Weekly Reader: Maids of Misfortune A Victorian San Francisco Mystery by M. Louisa Locke; Ho Hum Mystery and Dull Protagonist Do Not Meld In Average Historical Mystery

 

Weekly Reader: Maids of Misfortune A Victorian San Francisco Mystery by M. Louisa Locke; Ho Hum Mystery and Dull Protagonist Do Not Meld In Average Historical Mystery 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Maybe I'm just grouchy recovering from Covid but it's not a good sign when of the first five books reviewed this year, I would only label one as outstanding. Two had some good points about them, like setting and world building, but suffered from average or confusing plots. One starts strong then peters out. One would normally be something I would love, but somehow never rises above average or mediocre. The good thing is some of the books that I am currently reading show promise so my mood might be uplifted soon, I hope.

It's unfortunate because I want to like Maids of Misfortune, the first book in M. Louise Locke's Victorian San Francisco Mystery Series. I keep telling myself that I should like it. It's Historical Fiction, one of my all-time favorite genres. It's a Historical Mystery with a female detective so that should make it better. But the book doesn't interest me like other recent books that I have read in the genre.  I hope this isn't an ongoing trend and that I am not getting bored with the genre. That this is just a one time thing.

But Maids of Misfortune doesn't help, because it never gets beyond mildly interesting. The protagonist is introduced pretty well but lags once the investigation starts. The mystery is dull. This book is just average and I apologize for saying this (after all maybe it is just me), but in a genre filled with great reads, that somehow makes my ambivalent feelings towards it worse.

Annie Fuller learned that her late husband has left her in debt and she will be forced to give up her boarding house to pay it off. However, she moonlights as a fraudulent clairvoyant under the name of Madam Sybil. Unfortunately, one of her closest friends and clients, Mr. Matthew Voss has died. Disagreeing with the official verdict of suicide, Annie believes that he was murdered and sets off to investigate on her own with attorney, Nate Dawson conducting his own investigation and falling in love with her.

One of the more fascinating aspects to Annie's character is her time as a fradulent clairvoyant. I actually found that to be a more intriguing plot than the actual investigation. Since it's set in the late 19th century when Spiritualism is on the rise, it would be quite a twist to see the exact procedures that Annie does to fool her gullible public, how she stays ahead of the authorities, or perhaps what happens if she gets a brush with the supernatural or cons who are better at the game than she is.

 After having experienced the normal and paranormal horrors experienced by Letitia Hawkins in Behind The Veil by E.J. Dawson, Annie's experience could be a more seriocomic look at the phenomena, perhaps bordering on Dark Humor. But her career as a medium only ends up being the message to the mystery.

The title comes from the fact that for a time, Annie poses as a maid to ascertain information in the Voss case, which brings another missed opportunity. Why isn't Annie a maid herself? Or the lead investigator a maid or in service? It would be a far more interesting back story than the one we have already been given, and would brilliantly counter the mostly middle to upper class women who fill the majority of the female historical detective roster. 

After all, house servants are used to being ignored and overlooked by their employers, giving them the ability to gather information and intelligence from just paying attention to what employers and guests are saying and doing. They are often susceptible to gossip both in the servants and upper class quarters and because they have to be very detailed, they can pay attention to things that others miss. It would also be a great twist if the servant was smarter than her employer, sort of a female Jeeves. We saw what a brilliant woman posing as a house slave could do in Kit Sergeant's Underground, even help bring down the Confederacy. What else could one do as the star of her own Cozy Mystery Historical Fiction series?

It doesn't help that once the investigation begins that Annie becomes rather boring. She lacks the sparkle and wit of Ginger Gold, the toughness and experience of Fiona Figg, the resourcefulness and independence of Mona Moon, or the spunk and bravado of Molly Murphy. Instead, Annie pales in comparison to her fellow detectives. She just fades into the background for the mystery and such a lackluster mystery at that.

The mystery has the suspense of a cat chasing after the red dot. There is a lot of meandering and talking and not a lot of detecting.

It's the typical dead rich man's friends and family are suspects including opportunistic and snooty relatives, love interests and friends who specialize in gold digging and fortune hunting, and servants who know more than they let on. It's all generic and never gets beyond that. It's so generic that the killer is all too easy to guess and isn't worth the trouble of going back through the chapters to find out how the Reader is right and the detective solved it. 

There's more heat in the romance between Annie and Nate than there is in the mystery and even that is nothing to get excited about.

Maids of Misfortune could be another bright star in the lovely galaxy of the Female Detective Historical Mystery subgenre. However, instead it just dims.