Joel and Garda Sloane are a married couple and rare book dealers. Once in awhile, they also solve crimes. His friend Mike Stevens asks for a $5000 loan to ensure his promotion. It's to be used for a beauty pageant. The couple decides to leave the sweltering city for the seaside resort holding the pageant. She's not happy that he gets roped into being a judge. He is told that the promoter Eric Bartell has been withdrawing every deposit immediately in cash. When Bartell turns up murdered, Mike is arrested.
This franchise could never work for two reasons. Being rare book dealers do not provide an easy way into murder and mayhem. The bigger issue is the lack of consistency in the cast. It serves no purpose to have different actors in these two important roles in each of the movies. The basic requirement is their chemistry and they need to rebuild it back up in every new movie. It's hard to do. Ann Sothern does a fine job with her fast talking and Franchot Tone is perfectly acceptable. The fact that the movie struggles to keep them together only adds to the problem. It does not serve them well whenever the couple is split apart in their investigations. They should be together from the start to the finish. Under an elevator is also a strange place to store furniture.
This franchise could never work for two reasons. Being rare book dealers do not provide an easy way into murder and mayhem. The bigger issue is the lack of consistency in the cast. It serves no purpose to have different actors in these two important roles in each of the movies. The basic requirement is their chemistry and they need to rebuild it back up in every new movie. It's hard to do. Ann Sothern does a fine job with her fast talking and Franchot Tone is perfectly acceptable. The fact that the movie struggles to keep them together only adds to the problem. It does not serve them well whenever the couple is split apart in their investigations. They should be together from the start to the finish. Under an elevator is also a strange place to store furniture.