Richard Stockton Forrest (1932-2005) was an author of mysteries and nonfiction, as well as short stories. He also wrote under the names Stockton Woods, Lee Evans, and Rebecca Morgan. His first novel was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1975. His next few mysteries were about an author of children’s books and his wife, the Connecticut Secretary of State, as unintentional investigators who appeared in a series of 10 stories. Each title is a play on a children’s classic.
The fourth book about Lyon and Bea Wentworth, The Death in the Willows (Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1979; Mysterious Press/Open Road Media, 2016) has a complicated plot. Bea is deeply immersed in running for Congress. Lyon is on his way back to Connecticut after a productive meeting with his publisher and editor in New York City. Their plans are sent scuttling when the bus Lyon is on is hijacked in the Lincoln Tunnel, and Lyon ends up reluctantly but decisively disabling the hijacker.
Two of the passengers disappear immediately afterwards and the police are anxious to talk to them to find out what they know about the hijacker. And then Lyon begins to receive anonymous telephone calls demanding “the merchandise.” Nothing he can say convinces the caller that he has the wrong person. In the meantime Bea frantically dashes from fundraiser to speaking engagement to debate as she heads into the feverish last weeks of a close race.
Lyon concludes that he’s somehow been caught up in the nefarious business of one or the other of the vanished passengers and he begins searching for them. The story gallops from there, with Bea supporting Lyon’s investigation while he bolsters her attempts to become a Congressional representative. Both of these endeavors require them to be in more than one place at a time.
The premise sounds fluffy – a children’s book author as detective? — but with the first shot of the crazed hijacker the story races down an unexpectedly gritty path. The ending is not at all what I expected. The main characters are original and a pleasure to meet. Intelligent, thoughtful, mature. Creative plot with well-placed surprises. This seems to be another of those excellent series that has been largely and unfortunately forgotten.