The groom lay dead

the long version

A new murder-mystery by a writer who is now standard and whose enthusiastic following is steadily expanding. This one is set in the vineyards and wineries of the Finger Lakes region of New York State, and involves a U. S. Marine officer invalided out after action at Guadalcanal, the girl he was supposed to marry but didn't, the rich man the girl did marry, and their entourage of friends. And above all it involves the mysterious and magnetic head of a weird cult— and the way he used the cult as a racket. To those who have read and enjoyed any of Mr. Coxe's previous stories nothing need here be added about the fast pace, the sustained excitement, and the interesting characters that make this, like his other books, Grade A in the field.