The writing team of Mary Jane Latsis and Martha Henissart, who usually wrote under the pen name Emma Lathen, also wrote a series of mysteries under the pen name R. B. Dominic between 1968 and 1983. This series is set in Washington, D. C. and stars Congressman Ben Safford (D., Ohio) and his Congressional colleagues. Although they wrote seven novels as Dominic, I only have three of them.
As they did when writing as Lathen, the authors incorporate contemporary events and themes into their plots. Murder In High Place gets Congressman Safford involved in the affairs of an unstable Latin American country as he tries to untangle the relationship between one of his hot-headed constituents and U.S. government departments that provide aid to that country. This book involves the meticulous plotting and background research characteristic of Emma Lathen's work, but this book seemed to plod along with no trace of the wicked humor of the John Putnam Thatcher books, and I missed that. Grade: C.
Safford gets involved with the Atomic Energy Commission in Murder Out Of Commission when a powerful utility company wants to build a nuclear power plant in a small town in his Congressional district. Most of the residents are in favor of it, hoping the construction and other jobs it will bring in will revitalize the town, but activist residents of a wealthy neighboring town fear the potential consequences of a reactor safety failure. Grade: C.
The subcommittee Ben Safford is on is holding hearings around the country on Medicade fraud in The Attending Physician (1980) and Ben is chagrined to find that his Ohio district is next on the list to investigate fraudulent billings by seven local doctors. This book reminded me of Emma Lathen's A Stitch In Time, written in 1968, where doctors were again the chief suspects in a variety of criminal activities. Grade: C.