kerry reviewed Maids of misfortune by M. Louisa Locke (Victorian San Francisco Mystery, #1)
Review of 'Maids of misfortune' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The gimmick of this mystery is that it takes place in Victorian-era San Francisco, so the protagonist (the widowed Annie) must work through social norms to resolve a murder. She spends time (unescorted!) with a single man - gasp! A boardinghouse owner, she also moonlights as a psychic - gasp! She wears a skirt that shows her ankle - double gasp!
Annie takes a job as a housemaid at the murdered man's house in order to continue her investigations. While this plot device moved the story along, it seems highly improbable that an educated middle-class woman would have been able to pull this off. She affects a poor-and-stupid accent around her employers while using her usual speech with the cook/valet (who does see through her act). And wouldn't her pristine hands have given her away?
I wish that the story had told us more about the city.
Overall, …
The gimmick of this mystery is that it takes place in Victorian-era San Francisco, so the protagonist (the widowed Annie) must work through social norms to resolve a murder. She spends time (unescorted!) with a single man - gasp! A boardinghouse owner, she also moonlights as a psychic - gasp! She wears a skirt that shows her ankle - double gasp!
Annie takes a job as a housemaid at the murdered man's house in order to continue her investigations. While this plot device moved the story along, it seems highly improbable that an educated middle-class woman would have been able to pull this off. She affects a poor-and-stupid accent around her employers while using her usual speech with the cook/valet (who does see through her act). And wouldn't her pristine hands have given her away?
I wish that the story had told us more about the city.
Overall, easy to read.
The sad thing about these free books is that they are in need of editing. I found several typos in my Kindle edition.