The man in gray.

I've been on a Frances Crane marathon recently, but this one is my favorite so far.

"What a coincidence that April 15th had turned out to be for Daniel Vincent Willoz. Born, married twice, son born, and now dead, always on April 15th."

It's set in the California wine country. Patrick "Pat" and Jean Abbott are relaxing one evening when he gets a call from Francis Willoz, son of his D V Willoz of the Willoz Wine Country. Pat, a private detective, is on retainer to the company and usually handles the investigation of thefts and hijackings. However, this time is different - Francis claims his father has been murdered. Since Pat's secretary is on vacation out of the country, Jean will have to act as his secretary. Things quickly become complicated - it appears D V Willoz died of natural causes, the babysitter sent out by the employment agency turns out to be a horror, someone chloroforms Jean and ties her up, and then the obnoxious babysitter turns up dead. And that's only the beginning.

Like all the Abbott books, this features interesting characters, an excellent mystery, and Jean's trademark ironic narration. The characters and setting are well drawn and the details regarding the history of the California wine industry (to that point) are informative. This was a quick read, probably taking a total of three hours spread out over about a day.

Just a bit of information about Frances Crane - she was a true character, independent, intelligent, and with a strong sense of justice. She was born Frances Kirkwood in 1890 in Lawrenceville, Illinois. Her family placed a high value on education. Several of her male relatives were doctors, and her aunt Nancy graduated from college in the 19th century and may have even earned a master's degree. Frances graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois at Urbana. Frances married an advertising executive, had a daughter, Nancy (named for her aunt), and wrote sketches for "The New Yorker." She lived abroad for many years, primarily in England and then Germany. She specialized in humorous tales that poked gentle fun at the British from a decidedly American point of view. However, that was all about to change.

While living in Germany during the 1930s, Frances repeatedly clashed with the Nazi regime and eventually had to leave the country. When a German soldier stopped her for not attentively listening to one of Hitler's speeches broadcast over a loudspeaker, Frances just thumbed her nose at it. On another occasion, she entered a restaurant that had a sign that stated, "No Jews Allowed" and tried to convince the proprietors that she was Jewish. (Actually, she was Scottish Presbyterian.) The headwaiter replied, "Oh, no, Madam, you are an American." (!) Frances' housekeeper and the housekeeper's young son vanished from the home Frances was renting. Frances' attempts to locate them or learn what happened to them were futile. Their "offense"? They were Jewish. Finally, Frances had to leave Germany due to her "unfavorable articles" about the Nazis.

When Frances returned to the US, she was divorced and had a daughter about to start college. Her humorous stories were no longer in vogue - it was considered bad taste to poke fun at the British while they were fighting off the Nazis. Then one of her old editors told her that mysteries were "hot." Now living in Taos, New Mexico, Frances heard of a real-life incident involving a local jewelry store and thus [b:The Turquoise Shop|1242344|The Turquoise Shop|Frances Crane|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361609046s/1242344.jpg|1231036] came to be. This is the scarcest of all her books, by the way. If you come across a copy, buy it! The series eventually included 26 novels, each with a color in the title. "The Man in Gray" was published in 1958. The last one, "The Body Beneath the Mandarin Tree," was published in 1965. Frances' last book, "Worse Than a Crime," a non-series novel, was published in 1968. Frances died in 1981 at the age of 91.

The Abbotts proved popular and actually starred in two radio shows, Abbott Mysteries from 1945 to 1947, and Adventures of the Abbotts from 1954 to 1954. You can find some of these recordings free online. They're not as good as the books, but they're still fun.