Murder in Bright Red

Pat and Jean Abbott, visiting relatives in a rich oil town, are called on to clear a pretty air-line hostess, Sally Carroll, who is suspected of having murdered her old beau. By the time the Abbotts arrive on the scene, there has been a curious change of policy: nobody wants them on the case, not the cousin and heir of the dead man, not his widow, and especially not the sheriff. Perversely, they decide to stay. Pat is shot at by a man who is supposed to be helping them, and Jean is buried in an abandoned well by a woman who claims to be on their side. Then a car they think is a friend's crashes them into a ditch. Nevertheless they stick with the job until they come up with a solution that is both surprising and satisfying - but they cannot prevent the killer from claiming a second victim.

"Pro Handling" - The Saturday Review
"Congenial and confiding." - Kirkus

Also available by Frances Crane:
The Indigo Necklace (New Orleans)
The Shocking Pink Hat (San Francisco)
Black Cypress (Laguna Beach/ San Francisco)
The Polkadot Murder (New Mexico)
Thirteen White Tulips (San Francisco)
The Coral Princess Murders (Tangier)
Horror on the Ruby X (New Mexico)
The Man in Gray (San Francisco)
The Amber Eyes (San Francisco)

About the Author
Frances Crane, author of the colorful Pat and Jean Abbott mystery stories, was born in Lawrenceville, Illinois. After graduating from the University of Illinois, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, she travelled in Europe. While living there in the 1920s she began contributing to magazines, including The New Yorker, in which her satirical "Mrs. Craig-Higgs" pieces from England appeared. Her articles did not prevent her from expanding into mystery fiction, a genre in which she found great success on both sides of the ocean.
Mrs. Crane spent a good part of her life traveling the world, living for extended periods in the places that provided the settings for many of her mysteries. San Francisco was one of her favorite cities and the home of the Abbotts. Her love for that cosmopolitan center was reflected in Thirteen White Tulips, The Amber Eyes, The Man in Gray, and others. Similarly, her fascination with Tangier was evidenced in The Coral Princess Murders (1954), and her love of New Orleans in The Indigo Necklace (1945). Paris, Louisville, Texas, and many other interesting locales were also backgrounds for her mysteries.
From 1941 to 1965, Mrs. Crane completed 26 novels featuring the Abbotts, whose adventures were broadcast in two radio series in the 1940s and 50s, Abbott Mysteries and Adventures of the Abbotts.


Genre: Cozy Mystery