This was a really great Golden Age mystery novel. I have never heard of Abbot before, and of course found out he was the author of The Greatest Story Ever Told after I bought this book and started to read it. And honestly, I knew that it was a movie (The Greatest Story Ever Told) but never realized it started off as a book. Back to About the Murder of Geraldine Foster, I really loved reading about a New York version of Sherlock Holmes (Thatcher Colt) set in the 1930s. I definitely had no idea who did what to who or why so the final reveal was cleverly done and I enjoyed it.
About the Murder of Geraldine Foster follows the first novel following Commissioner Thatcher Colt of the New York Police Department. This is told via Colt’s secretary Anthony Abbot (the author) (also his pen name). Geraldine’s roommate reports her missing and she and others realize that they have not heard from her since Christmas Eve. Initially thought missing, you have Colt realizing quite quickly that Foster is dead, but the question of who did it and why are constantly shifting. We follow a long winding road of suspects and Colt being focused on finding who is the real killer.
I really liked the character of Colt and Abbot. You have Sherlock and Watson and heck you can even see parallels between Poirot and Hastings too. Colt similar to Sherlock is focused on music and playing the flute, but is born to solve crimes. His questioning at times seems erratic, but you see there’s a purpose behind everything he asks and why. Abbot struggles to keep up with Colt as does everyone else.
Reading about the brutality of the crime and using the scene to tell a story was really great. I honestly can say that I wouldn’t have put that altogether to get to the rather diabolical solution to this one.
