Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews
Page One of TwoGreen Grow the Victims by Jeanne M. Dams
Walker, June, 2001.Hardcover, 210 pages.
ISBN: 0802733557.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Set in turn of the century South Bend Indiana,
Jeanne Dams' Hilda Johansson series is a delightful
and unusual standout in the historical mystery subgenre.
Hilda, a maid to the wealthy Studebaker family,
has developed a knack for solving murders in her
(extremely limited) spare time. In this latest entry,
Hilda is asked by her boyfriend's family to investigate
the disappearance of Irish politician Daniel Malloy, who
was seen beating his political rival to death just before he disappeared.
Given a week off with pay by her employer to solve the
mystery, Hilda sets out to find a killer.
Hilda is a very smart and independent young Swedish woman, who saves every penny she makes to contribute to the fund to bring the rest of her family to the U.S. She has a knack for solving mysteries, but in this case she is severely hampered by her lowly social status and the prejudice that South Bend's numerous immigrant groups have for each other. Hilda's Swedish family doesn't approve of her Irish Catholic boyfriend, Patrick Cavanaugh, and his family doesn't approve of her either. Jeanne Dams does an excellent job of integrating the mystery with the turn of the century background, with all of its social repression, bigotry, racism and total lack of civil rights. Women were especially repressed; they didn't yet have the right to vote. This is a very well-written series, and Hilda is a charmer who is sure to garner more fans after this adventure.
--Claire E. White
The Gripping Beast by Margot Wadley
St. Martin's Press, April, 2001.Hardcover, 200 pages.
ISBN: 0312272545.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Isabel Garth, an American schoolteacher who has
recently been dumped by her fiancé, travels to Scotland's
Orkney islands in order to visit her deceased father's
boyhood home. On the ferry ride to the island, Isabel
meets some locals who all seem friendly enough. Excerpt
for Thora, a self-proclaimed witch who tells
Isabel to go home because she has danger all around her.
When dangerous accidents start happening to Isabel, she begins
to wonder if Thora is behind her close calls. And when
she finds a dead body, she knows for sure that a murderer
is loose on the lovely island, and that she is most likely the
next target.
The Gripping Beast was the winner of the 2000 St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery contest. Margot Wadley has a good grip on what it takes to write an enjoyable cozy mystery. Despite an unnecessary subplot about an unwanted pregnancy, the story moves along nicely, with a beautiful and mysterious landscape, an ancient Viking treasure and colorful local inhabitants. The atmosphere of the beautiful Orkney Islands and Wadley's skilled hand at descriptions of places and people make this a venue that readers will definitely want to visit again in future books.
--Claire E. White
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