From Publishers Weekly
The latest of Elliott Roosevelt's ( New Deal for Death ) posthumous mysteries starring his mother, Eleanor, as sleuth offers more tantalizingly risque glimpses into the First Family's personal lives than previous titles did. In 1940, Idaho Senator Vance Gibson, feeling a little queasy, leaves a White House party only to be found by his wife Amelia in the East Room with his throat slit. Eleanor soothes the distraught widow and vows to do everything in her power to see that the killer is caught. Again teaming up with chief of the D.C. homicide division Edward Kennelly and Secret Service agent Gerald Baines, Eleanor learns that Gibson had made many enemies with his proposed insurance bill and that he had shared his bed with at least two women other than his wife. The trio probes the senator's private and political affairs, as well as those of other guests who had attended the White House dinner. At the same time, FDR tries to decide whether to run for President again and the Germans creep closer to Paris. Adding considerable spice to the tale are delicately intimate scenes featuring Eleanor with her companion, Lorena Hickock, and others in which, for instance, FDR and his secretary Missy LeHand snuggle in bed watching a John Wayne movie. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The latest in this popular history-mystery series is set in the early 1940s as FDR contemplates a third term and Germany is about to invade France. The plot involves the murder of a controversial senator during a state dinner at the White House. Since the D.C. cops seem flummoxed by the situation, Mrs. Roosevelt agrees to lend her considerable sleuthing skills to the case. She discovers that the senator was an avaricious philanderer with a covey of coy cuties eager to satisfy his every carnal craving and that his name was being linked to some unsavory insurance-industry practices. From there, the First Lady asks a few intelligently probing questions and presto! The villains are rounded up, the crime is solved, and the case is marked closed. It's all a bit pat, but Roosevelt again conveys a wonderfully intimate and authentic picture of the FDR White House and its inhabitants. His story is well plotted, entertaining, and full of ambience, and he has used his firsthand knowledge of his parents and their political friends and foes to paint a believable and quite fascinating picture of pre-World War II Washington. Emily Melton


From Kirkus Reviews
Yet another of the late author's posthumous novels, this one set in 1940 toward the end of FDR's second term, with France about to fall to Hitler's armies and isolationist forces in the US opposing every move to help Britain. These weighty matters serve as backdrop here to the murder of handsome, womanizing Senator Vance Gibson while attending a state dinner at the White House. Eleanor Roosevelt joins forces with Police Captain Kennelly and Secret Service agent Baines, her old allies in investigation (Murder in the West Wing, 1992, etc.), to ferret out the Senator's tangled private life. Married to amiable, overweight heiress Amelia McCabe- -and carrying on simultaneous affairs with elegant, married Constance Harrison, beautiful debutante Joanne Winthrop, and struggling law student Laura Mason--the Senator still had time to make powerful enemies in the insurance industry with a bill he was pushing toward passage. Attempted blackmail and a spot of arson further complicate events--until Mrs. Roosevelt gathers those involved to thrash out motive and method, and to garner a killer. Much the same mix as before, enlivened by its domestic and historical detail and a parade of celebrated figures of the era- -from J. Edgar Hoover to Greta Garbo. Easy to take and steadily entertaining. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"Steadily entertaining." --Kirkus

"Roosevelt conveys a wonderfully intimate and authentic picture of the FDR White House and its inhabitants...Well-plotted, entertaining, and full of ambience." --Booklist

"Page-turning." --Baton Rouge, LA Advocate



Book Description
In 1940, the world was hurtling toward war. And in Washington, D.C., the First Lady was hunting for a killer.

Fine food and drink are not a hallmark of FDR's White House. But bad bubbly isn't the reason Senator Vance Gibson staggers away from a state dinner. Moments after his departure, the man is dead in the East Room, his throat slit from ear to ear.

The world is being engulfed by the flames of war. The British have been defeated at Dunkirk and France is collapsing. While FDR agonizes over a third term, and the White House is invaded by movers, shakers, and plotters, the First Lady can't help but investigate the murder of Senator Gibson, a man who was irresistible to women, including Greta Garbo herself. Examining the suspects, from jealous husbands to a corrupt politician, Eleanor finds herself in a steamy world of sex and secrets. But for the President's wife, the most shocking truth is yet to come.

ANNOTATION

The latest Eleanor Roosevelt mystery finds the First Lady joining forces with the police to solve the murder of womanizing Senator Vance Gibson, who had a knack for making enemies. Arson and attempted blackmail further complicate things for Eleanor. Martin's.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this, the twelfth detective novel written by Elliott Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt is the First Lady of crime detection steadfastly seeking to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. The year is 1940. Great Britain is withdrawing its expeditionary force from the beaches at Dunkirk. American isolationists openly predict that Hitler will invade and conquer England before the summer is over. The biggest question in the U.S.: Will Franklin D. Roosevelt seek an unprecendented third term as President of the United States? A State dinner at the White House. White tie. Vance Gibson, a handsome, up-and-coming senator, perhaps with presidential ambitions of his own, leaves his table, complaining he is ill. His wife, Amelia, rises and follows him. A few minutes later the entire White House rings with anguished screams. Running into the East Room, Mrs. Roosevelt follows just behind the Secret Service men who find Senator Gibson lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood. His shrieking wife kneels beside him, his blood soaking her gown. Once again, Mrs. Roosevelt assumes the now-familiar role given to her by her son Elliott. In her own inimitable way, the First Lady turned sleuth gets to the bottom of a complex, intriguing political mystery.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The latest of Elliott Roosevelt's ( New Deal for Death ) posthumous mysteries starring his mother, Eleanor, as sleuth offers more tantalizingly risque glimpses into the First Family's personal lives than previous titles did. In 1940, Idaho Senator Vance Gibson, feeling a little queasy, leaves a White House party only to be found by his wife Amelia in the East Room with his throat slit. Eleanor soothes the distraught widow and vows to do everything in her power to see that the killer is caught. Again teaming up with chief of the D.C. homicide division Edward Kennelly and Secret Service agent Gerald Baines, Eleanor learns that Gibson had made many enemies with his proposed insurance bill and that he had shared his bed with at least two women other than his wife. The trio probes the senator's private and political affairs, as well as those of other guests who had attended the White House dinner. At the same time, FDR tries to decide whether to run for President again and the Germans creep closer to Paris. Adding considerable spice to the tale are delicately intimate scenes featuring Eleanor with her companion, Lorena Hickock, and others in which, for instance, FDR and his secretary Missy LeHand snuggle in bed watching a John Wayne movie. (Nov.)

BookList - Emily Melton