Dragged reluctantly to an art tea by his pretty wife, Michael Dundas, the famous couturier who indulges a fancy for sleuthing on the side, meets a stranger in one of his own models who seems ill at ease. She is distinctly upset at sight of a picture of the sand dunes and coming out of a faint, mumbles words that puzzle and intrigue Michael. When this same Lydia Courney is murdered that same night, apparently on her way to see him, her strange mutterings take on significance.

But while Lydia’s cryptic words do not seem as meaningful, perhaps, as her friend Marcia’s denying she’s a nurse, or Sally’s stealing of a key, they lead Michael finally to the unriddling of what is one of Virginia Rath’s liveliest, most complicated plots. (Salt Lake City, Utah, Tribune, April 12, 1942)

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