When a famous author turns up dead, it's up to Asey Mayo to find the killer. First in the series.

Miss Prudence Whitsby becomes involved in crime detection when she attends a Cape Cod house party

Set within the brooding landscape of Cape Code, these classic who-dunits are sure to please dedicated Phoebe Atwood Taylor fans and newcomer mystery buffs alike. Asey Mayo fans will be delighted to find the codfish Sherlock not once, but thrice perplexed in these incomparable novellas: Murder Rides the Gale, The Stars Spell Death, and The Third Murderer.

A delightfully funny mystery set in New England.

On a trip to the New York Aquarium with her third-grade class, a teacher discovers a dead body: “One of the world’s shrewdest and most amusing detectives” (The New York Times). For the third graders at Jefferson School, a field trip is always a treat. But one day at the New York Aquarium, they get much more excitement than they bargained for. A pickpocket sprints past, stolen purse in hand, and is making his way to the exit when their teacher, the prim Hildegarde Withers, knocks him down with her umbrella. By the time the police and the security guards finish arguing about what to do with Chicago Lew, he has escaped, and Miss Withers has found something far more interesting: a murdered stockbroker floating in the penguin tank. With the help of Detective Oscar Piper, this no-nonsense spinster embarks on her first of many adventures. The mystery is baffling, the killer dangerous, but for a woman who can control a gaggle of noisy third graders, murder isn’t frightening at all. The Penguin Pool Murder is part of the Hildegarde Withers Mysteries series, which also includes Murder on the Blackboard and Murder on Wheels.

For all its ingenious plot, The Mystery of the Cape Cod Tavern is more than a mystery; it is a genuine New England novel, full of Yankee horse sense, Cape Cod culture, and solid characters. This classic is an apt accomplice for an evening's excursion into the world of crime for Asey Mayo fans and initiate mystery lovers alike.