The Black Piano

Rating:
Summary: The reader can't help by root for the heroine to win
Review: Two Australian-born sisters who spent their lives in East Orange, New Jersey published a series of delightful mysteries during the period between 1938 and 1953. Twenty of the titles had the word "Black" in them, and their first title was THE GREY MIST MURDERS. The sisters Little insisted that their mysteries included no chopped-up corpses. Their settings included large places: hotels, ocean liners, old mansions, boarding houses, and the like. Their heroines came from assorted backgrounds, but were always women who spoke their minds. No doubt the heroines were fashioned after the Littles themselves.

Gloria is a wealthy heiress who has married a playboy. She is a prisoner in her own home, surrounded by parasitic people who spend her money, even as her husband carries on his affairs under her nose. When she goes out for a walk for a bit of solitude, someone tries to kill her by pushing her off a bridge. She comes to in another home, and decides to become a new person...with a new husband. Can she pull it off in her home town? She thinks so, until a body is found in her new home and her old piano appears with ghostly music designed to test her mettle. Everyone around her seems to be a menace, including her new husband:

"'She heard a noise,' John said promptly. 'Nothing that she could identify, but she came and looked in. The doors were closed, and that struck her as peculiar, since we don't usually leave them closed. She opened them and turned on the light, and of course saw the poor girl at once. She came straight upstairs and woke me.' Chief Evinston nodded and looked at Jane, who nodded back at him. John had suppressed the piano playing, and she supposed that he was right. It did sound absurd. Only why did he cover up for her when he had this chance to throw her to the wolves? Of course. He didn't want any scandal, as it would hurt his business..."

Although THE BLACK PIANO is a rather dark psychological mystery, it is still a feathery light plot. The Littles have outdone themselves with this finely wrought tale that keeps the reader tightly connected to Gloria/Jane. The heroine is at first a wounded, fragile flower who blooms and finds her voice by the end of the story. The reader can't help by root for her to win.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer