Puzzle in Purple

Puzzle in Purple by Betsy Allen (1948) I have to admit, I'm really kind of a sucker for the book series that use colors in their episode titles, like this one. Other ones I know of are Walter Mosley's “Easy Rawlins” books (they start with Devil in a Blue Dress and A Red Death), and John D. MacDonald's “Travis McGee” books (starting with The Deep Blue Good-by, Nightmare in Pink, and A Purple Place for Dying). Connie Blair books also start with Blue, Red, and Purple—coincidence? I also have to admit that a book series I'm currently working on also has colors in some of the titles—and I'd love to continue that—but sometimes it's better not to force the color issue if you don't have to. A good title is the best title the book can have, regardless of the gimmick. Anyway, this is the third book in the Connie Blair Mystery series, and the third one I've read. Once again, Connie is living and working in Philadelphia, and this time she enrolls in art school, which is where the mystery takes place. Art school in a big city in the late Forties seems like a an enticing setting. It's not exactly “Art School Confidential,” but it is a somewhat cynical look at the personalities of the young people in question. There are some baffling crimes, of course, and among the possible suspects we get a pretty good cross-examination of three very distinct types—three different young men who all seem to excel in this particular program, but also have flaws. The three are also somewhat vying for the attention of the new girl at school, Connie Blair—and she completes fairly thorough character profiles of each of them in the course of both deciding who she likes best while also considering them as suspects. The crimes involve the defacement of art—on both a prank level and a serious, criminal level—which is also an interesting twist in the mystery. I hope it doesn't give anything away if I say the outcome is a bit “Scooby-Doo-ish”—but what it comes down to, that's not really the most interesting part of the book, I don't think. For me, I like the social aspects, and the well-drawn characters that we get to know. And, kind of a bonus, Connie's twin sister, Kit, is somewhat more involved in this book—so we get a little identical twin mischief, which is always fun.