John Mersereau. Murder Loves Company (1940) 260 pp.
James Yeats Biddle is the youngest professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His specialty is horticulture and he is responsible for the ancient olive trees that have been transplanted on Treasure Island for the 1939 San Francisco World’s Fair, the Golden Gate Exposition. While driving across the Bay Bridge in the company of beautiful Kay Ritchie, girl-reporter for the San Francisco Sun-Telegraph, James narrowly avoids a head-on collision with a car being “driven” by two dead Japanese gardeners. Although he is uncomfortable around pretty young women and wants nothing to do with a murder investigation, James reluctantly finds himself involved with both when the police discover that the dead men had been working with the olive trees. A tale of herbicide and homicide.
Baird & Greenwood 1708
Herron
Hubin