Pinch of Poison

At a swanky rooftop restaurant in New York, a pair of husband-and-wife sleuths must find out who spiked a woman’s drink with murder . . .   There’s a stunning view from the top of the Ritz-Plaza Hotel, but it pales in comparison to Lois Winston’s beauty. She arrives on the arm of David McIntosh—an agreeable young man who would marry her if she gave him the chance—to take in the scenery, eat a light supper, and forget the busy world below. Lois’s first cocktail lifts her spirits, helping her dispel the strange sadness that tugs at her soul. But her second drink isn’t so kind. Lois isn’t halfway done with her Cuba libre when her cheeks grow hot, her breath becomes short, and she falls dead to the floor.   Solving the case of this terribly fashionable murder falls to New York Police Department’s Lt. William Weigand, who tackles the investigation with the help of his friends, Jerry and Pamela North. The effervescent couple will catch the killer between cocktails—unless the poisoner targets their glasses next.   “[An] excellent series.” —The New Yorker   “Pam is always amusing.”  —The New York Times

Praise for the Mr. and Mrs. North Mysteries “Well plotted, smooth, and urbane.” —The New York Times on The Dishonest Murderer “Class A.” —The Saturday Review of Literature on Murder Out of Turn “One of the funniest and most satisfactory mysteries in this excellent series.” —The New Yorker on Payoff for the Banker

Frances and Richard Lockridge were some of the most popular names in mystery during the forties and fifties. Having written numerous novels and stories, the husband-and-wife team was most famous for their Mr. and Mrs. North Mysteries. What started in 1936 as a series of stories written for the New Yorker turned into twenty-six novels, including adaptions for Broadway, film, television, and radio. The Lockridges continued writing together until Frances’s death in 1963, after which Richard discontinued the Mr. and Mrs. North series and wrote other works until his own death in 1982.