MURDER IN THE LINCOLN BEDROOM

Persisting in the fiction that the late Elliott Roosevelt left behind dozens of manuscripts, his publisher, abetted by (likely) ghostwriter William Harrington, once again presents First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt as sleuth. The year is 1943, and Winston Churchill, his daughter Sarah, and Field Marshall Alan Brooke are meeting secretly with General George Marshall, a perpetually grinning General Eisenhower, plus his toothsome driver Kay Summersby, and FDR to plot war strategy when the bludgeoned body of West Wing lawyer Paul Weyrich is found making a bloody mess of the Lincoln bedroom. The corpse is wearing a gun. How did he get it past security, what was he doing roaming the halls, and who killed him? Eleanor, ever the gracious hostess, attempts to find out without disturbing the White House guests. Assisted by D.C. detective Edward Kennelly and Secret Service honcho Stan Szezygiel (Murder in the Red Room, 1992, etc.), she unearths links to virulent anti-Roosevelt groups, including America First! and the Klan, and many unseemly comings and goings in tunnels under the White House. One more will die before Eleanor peers at the killer in the tunnel and, undisturbed, the secret conference attendees put the Channel invasion plans in place.

One of the weaker series entries, with the author evidently paying more attention to the First Lady's wardrobe than she ever did herself.