It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder
Rosemary Martin
Signet, Apr 2005, $6.50, 272 pp.
ISBN: 0451214706

In 1964, with a secretarial diploma in hand, twenty-two-year-old Bebe Bennett comes to the Big Apple looking for work. She obtains a secretarial position at Rip City Records just as the firm is trying to gain a beachhead into the British invasion. Her worldlier roommate, stewardess Darlene, has actually joined the mile high club with the lead singer of Philip Royal and the Beafeaters, an act signed by Rip City Records.

While Darlene is to see Philip, Bebe is stepping out with lead guitarist Keith. However, instead of clubbing, Darlene discovers a dead Philip, an apparent victim of electrocution by guitar. The police suspect Darlene killed her boyfriend, probably because of free love with other groupies, but Bebe knows her roommate would never murder anyone. As the "pigs" look to pin the rap on Darlene, Bebe goes clubbing in the Village seeking to uncover the real culprit.

Take Austin Powers but place him in Manhattan just as the Beatles invade Shea Stadium and Ed Sullivan and you have an idea of the background to this delightful, historical, amateur sleuth tale. The storyline is fun to follow as Bebe gets on-the-job lessons on the mod world from her roommate and her employer. Her sleuthing work seems always just off-kilter like a 45 playing at 78 speed; if you do not know what these numbers mean you are too young to remember the world of IT'S A MOD, MOD, MOD, MOD MURDER (where is Jimmy Durante when you need him?).

Harriet Klausner