Kaethe

Apparently suffering from acute nostalgia, I have lately found myself remembering books last read thirty years ago, and thinking of them fondly, and wondering were they really that good?

Yes.

Susan Melville is a middle-aged artist and Manhattan blueblood, without a job, without a fortune, in a rent-controlled apartment going coop with nothing left to sell  and no hope. So she takes the only reasonable offer she's received. And now she kills bad people. Only bad people. Very bad people.

It's a comedy of manners with a charming heroine and a marvelous ending. And of course I enjoy it, now that I am also a woman of a certain age. Where Prizzi's Honor or Get Shorty went for a certain cool style, Miss Melville evokes a traditional vibe that would still feel at home in Southern Living.

A fun start to my Halloween reading.

Edited to add: Murder Most Foul, indeed