Because I Needed a Coxe Fix ...

Venturous Lady, by George Harmon Coxe (Dell, 1953).

Coxe was a lively stylist and a prolific crime novelist, with a 40-year publishing career (1935-1975). Venturous Lady was among his early standalones, released originally in 1948 by Alfred A. Knopf. In its March 1948 review of this yarn, The New York Times wrote:

It is easy enough to guess who is going to be murdered. Dean Fenton’s reputation as a first-class heel has preceded him; and when he appears at the Fellhaven Summer Playhouse he loses no time in proving that he deserves that reputation. Six persons connected with the Playhouse are known to have reasons to desire his death, and there may be others. Lieutenant Baldwin of the State Police is completely stumped, and a second murder does not make the situation any clearer. There are too many suspects and too many possible motives. Then one of the suspects comes to the rescue and spreads a net which catches the murderer in its tangle meshes. There is lively action before the truth becomes known.

Cover illustration by Griffith Foxley.