Eleanor and the South Beach Murders

Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her 25-year-old assistant Kay Thompson investigate a politically fraught murder in Yardley’s competent sequel to Eleanor and the Cold War. In late December 1951, Eleanor and Kay are in Miami for a series of meetings organized by the American Association for the United Nations. Also in town is Josephine Baker, the internationally renowned singer and Mrs. Roosevelt’s old acquaintance. When a man is shot to death in Josephine’s locked dressing room, suspicion lands on the singer’s young, Black assistant, Rosaleen, the only other person in the room with the victim. Meanwhile, the Ku Klux Klan has been carrying out cross burnings across Miami, and Josephine has been receiving anonymous threats. Given Eleanor’s connection to Josephine, Kay decides to put her sleuthing skills to work, trying to solve the seemingly impossible murder despite pushback from Klansmen, Miami police, and CIA officers. In addition to the first lady, Kay is assisted by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, private detective Tim O’Malley. Yardley has fun weaving real-life figures into the narrative, but her characters are a bit two-dimensional. Still, this is a diverting-enough whodunit that should please fans of lighthearted historical mysteries. Agent: Evan Marshall, Marshall Agency. (Feb.)