Intrigue

A New York private eye works the puzzle of an actress found slain in a Grand Central Station railway car.

A convict being escorted in for retrial escapes at Grand Central and threatens his old girlfriend on the phone. She flees for her new beau's private railcar at the same station. When she is then found murdered the cops round up a motley group of suspects including the escapee, several guys feeling sore at the way the gold-digging broad had treated them, some jealous dames, and a private eye already on the case. Inspector Gunther soon has a problem--enough evidence to fry all of them.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

A man named Turk, a convicted murderer, is being transported via rail through Grand Central Station in New York. Just before the arrival at the station, Turk manages to escape. He telephones his ex-girlfriend, headlining stage performer Mida King (who named herself after King Midas, as she wants everything she touches to turn to gold), threatening her as she was the one whose testimony has got him to where he is, truth or lie. Upon receiving this call, Mida decides to abandon the show in which she is currently performing to head to Grand Central Station to a private rail car where she is to meet her current fiancé, wealthy David Henderson, to run off and get married. David dumped his then fiancée Constance Furness, daughter of a railroad executive, to be with Mida. By the time David, who happens to be with Constance, arrives at the private rail car, they find Mida is dead. Inspector Gunther is called in to investigate what he is certain is murder. Gunther is able to convene all the suspects, including Turk. This group includes those in both her professional life and her personal life. The stories they tell of Mida is that she was a driven, money hungry woman, who wanted fame and fortune and would do almost anything to achieve that, which leads to the notion that many would have motive to kill her. Also included within the group convened are private eye, Rocky Custer, and his personal and professional partner, Sue "Buster" Custer, who were working on proving the murder charge against Turk was bogus. Although they are considered suspects, they try to assist Gunther in unraveling the mystery of who killed Mida, that someone who seems to have an inside knowledge of the workings of Grand Central Station.—Huggo

In this variation on "locked room" mystery, a fickle showgirl (Mida) is killed in a private railway car on a siding in New York's Grand Central Station. Who dunnit? Marc, the rich boy who loved her? Connie, his jilted fiancée? Gangster ex-boyfriend Turk? Private eye Rocky Custer helps untangle the mystery in a series of flashbacks. And the train never even leaves the station!—Mike Rogers <MICHAELPEM@aol.com>