A Maid For Murder (The Sinclair Mysteries) by Bethany Swafford; Ongoing Mystery Makes and Mars Historical Mystery

 A Maid For Murder (The Sinclair Mysteries) by Bethany Swafford; Ongoing Mystery Makes and Mars Historical Mystery 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: It's rare when a mystery series relies entirely on an ongoing mystery that travels from volume to volume. It's different but it can also cause problems while reading. That is the situation found in Bethany Swafford’s Sinclair Mysteries and its second volume, A Maid For Murder.

In the previous volume, The Secret of Burnham House, the brother of Juliet Sinclair, a former lady of standing, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Her investigation in London offers a lead in Bath.

This volume tells of Juliet's adventures in Bath where she creates the identity of Julie Nelson, a lady's maid to the haughty Miss Dunbar. Juliet's investigation is complicated by Miss Dunbar’s unstable demeanor, her lecherous brother, a former suitor of Juliet's who is definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time, a woman with a connection to Juliet's late brother, and a blackmailer.

The ongoing mystery is both a benefit to the book by making it a unique murder mystery and a drawback to the narrative structure of this volume and the series as a whole.

The ongoing mystery provides much wider stakes than the usual crimes of passion or killing someone for an inheritance or insurance payout that are found in stand alone mystery novels. 

Once the reader becomes used to the idea that anyone could be involved, they become aware how long and how tangled this network really is. In theory, it could go as high as the governing offices. 

This overarching plot leads to genuine moments of suspense as Juliet puts herself in jeopardy while in Bath. Anyone knowing her real name could be an enemy or at the very least could blow her cover. She is held captive or put under suspicion by people who normally would just be among the Dunbar’s frequent callers but often cast wary glances at the familiar looking lady's maid who bears a striking resemblance to a certain London lady who suffered a family tragedy.

Another asset is that it makes the novel more realistic. Sometimes a mystery can't be solved in a short time frame. Sometimes it takes longer. Some may not be solved at all. If the murder occurred in higher offices, it takes a lot more than pluck and determination of one person to bring it down. Sometimes it takes another authority.

Also Swafford chose an interesting protagonist to explore this network. Juliet is the usual scrappy, feisty, opinionated, bright observant amateur detective that this type of book usually calls for. 

It's also fascinating as this volume requires Juliet to work as a lady's maid. She sees first hand the abuse, demands, and constant repetitive tasks that maids have to do, responsibilities she probably never had to think about.

 She also sees how employers treat servants like they are invisible only there to serve needs, agree with orders, and absolutely never have an opinion of their own. It's dehumanizing but at the same time it gives Juliet an advantage so she can observe and listen to leads and clues without being spotted.

Some of the best passages in the book are Juliet’s moments with the Dunbar Siblings who are to say the least pieces of work. Miss Dunbar is a spoiled shrill unstable harridan that Juliet is barely biting back insults and the urge to fight back. Her brother is a lecherous cad and potential rapist who thinks that any woman is his for the taking. 

Many of Juliet's best moments are when she outsmarts and outplays the Dunbars and especially when she is finally put in a situation where she can really let them have it.

However, there are some serious drawbacks to an ongoing murder that lasts through the series and it shows here. The mystery can never be solved in one volume so readers are left trying to figure out the details that threaten to become more convoluted as the series continues. Also, it's intensely frustrating as potential leads and clues slip out from Juliet's grasp which makes one question her detective skills if she can't solve the mystery in one volume.

Then there is a question about the series longevity. How long does Swafford intend to stretch this central mystery? It could only last for so long before the books become repetitive. It's possible that once this central mystery is solved, then another one will begin in subsequent volumes but that removes the potential uniqueness of the series.

Another issue is while earlier I praised the book for its realism in extending the main plot, is realism really what people are going for when they read historical mysteries?

