Death and the Joyful Woman

Notes

Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters won the 1963 Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for best novel. Unfortunately, Universal Television turned it into an instantly forgettable episode of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents“.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Is vulgarity grounds for murder? Alfred Armiger had antagonised many with his greed and crass acquisitiveness. So when the ruthless beer baron is discovered dead, his head beaten in by a magnum of champagne, there is no shortage of suspects.

All of Comerford is shocked when Detective George Felse arrests Kitty Norris, the daughter of a rival beer baron, the last person to see Armiger alive, and the main beneficiary of his will. But Kitty, charming and popular, has an unexpected advocate in Felse’s young son, Dominic, who is secretly in love with her. Passionately convinced of Kitty’s innocence, Dominic sets out to find the true culprit, a hazardous undertaking that might well cost him his life.

Read a full review of Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters at criminalelement.com