Dinner at Antoine's is Keyes first work of romantic fiction that also embodies a mystery. It takes place in New Orleans. It has all the earmarks of a romance novel: the rich tycoon, his too long single daughter, the beautiful widow and her daughter. A death that appears to be suicide and the dogged detective determined to prove it is murder.
The book is hard cover (royal blue boards) with dust jacket. It is the book club edition, published by Julian Messner, Inc. The book was written in the aftermath of WWII. The copyright is 1948 and I assume the book club edition came out the same year or soon afterwards. It is 366 pages.
Condition is near fine book with age tanning and okay dust jacket that has edge tears, a line across the front and a couple of places where price tags have been pulled off. It is intact however.
Frances Parkinson Keyes (1885-1970) was born in Virginia and began writing while living in New England where her husband was Governor of New Hampshire. The Keyes then moved to Washington DC when her husband was elected to the US Senate. She continued to write about Washington life and then took lengthy research commissions in France and South America. Her husband was derisive of her writing career but this did not deter her. He died in 1938. In 1950 Frances moved to New Orleans and bought the historic Beauregard House in the French Quarter. At this time her novels began centering around life in New Orleans. Dinner at Antoine's is only one of two mysteries she wrote.
