Elliot Paul

Waylaid in Boston Elliot Paul

Homer Evans and Finke Maguire, private detectives, are in Boston enjoying an evening with friends, when conversation turns to the methods of detective work. A bet is made--to win, a man must be tailed. But a light-hearted wager turns to mystery with a disappearance, then murder. What, and who, is working behind the scenes? Throw in a love triangle, shady South American financial dealings, and a bag full of snakes, and you've got another free-for-all adventure that requires the erudite Homer Evans to untangle a strange puzzle.



"Elliot Paul brews another of his lethal literary cocktails in 'Waylaid in Boston' . . . The sophisticated sleuth Homer Evans and his lieutenant Finke Maguire again encounter murder, this time in the very capital of propriety. Characters, outlandish; plot, sheer humorous lunacy." (Ralph Morrissey, 1953)



"The Boston scramble starts with a casual bet that one Leverett Bengay, a well known man about town, cannot shadow an unsuspecting citizen for 24 hours. [Homer] Evans gets in on the bet that the amateur sleuth will fumble the ball, then does a fulltime job himself, picking up a murder to solve in the process. It is, indeed, as the book jacket says, a mad and merry murder maze . . . mostly maze." (1953)