by the
company. Our series hero, investment banker John Thatcher, is also worried
about the future of the company. He’s been sent to the Motor City by his
employer, Sloan Guaranty Trust, to investigate the prospects of the company, if
any.
One of the ex-cons, the talented and forceful Ray Jensen,
is found shot and stuffed into the back seat of a limousine. Suspects abound.
Wahl took Jensen's place and has no plans for demotion. Krebbel, the new
president, wants to minimize messes and move on. Jensen's wife and her lover,
another company exec, have an obvious motive. Jensen’s jail bird buddies and
their wives fret about being abused again.
The novel has a couple of problems. It’s more a novel of
manners than mystery since there are no clues. Granted, it is like a golden age
mystery in that the reveal strains credulity. Picking knits, I have to say that
I’m from near Motown. I was disappointed in the authors when they created the
Grand Island Tollway in Detroit when actually the Grand Island North and South
Toll Bridges are in Western New York. Also, there is no Elwood Street and
Sebago Road intersection in Detroit since the former street is in a northern
suburb and the latter road does not exist in that metro area. Disappointing
since even before Google, accurate and complete paper maps existed for writers
and editors to consult.
Her sarcastic digs at car guys typify New York City attitudes
about Detroit, even in its heyday. The PR field and its practitioners are
energetically mocked. In this outing, her dry, witty dialogue reveals character
and moves the plot. The prose style is stylish, like a Talk of the Town piece
in the New Yorker. I think the characterization of the hero works best.
Thatcher is an updated version of the gentleman detective. He is intelligent
and talented but doesn’t make a big of show of it. He does get off sharp
nifties when the situation calls for it. He genially carries on even when
Lathen puts him in zany situations.
Emma Lathen was in fact two women. Mary Jane Latsis was
an economist and Martha Henissart an economic analyst. So when they are talking
about business conditions from the late Sixties to the early Nineties, they
know what they are talking about. They wrote under a pen-name in order to
protect professional associations, mostly captains of industry with fragile
egos.
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