Edward Sidney Aarons (1916 –1975) was a U.S. author who published some 80 novels from 1936 until 1975, using his own name and the pseudonyms Paul Ayres and Edward Ronns. He also contributed to mystery periodicals such as Detective Story Magazine, The Shadow, and Scarab.
Aarons was especially well known for his “Assignment” series of international spy thrillers written between 1955 to 1975, all 42 of them with CIA agent Sam Durell as the lead character. After his death, Aarons’ brother wrote a few more in the series. Typical spy stuff for the time, the books were translated into 17 languages. See a detailed biography and discussion of his work in American National Biography edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/g/garraty-biography.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Before turning to his espionage series, Aarons began with writing stand-alone hard-boiled crime fiction set along the East Coast of the United States, where he lived. He created a series character for some of his books; Jerry Benedict was the political cartoonist for a large New York newspaper. Gift of Death (David McKay, 1948) is one of the Benedict titles. Interestingly, this particular title was published originally under Edward Ronns but the paperback reprints are issued in the name Edward S. Aarons, creating some confusion in locating a copy.
Lucius McConaughy, Benedict’s editor at the newspaper, demands that Benedict accompany him to his family’s home in western Connecticut, despite Benedict’s plans to marry and go on leave with his new wife. McConaughy has been summoned by his cousin Amanda Merritt because her secretary has been murdered. She believes that she was the intended victim, not the secretary, and demands that McConaughy bring a detective to assist the local police. Benedict’s fiancé Stephanie is not happy about this change in her wedding but she goes to a hotel in the village of Northbury, near the farm, where she flaunts her single status with the available young men.
Benedict learns that Amanda Merritt believes the entire cousin cohort is at risk. Their uncle left his estate to be divided equally among his nieces and nephews. At present each heir is due to receive $100,000 (about $1,400,000 USD in 2026) and Amanda suspects that one of the heirs wishes to increase his or her share by bumping off some of the remaining cousins.
Benedict begins asking questions and learns more about the Merritt family and its property than perhaps he originally intended, including a puzzling murder-suicide that took place in one of the farm bedrooms about 10 years earlier. Meanwhile Stephanie paints the village red with an objectionable young man, distracting Benedict from his assignment.
Longer than it needs to be, the book is still interesting reading because much of the writing is creative and striking. The picturesque Housatonic River Valley gave Aarons a lot of descriptive material to work with, resulting in some beautiful and vivid imagery.
An author worth examining a little more closely.