Cats Prowl at Night

Rating:
Summary: Bertha tackles a murder case without Donald
Review: In this story, Bertha is on her own, as Donald Lam is vacationing in Europe. A man (Everett Belder) comes to her with a problem. Some time ago, he was facing a judgement, so he transferred his assets into his wife's name. The ploy worked, but now he is in difficulty, as he needs to pay off a debt and things are not well between him and his wife. The man Belder owes the money to is also in financial difficulty, so Belder wants Bertha to act as a go-between and arrange a reduced payoff.
Belder is a bit of a womanizer and his mother-in-law and sister-in-law are greedy and want to break up his marriage. There are a few other devious women in the mix; in this case all of the crooks are female. An anonymous person is also writing letters to Belder's wife, telling her of his actions with women, "as a friend." The plot quickly changes from one of marital intrigue to murder when two of the women are found dead. Although the situations have been constructed to give the appearance of accidents, it is clear that they were most likely murdered. It is also clear early on that a woman committed the murders. However, there are so many that it is difficult to identify the perpetrators(s).
The best part of the story is the interaction between Bertha and police Sergeant Frank Sellers, the lead detective on the case. His actions towards Bertha are very heavy-handed, her response is typical Bertha, and yet it is clear that they very much like each other. In the end, despite her mistakes and battles with Sellers, Bertha manages to help determine the guilty parties and Sellers wraps up the case. After the case is closed, Sellers shows his affection for Bertha and she has no ready response to his advances.
I don't consider this one of the strongest Donald Lam-Bertha Cool stories, simply because Donald is absent. The subtle and thoughtful style that he uses in solving his cases is the strongest thing that appeals to me in the stories and it was absent. While Bertha doesn't go around pounding on or shooting people, she is the verbal equivalent of a tank.