Murder out of commission

Description:

Another interesting detective novel from R. B. Dominic, a different pen name used by the pair of writers who wrote many successful detective novels as Emma Lathen. The amateur detective is a congressman, a bachelor of the type with a rumpled appearance (and frayed cuffs if his sister and his secretary don't keep a close eye on him). It is easy for many of us to identify with his liking for a quiet life. The other people in Ben Stafford's life add a lot of interest, as well as useful background knowledge on problems that many of us don't meet in ordinary life. Here the plot is about murders apparently connected to the building of a nuclear power station in a small rural town that needs the jobs. What links two very different people? Is the same person responsible? Deduction, rather than action or violence. Amazing that this was written decades ago. People's natures are still much the same.

subjects: Murder,  congressman,  nuclear power station,  Fiction, mystery & detective, general,  Fiction, action & adventure

People: Ben Stafford

Places: Newbury,  Ohio (fictional),  Washington DC

Times: Contemporary when written,  1970s