The Rotary Club Murder Mystery
by Graham Landrum,
Bestselling Author of
"The Famous DAR Murder Mystery"
Published by St. Martin's Press, USA in 1993
"Delightful...Quirky...
Irresistibly captivating."
-- Jackson, MS Clarion-Ledger
The book opens as the Rotary Club of Borderville meets over lunch at a local motel. The newly elected district governor is unexpectedly late even though he spent the night at the Borderville Inn and Motel. He is soon found shot with his own gun in his chain-locked motel room. One Rotarian thinks it may not be a straightforward case of suicide. He turns to a feisty octogenarian sleuth ....
Delightful? Yes. It should surprise no one that I found this book in the basement of a church holding its annual fundraiser. I bought it for 25 cents and put it in my carry-on bag for my next flight to L.A. If you liked the television series "Murder She Wrote", you would like this book and I am very willing to pass it on to you.
Needless to say, it is a quick read. (Wink)
Quirky? Yes. And refreshingly old-fashioned. Remember those kinder, gentler times? That's the world of Harriet Bushrow whose late husband was a Rotarian. Early in the book, she explains that she was never a "Rotary Ann" and muses now that Rotary is open to the membership of women what would their spouses be called -- Rotary Andy, perhaps?
Irresistibly captivating? Yes. But not because of the mystery...suicide or murder? I was caught by all the Rotary bits...
One Rotarian remembers a quarter of a century of district governors' speeches as the group waits...
"the district governor will always sing the praises of Rotary, which are impressive, but somewhere between the Four-Way Test and the Paul Harris Fellowship, your mind wanders....but the district governor usually has three or four pretty good jokes." (That raises the bar for our own Cindy H.!!)
Faced with the problems that continuing to solve the murder might put Harriet Bushrow in danger and put Rotary in a bad light of possible scandal, several involved Rotarians use the Four-Way Test to find an answer!!
Final note: The Sergeant at Arms did not do it!