Lois Paxton - The Man Who Died Twice

61. The Man Who Died Twice by Lois Paxton (1968)
Length: 159 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 17 June 2014
Finished: 18 June 2014
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 5 November 2000
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Lois Paxton is a new author for me.

Shortly after her beloved husband is killed in car crash, Charlotte Mason begins to realize that someone is trying to kill her. Since she is unable to go to the police, Charlotte turns to the only two men who she believes can help her: Martin, the taciturn accountant who handled Harry Mason's business affairs, and Philip, the pleasant young man who lives upstairs.

While neither man trusted the other, Charlotte trusted both of them - until something happened that led her to suspect that one of them might be a cold-blooded killer. The question was, which one? And why?

Lois Paxton is actually one of three pseudonyms that Lois Dorothea Low (née Pilkington), wrote under. She was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1916. She worked briefly in insurance and then became a literary agent. She was also a fairly prolific novelist who wrote for a period of 21 years, from 1962 to 1983. Ms. Paxton is technically classified as a romance novelist; although I prefer to call her a Gothic romance novelist.

According to her bibliography, Lois Dorothea Low began her writing career in 1962 with Isle For a Stranger, written under the pseudonym Dorothy Mackie Low - she wrote a total of seven novels under that particular name; under the pseudonym Lois Paxton, she wrote four books starting in 1968 with The Man Who Died Twice. As Zoë Cass, she wrote three books starting with Island of the Seven Hills in 1974. In 1983, she contributed to the Woman's Weekly Fiction Series Omnibus Vol. 6 No 3, along with fellow authors Juliet Armstrong, Margaret Redfern and Briony Tedgle.

She actually was elected the fifth Chairman of the Romance Novelists' Association from 1969 to 1971; as well as a former Vice President of the organization. She died on 8 November 2002. She was 86 years old.

I must say that I enjoyed reading The Man Who Died Twice by Lois Paxton - actually much more than I expected that I would. I'm certain that the writing style would be considered rather dated these days, but overall, I still liked it. I never actually lived in London, but visited there quite often when I was younger, so many of the places mentioned were familiar to me. I haven't read that many books by Lois Paxton in the past, but I do have at least one more book by this author, hidden away on my bookshelf. I give this book an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight