Deadly Nightshade — Elizabeth Daly

An amateur sleuth aids a Maine town plagued by poison in this mystery by Agatha Christie's favorite American author.

With talk of war all over the radio waves, antiquarian book dealer Henry Gamadge is back in Maine, this time by invitation of his friend Detective Mitchell. Mitchell has a real puzzler on his hands: three different children have been poisoned with deadly nightshade, and there is no motive that could possibly link all three poisonings, beside the fact that the children all live in the same small community. Could the nearby encampment of Gypsies be involved? And was the death of a state trooper at about the same time a mere coincidence? Gamadge sets out to separate fact from fiction and find the killer before they strike again . . .

“An exciting novel and an excellent mystery.” -- San Jose News