You Die Today! — Baynard Kendrick

A shooting outside a Manhattan bar leads a blind detective to a health spa with a dark secret in this mystery by the author of Make Mine Maclain.

Late one summer night, Tubby Severn is enjoying a drink at the bar of the Broadway Palace Hotel when a bullet sails past his head -- only six inches away. Lots of people might want Tubby dead, but he's not sure why the cops have arrested his best friend, Ted Yates, a blind army veteran. It seems the gun involved in the shooting was Ted's service pistol, which was also used in a murder two years ago -- and then vanished. Now, with Ted sporting a straitjacket in Bellevue, Tubby turns to Duncan Maclain for help.

Maclain agrees to take the case but soon discovers he's dealing with more than one suspicious death and a peculiar place called Hardesty's Health Farm, where they help clients shed pounds. As Maclain begins making connections in this twisted puzzle, he and his partner, Spud Savage, must quickly nab the killer before someone else is dropped like dead weight . . .

“Suspense! . . . Corking climax!” -- Omaha World-Herald

“Novel murder device, unique fabric of alibis, deeply knotted puzzle, and engaging detection technique.” -- Chicago Tribune
Baynard Kendrick was the first American to enlist in the Canadian Army during World War I. While in London, he met a blind English soldier whose observational skills inspired the character of Capt. Duncan Maclain. Kendrick was also a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America and winner of the organization's Grand Master Award.