From my experience, no. Mostly we want fantasy. We like empowerment. We want the plucky protagonist who is ahead of her time to face the bad guys and win, especially when it's in the name of a loved one. Is it realistic? No not always but it's comforting. That's why we return to this genre and keep coming back. We want to know that the killer is identified and justice is always met. If it's not true in real life then maybe it can be in fiction.

The Cold Kid Case (A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery Book 1) by Rosalind Barden; Bet Your Bottom Dollar That This Mystery is Such Fun

 The Cold Kid Case (A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery Book 1) by Rosalind Barden; Bet Your Bottom Dollar That This Mystery is Such Fun

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Rosalind Barden’s YA Historical Mystery, The Cold Kid Case, is what you get when you give Little Orphan Annie Nancy Drew’s detective skills. You get a charming scrappy kid protagonist and a fun engaging mystery.

Sparky is an 11 year old street smart orphan living in Depression Era Bunker Hill, California. Her life of running errands for a local bookie, picking pockets, stealing food scraps, and hiding in out of the way places is interrupted when she becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a young girl since Sparky was the one who found the body. Sparky hides out in Creepy House, a mansion owned by Tootsie, an eccentric but kind silent movie actress. Sparky, Tootsie, Tootsie's loyal butler Gilbert, and Sparky’s protective friend Bobby are on the case to investigate the girl’s death and clear Sparky’s name. 

The Cold Kid Case is reminiscent of one of those old Kid Adventure films starring the likes of Shirley Temple, The Little Rascals, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Hayley Mills, Tatum O’Neil, Jodie Foster, Gary Coleman, Aileen Quinn, Sean Astin, Coreys Haim and Feldman, Ke Huy Quan, Macaulay Culkin, The Olsen Twins, Mara Wilson, Dakota and Elle Fanning, or the many kids who front Nickelodeon or Disney shows. They starred precocious kids who have either busy, distracted, neglectful parents, or no parents at all. They are born with smart mouths, plenty of attitude, uncanny survival instincts, and a penchant for finding adventure wherever they turn. Adults are usually clueless or evil. Though there are occasionally good kind adults who help the kids, mentor them, and if orphaned might adopt them. The kid's lives might be in danger but they usually come out on top and often end up in a better situation than when they started. 

Sparky is that type of kid and Borden has fun with her character. Her first person narration is a delight to read with its 1930s slang and tough kid attitude. (“Once (Bobby) tried kissing me. That’s when I socked him good and down he went….Didn’t faze him. He kept on proposing, and telling other kids that I was his ‘girl’ which made me think he warranted another whammo.”) Her savviness in sneaking into and hiding in various spots around Bunker Hill come in handy when she has to run from police officers, violent gangsters, or potential murderers. Even small touches like how we barely learn about Sparky's past, don’t even know her real name or if she even has a real name add to her characterization as a kid who had to survive on her own and harbors no illusions about how the world works. 

In fact, there is an edge to this book that is often found in some of the best Kid Adventures: an awareness of the darker real world that is around these kids. Sure, they have fantastic adventures and more often than not succeed in them but they aren’t without serious conflicts. These kids are often faced with deaths of parents or other family members, poverty, divorce, addiction, family arguments, criminal activity, abuse, and adults who want to kill them and don’t care that they are kids. Often these conflicts surround the adventures, maybe as an instigating factor or exist to make the kids even more vulnerable and unable to rely on the adult world around them. Sure Annie might have sung that “the sun’ll come out tomorrow” but she certainly knew that most of the time it didn't. 

That is at play within young Sparky. It’s hard to avoid the reality of the Great Depression when it’s all around her. She isn’t the only orphaned or abandoned kid and she sees adults unable to survive and fighting for last scraps of a meal or employment at a demeaning dead end job that can only admit five people. If her elders have a hard time surviving in these circumstances, then what chances do kids like her have? In fact, the dead girl’s backstory is such an example. The identity of the murderer and the motive are pretty appalling and become more terrifying the longer one thinks about it. This might be a YA Novel, a Kid’s Adventure, even some form of a Kid’s Wish Fulfillment in many ways but don’t under any circumstances think that it avoids the real world around it. In fact it plunges headlong into it. There is a strong sense of reality and a savage bite within the fantastic proceedings. Sparky knows how the world works. She just chooses to fight against it in her own way. 

