Weekly Reader: Betrayal at Ravenswick: A Fiona Figg Mystery by Kelly Oliver; Engaging Historical Mystery Combines Murder Mystery and Espionage Thriller

 

Weekly Reader: Betrayal at Ravenswick: A Fiona Figg Mystery by Kelly Oliver; Engaging Historical Mystery Combines Murder Mystery and Espionage Thriller

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: This year, we have become acquainted with Mona Moon, 1930's cartographer turned entrepreneur and amateur detective and Ginger Gold, 1920's fashionista flapper turned amateur detective. Our latest historical mystery featuring an alliterative independent woman is The Fiona Figg Mysteries, starring a WWI era woman who gets involved murder mysteries and espionage among fighting nations.

Fiona needs something to block her hurt emotions after she caught her husband, Andrew in bed with his mistress whom he not only impregnated but wants to marry. Fiona throws herself into her job as head filing clerk at the War Office's top secret Room 40. At this job, she helps decode and send telegrams. She has career success when she decodes the Zimmermann telegram which pushes the United States into the war. 

Fiona's reputation spreads through Room 40 enough that her colleagues have faith in her when she volunteers to trail a potential German spy known as the Great White Hunter. Fiona impersonates a male doctor to enter Ravenswick Abbey, the home of Lady Mary Elliot and where the Hunter has contacts. Things take a disastrous turn when Countess Edith Elliot is murdered. Fiona finds herself in a house full of suspects, one of whom may also be an enemy spy.

Betrayal at Ravenswick cleverly combines the drawing room cozy mystery with an espionage political thriller. Fiona finds herself in the fancy home with many suspects who have reasons to do away with the deceased. There's the much younger fortune hunter whom the adult children don't like, the orphaned relative from an illegitimate background taken in by the charity of their elders, the jealous and angry staff who may have a literal axe to grind, and of course the houseguests who have a secret or two or three that they don't want people to know about. It's all obvious, almost too obvious.

What Oliver does is cleverly play and mock the drawing room mystery genre while keeping the international intrigue at the forefront. One of the smartest moves is when a pompous character does the "call everyone into the room to announce the murderer" bit. The clever subversion in this moment is that it happens off stage with another character retelling it to Fiona, both of whom realize that the so-called master detective is wrong and is simply a bombastic twit. Fiona is less impressed by this massive display of not so brilliant deduction and wants the eyewitness to get to the point over what happened.

Fiona is aware that there are bigger stakes involved than the murder of one person in a rich estate and that this isn't a personal grudge from someone in a jealous love triangle or who can't wait to get their hands on Mama's money. The conflicts involve a world at war making these classy murder mysteries tempests in sweltering teapots ready to explode.

Along with that personal troubles being cast aside for the bigger picture of international conflict, there is the slight focus on Fiona's love life. While she is naturally incensed by Andrew's cheating and inwardly hopes that he ends up with syphilis, she is able to pull herself together to get the job done. While some female detectives use their private pain to pull them into the mystery solving game, Fiona does what many male detectives do. She uses the job to disguise her pain and works to get beyond it.

 It's no coincidence that her first assignment involves her assuming a male identity. There are many who feel that Fiona doesn't fit in the woman's world of the late 19teens. She is an outspoken and independent career woman whose marriage ended. Instead Fiona has to fit in the man's world of war and espionage. Whereas Mona Moon and Ginger Gold emphasized their femininity on their cases, Fiona almost relinquishes it to become one of the boys. 

Fiona is as good a detective as her historical mystery sisters like Ginger and Mona, but what sets her apart is her professionalism. Investigation and espionage is her business. Ginger and Mona are amateurs who stumble upon mysteries. While they are observant and dedicated, their flirtatious natures,  spunky personalities, and connections to law enforcement are the only things that allow them to cross lines that they shouldn't. Fiona is already in the business and she doesn't need to cross barriers because they don't exist for her. Sometimes her gender proves to be a detriment, but her ability to disguise herself, even as a man, takes care of that. She has the training of learning codes, going undercover, and subduing enemy agents that women like Mona and Ginger have to learn while on the case. Theirs is a constantly learning experience. Fiona has already learned it. She just needs to put it into practice and she does.

Betrayal at Ravenswick is a brilliant first book that stars an excellent independent protagonist. It is a fine marriage of cozy mystery and espionage that creates a winning combination.