The Fruitcake Murders

Could an old fruitcake really be a murder weapon? It is 1946, and as Christmas draws near, homicide detective Lane Walker has his hands full. Starting with the District Attorney, three men with seemingly no connection to each other have been murdered. The only things apparently connecting the crimes are the weapons used-twenty-year-old unopened fruitcake tins manufactured by a company that is no longer in business. Both helping and aggravating Lane is Betsy Clayton, a reporter who used to be his girl friend. Betsy is beautiful, sharp, fast-talking and combative. Working as much against as with each other, they dig for clues, dodge bullets and walk into traps while continuing to verbally spar each step of the way. The clues to solving the case and ending the chain of holiday murders are locked in the past and only by uncovering the three victims long forgotten ties can Lane begin to understand who the murderer could be and the symbolic reason behind the murder weapon. With pressure mounting from the mayor and the police commissioner to wrap up the case before Christmas day, Lane pours through mounds of evidence, each piece seemingly further complicating a case that has no rhyme or reason. A priest's memory of a confession, a criminal's last words before his execution, a tragic mistake by a officer during a battle on a Pacific island, dead files in a newspaper, an underlined passage in a Gideon's Bible and a list of ingredients of a unique brand of fruitcake bring the detective closer to the truth, but it takes a woman to put the various elements together in a way that makes sense and solves the crime. Employing witty dialogue while embracing the post World War II environment, the novel offers a fascinating mystery and captures the flavor and language of the times while delivering a classic battle between the sexes. Paced like the legendary Thin Man movies, "The Fruitcake Murders" is a perplexing "whodunit" set in the days just after World War II.