Some of the bite of reality gets lost once Tootsie enters the scene but in her own way, she also plays into the Adventure subgenre. Supporting characters in these types of stories, particularly adults, are often broad and larger than life with very little subtlety and Tootsie definitely plays that trope to the hilt. Of course her being a former actress definitely adds to that. If this was a movie instead of a book,  the actress playing Tootsie would reject the catered lunch and craft services and prefer instead to gnaw on the scenery.

She is very melodramatic, vain about her appearance, and often waxes nostalgic about her former roles and stardom days. There is an almost youthful playful innocence like she has the childlike nature that Sparky lacks. Sparky directly faces the reality of the Great Depression while Tootsie prefers instead to get away from it and live in an idyllic fantasy. 

Despite its name, Creepy House is anything but. It is a study in fantastic imagination of what a movie star’s home would look like with its ornate furniture, room sized bathtub, and particularly Tootsie's two stuffed leopards which were once real leopards that she had stuffed (and Sparky loves so much that Tootsie allows her to keep them in her new bedroom). Tootsie’s butler, Gilbert, also plays into this fantastic setting. He is the straight man to his mistress’ comic antics and encourages her while occasionally keeping her grounded and providing some direction to Sparky. He is stern but willingly indulges the schemes of the two women in his life. He provides shelter and alibis when authorities come looking for Sparky and plays along with Tootsie’s elaborate ruse to extract information from a rival actress to help the girl. 

Like Sparky, Tootsie is also never referred to by her real name, though in her case it’s probably for artistic reasons and adds to her eccentricities. While she is clearly concerned about her new young charge, Tootsie indulges Sparky’s investigations even furnishing disguises and at one time appearing incognito to assist her. Tootsie is a maternal figure who is loving but acts like a big kid herself. She offers enough of a safe harbor for Sparky to find shelter and freedom for the girl to be herself and learn from her mistakes. 

It is not too much to assume that some legal papers, a court visit, a new last name and a change of address for Sparky, and a new title that begins with “mo-” for Tootsie are in the duo’s future. Not since Din Djarin and Grogu in The Mandalorian have I wanted to see a surrogate parent/child relationship become an adopted reality more. 

The Cold Kid Case is a fun, bright, sassy mystery that plays into the genre with a lot of wit, bite, and heart. 

The Twisted Road (A Barrister Perris Mystery) by A.B. Michaels; Historical Mystery Develops the Progressive Era

 The Twisted Road (A Barrister Perris Mystery) by A.B. Michaels; Historical Mystery Develops the Progressive Era

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: A.B. Michaels’ Barrister Perris Mystery, The Twisted Road, is one of those Historical Mysteries that knows how to bring the past to life: warts and all. Set in 1907 San Francisco, it takes shots at labor struggles, gender roles, class division, artistic expression, political unrest, immigration conflicts, all of the things that made the Progressive Era a fascinating and difficult time in history.

Jonathan Perris, a barrister who emigrated from London, finds himself in a bind when his girlfriend, Lena Mendelssohn is found murdered and Jonathan was the last one to be seen with her. While trying to prove his innocence, Jonathan and his team peer into Lena’s life and discover more layers and deception into the late Austrian socialite than Jonathan initially thought. 

