"Paper Doll" Is Still A Good, Yet Dated, Mystery

I’ve always been a fan of the Spencer novels. In the classic 1993 novel, “Paper Doll”, private eye Spencer is at it again, trying to solve the case of who murdered what appeared to be a devoted wife and mother. On the surface, this woman appeared to have no enemies and was an outstanding member of her upscale Massachusetts community. However, as Spencer digs deeper, he finds that she is not who she seems to be. In fact, even her devoted husband might not even know who she is. At one point, when Spencer is asking too many questions, he is fired by her widower husband from the case. Spencer, though not one to let things go easily, decides to continue to dig into the case.

This case takes him out of Massachusetts and into an odd small town in South Carolina, where he goes to the private school the wife went to as a teenager, meets her estranged father, a mysterious woman who works at a local diner with a picture of her on the wall, and other people in the town who might be clues to her real identity. He also suspects that a politician who is friends with the family of the murdered women might have something to do with her murder.

This was a solid Spencer novel. Yes, parts of it were dated like when Spencer compares the politician he is investigating to a presidential candidate at the time, Gary Hart, who lost the nomination because of an affair being uncovered. It was a simpler time. However, this sketchy politician might have had something to do with the murder, as he reveals to Spencer himself, he was having an affair with her.

There’s your usual cast of side characters, like Spencer’s friend Hawk and his girlfriend Susan. Most of the novel’s asides are Spencer and his girlfriend, Susan, hanging out and exchanging witty banter about the case and life in general.

While this book is dated, it’s still a good Spencer novel. The mystery has plenty of twists and turns, and some scenes even get a bit sad. It’s a well-crafted mystery because even at times, as a seasoned reader of mystery novels, I didn’t know exactly where it was going. At different times in the novel, I suspected different people who could have murdered this woman, even family members.

One thing I will point out is this novel is titled Paper Doll, and I don’t really know why exactly. There is no mention of paper dolls throughout the entire book. Maybe the wife is supposed to be like a paper doll, as a metaphor. I’m not sure.