Death Wears A White Gardenia by Zelda Popkin

This 1938 mystery features a female department store detective caught up in murder when a body is discovered on the day of the big sale. Mary is just part of a large cast of characters, and Popkin pulls off a satisfying twist in the end.

As Blankfort & Co. celebrates their 50th anniversary with a grand sale, a dead man is found crammed into a delivery bay closet. While store owner Jeremiah Blankfort welcomes hundreds of shoppers, Security Chief Detective Chris Whittaker gathers his men to keep the discovery quiet. Among the salesmen and women is Mary Carner, an undercover floor detective with the knack for catching experienced shoplifters. The victim was store Credit Manager, Andrew McAndrew, who had been strangled to death—the only clues being a pearl button and a gardenia clenched in his cold hand.

Homicide Inspector Augustus Heimsheimer arrives to aid Detectives Williams and Mazur. There are over a thousand employees, and every one is about to be interviewed. Mary begins with McAndrew's personal secretary, Evelyn Lennon, who was so close to her boss that she is carrying his baby. McAndrew's wife knew about her and visited the store last night, giving a false alibi for her whereabouts. Over the next fourteen hours, Mary and the Inspector discover: Blankfort's perilous borrowing during the Depression, an embroidered handkerchief , McAndrew's money-making schemes, and his little black book listing wealthy clients running up high store credit. Mr. Blankfort is adamant that the store remain unblemished, and Mary is up to the task; it's just going to take a lot of legwork.

Taking place in the department store, this has a lot of charm and is filled with colorful New York characters. While I found the investigation ran a little dry in the middle, it entertains throughout, and Popkin pulls off a very clever twist at the end.

This was Popkin's first mystery novel, and Mary Carner continued in a series which includes Murder in the Mist (1940), Time Off for Murder (1940), Dead Man's Gift (1941), No Crime for a Lady (1942), and So Much Blood (1944).

This classic is available in all formats including eBook.

1938 / Paperback / 288 pages