This book is a great combination of a detailed historical mystery and has a memorable team to explore it. The effective team begins with their leader. Jonathan Perris is a protagonist with many mysteries of his own to unravel and fits in well with this year’s theme of “Troubled Historical Detectives.” An aristocrat, he is in possession of some second sight abilities that are inherited from his mother that he calls “the cadeau” (French for “the gift”.) While the second sight could veer this book into supernatural mystery territory so far it’s not overdone and seems to be written as deep intuition and deductive reasoning, traits that make Jonathan good at his job. He has ongoing questions of his own in wondering where his mother disappeared to and is possibly just as afraid of learning the answer. He is also estranged from his titled brother and is still reminded of the scandals of his frere’s past, some of which were instrumental in Jonathan leaving England for California. He is a troubled man who helps others so he doesn’t have to look at the conflicts in his own life. 

Jonathan is good at his job in being a barrister and helping his clients but he is also adept at picking an efficient team and they get as much attention and convey as much interest as their boss. One of Jonathan’s more progressive attributes is recognizing talent in those who society would have otherwise overlooked, such as Cordelia Hammersmith. Cordelia is a sharp tongued strong willed attorney who is ready to prove herself in the legal field. She is someone who takes excellent notes and is ready for a saucy comeback when others call attention to her gender. She wants to let her qualifications and expertise speak for themselves so she gets irritated when Jonathan overcompensates by overly defending her as he does at a party. She fits the archetype of the New Woman that was so present in the time period in which she lives. 

Cordelia is hired to defend Emmett Barnes who has been accused of murder during a labor union protest and has to use her sharp wits and observational skills to not only investigate this case but Lena’s when she learns that the two are linked. 

Dove Davydov is an investigator who also offers his own unique stamp to the firm. A sketch artist, he doodles his information as much as Cordelia writes and Jonathan senses. He grew up on the rough side of San Francisco and is unafraid to visit the bars, brothels, fights, and violent rallies that his higher class more sophisticated colleagues would be uncomfortable visiting. He has many contacts within the underworld and a shady past which suggests that he is familiar with the opposite side of the law. 

Dove first investigates Aunt Susie’s, the brothel where Lena worked. He is then led to an art class and a Socialist organization. Using his working class experience and his somewhat rebellious sardonic nature, he is able to bond with and glean information from the various people in Lena’s life who might be put off by Jonathan’s class and sophistication or Cordelia’s gender and abrasiveness.

The group is rounded out by Oliver Bean, a naive new partner and Althea, the motherly office manager. They don’t get as much mention in this book as the others but they have some memorable moments. Althea has a running gag that while her colleagues run around chasing leads, she remains in the office to “obfuscate.” Oliver has a delightful bit at Aunt Susie’s where Dove uses his familiarity with the ladies to ease through interrogation sessions, Oliver is overwhelmed by the attention from the plethora of beautiful women. By the time they are ready to go, poor Oliver is completely surrounded and leading them in a game of Three Card Monte much to his coworker’s amusement.

The mystery leads Jonathan and his team through various facets of early 20th Century San Francisco. Like many Historical Mysteries, The Twisted Road is a time capsule of the period in which it is set. In investigating Lena’s death, Jonathan and the others chase connections through a class of iconoclastic artists, a Socialist organization whose plans are moving beyond peaceful protests, a prostitution ring with an intercontinental stream of high profile clients, and a recent labor strike that resulted in a gruesome death and Barnes’ arrest. These different leads show what the Progressive Era was all about and what it represented within that  history.

Mostly, the Progressive Era was a time when the status quo of wealthy white American men was being challenged. Immigrants, unions, women, and many others were speaking out loud and making their voices heard through action, speeches, protests, art, volunteering, and social work. It was a time that looked for great change and sometimes change involved violence and deaths. Sometimes unscrupulous types took advantage of those who needed help and wanted to do the helping, causing more problems in the long run. Sometimes people were so enamored with their causes that human life became secondary and they were willing to put lives on the line just for their dream society to be realized, a society that may not be as perfect as the one they visualized (especially if they have to commit violence to achieve it).

The Twisted Road shows that transition in American history when people called for change and that change started to be made.