Burnham: The Murder of Lalla Lee

When Lalla Lee, ex-chorus girl, married to an elderly man of wealth, is found with her head bashed in, right in her own living room, it happens that criminologist O. W. Wimble is on hand, calling to have tea with the lovely Lalla at the request of the District Attorney, whom she had phoned she had a bit of news to interest him. You learn that Lalla had a not irreproachable past and, moreover, had been carrying on lately with an Italian dancer, her chauffeur, possibly others. So, as suspects, you have your choice of the Italian Panella; the burly Patterson, ex-prize fighter; Sharl, aged butler who found the body, and patently was concealing something; Myrtle Dale, Panella’s flame; Annie, the country maid with screen aspirations; and the mysterious “Goatie.” There’s also the matter of a priceless emerald Patterson tries to sell, and a certain past tragedy back in the Virginia town which Walter Lee and his body servant Sharl had left 30 years before—and what was the secret Lalla had for the District Attorney’s ears? When Wimble has all the threads untangled, you are due for a surprise—if you haven’t seen it coming.