Set in 1898, Rob Osler’s mystery involves a 21-year-old woman named Harriet Morrow with a younger brother to support, tired of her boring secretarial job, who applies for a junior detective position at the prestigious Prescott Agency. Despite the long odds against a woman being hired at the all male Agency, Harriet Morrow gets a provisional job. Her assignment is to find a missing maid in one week. If she fails, she loses her job.
Rob Osler does a fine job capturing the chaos of Chicago at eve of the 20th Century. Harriet Morrow rides her bike around the city to interview key figures involved in the maid’s life before her disappearance. Osler also adds another factor into the mix: Harriet is attracted to women.
Harriet’s search for the missing maid leads her from the elegant mansions of Prairie Avenue into the rough neighborhoods of Chicago’s Polish community and the dark, sexual underground where secrets lurk.
If you’re in the mood for an unconventional mystery full of surprises, you might want to give The Case of the Missing Maid a try. I’m eagerly waiting for the next Harriet Morrow adventure! GRADE: B+
While I’m not a huge fan of historical mysteries, this sounds appealing to me. I do like that period in books – not so much in television shows like THE KNICK – and I might well give this a try.
Jeff, I enjoyed THE CASE OF THE MISSING MAID with its historical setting. Women had a tough time back then, but some were able to succeed.
OK. Very interesting. I went to the Brooklyn Public Library website and there are 6 holds on 6 copies. E-books, there are 18 holds on 4 copies.
So I went to the Cloud Library, which we access through the palm Beach County Library system, and was able to download it immediately.
Jeff, THE CASE OF THE MISSING MAID has garnered some good reviews…including mine! I’m not surprised people are waiting for the library copies to become available. Glad you were able to score the Palm Beach County Library e-book.
This one flew under my radar. I’m going to have to correct that.
Jerry, THE CASE OF THE MISSING MAID is a quick, fun read!