Virginia McVay Rath (1905-1950) was born in northern California near San Francisco and graduated from the University of California. She taught high school before marrying and beginning her literary career during which she published thirteen novels. She has two series detectives: Sheriff Rocky Allan and fashion designer Michael Dundas. Both are from the San Francisco area. Allan appears in the first five books released between 1935 and 1937, Dundas makes his debut in the sixth book. Dundas and Allan work together in the seventh book (1939), and the remaining six titles are about Dundas and his wife Valerie (1940-1947).
The fourth book with Dundas is Death Breaks the Ring (Doubleday Crime Club, 1941; reprinted by Coachwhip, 2020). Nothing much was known about Tex Logan, a cowboy who drifted from one place to the next, never staying long, and why he should be murdered at a resort in rural northern California was a genuine mystery. Considering the tensions and outright animosities among the other guests, it should have been someone else. A couple of the characters are obnoxious; their demise would have been more readily understood. But it was Logan’s body that is found on the grounds around midnight after an evening of square dancing. The sheriff can’t find enough evidence to arrest anyone or justify making so many people stay on while he continues to search, so he’s forced to let everyone leave.
Michael Dundas and his wife Valerie happen to be on site and are happy to exercise their investigative chops to support the sheriff, making inquiries after everyone returns to San Francisco where the sheriff can’t easily ask questions. Some of the characters are wealthy enough or have a prominent enough social position to make a rural law enforcement officer’s life uncomfortable.
An haute couture designer is not a routine Golden Age detective. Dundas is acerbic, impatient, and intelligent, as well as a pleasure to watch at work. He and his wife Valerie make a great team. Fans of Mr. and Mrs. North will be happy to make their acquaintance. While the essential plot is sound, Rath withheld a number of key conversations that gave clues to the solution, adding them after the killer is revealed in an awkward finish to the story. A considerable flaw in an otherwise good mystery.