Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1501538 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 225 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The author of the popular and acclaimed Dorothy Martin mysteries (Malice in Miniature, etc.) begins a new series featuring a turn-of-the-century Swedish servant woman as sleuth. Hilda Johansson is a maid for the prominent Studebaker family in South Bend, Ind., in the year 1900. Coming home from an outing with her beau, an Irish fireman, Hilda discovers the body of a savagely beaten woman. The dead woman is a missionary lately returned from China and the sister of the Studebakers neighbor, a Republican judge with political ambitions. Impelled to trying to figure out who perpetrated such as brutal crime, Hilda uses South Bends network of servants and immigrants to aid her investigation, fearing that an innocent man might take the blame for the killing. The resolution of the puzzle is a bit slapdash, relying too heavily on coincidence and not enough on real detective work. Hilda is nevertheless an appealing heroine, and Damss rich depiction of South Bend will please historical mystery fans. Mystery Guild main selection.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In her new historical series, Dams (Malice in Miniature, LJ 10/1/98) endows turn-of-the-century South Bend, IN, with vibrant atmosphere and a bright young Swedish immigrant heroine. Hilda Johansson, employed as a housemaid by the wealthy Studebakers, discovers the body of a female missionary in her employer's yard. Though properly horrified and warned by the butler and others to mind her own business, Hilda feels obligated to fight against narrow-minded police and typical social/cultural prejudice as she manages to unearth crucial clues. A piquant but sometimes humorous lookAunderscored by an Upstairs, Downstairs mentalityAat a rapidly changing America, this solid beginning is highly recommended. [Mystery Guild main selection.]
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
From the author of the popular Dorothy Martin mysteries comes the first installment of a series that will delight fans of gentle whodunits. The year is 1900. Hilda Johansson is a young Swedish emigreworking as a servant for the wealthy Studebaker family of South Bend, Indiana. When Hilda stumbles upon a body near the Studebaker residence, she determines to find the real killer and save the man wrongly accused of the crime. Hilda--young, poor, unfamiliar with the English language, but possessed of intelligence and determination--is an engaging, attractive character and refreshingly different from the scores of amateur female sleuths who populate the genre. Dams, who lives in South Bend, has a good grasp of life at the turn of the century and of the class structure that defined society at the time. Although the mystery itself is relatively easy to solve, the world as seen through Hilda's eyes is a slightly unfamiliar place, and readers will have a great time getting to know it. David Pitt

Customer Reviews

enjoyable characters but an uninteresting mystery
This is the first of a series of mysteries involving Hilda Johannson, a young Swedish immigrant who works in the largest mansion in South Bend, Indiana. Her two sisters and a brother also work in the town and she is courted, somewhat reluctantly, by Patrick, a charming Irish fireman. Her employers are kind, though the butler Mr. Williams is a bit of a tyrant, and things are generally good until Hilda and Patrick discover a murdered woman near the mansion.

There were a lot of things I liked about this book. Hilda is an intelligent young woman who manages to work successfully in an oppressive environment, but she also has character flaws, like a stubborn streak and a bad temper, and that makes her believable. Her friends and family are interesting, and Patrick is an admirable partner.

The mystery, however, was neither interesting nor explained well, though I trust other reviewers who like the author's work, and would give this series another try.

DISAPPOINTING
I'm a fan of Jeanne Dams and her Dorothy Martin mysteries. I've read all those and looked forward to starting on another of her series featuring Swedish servant Hilda Johansen. The story takes place around the turn of the century and I was execting a lot of period detail. Well, there was but unfortunately not much else. The plot is rather contrived, the characters rather wooden and unappealing and the setting of South Bend, Indiana pretty dull (no offense to South Bend intended but it's not New York or Chicago)The character of Hilda is also a big problem. She's rather stilted and uninteresting,not a good thing when the plot develops around her. This book did not even begin to compare with Dams'work in her other mystery series. I really was disappointed in this book.

A stretch
Ms. Dams' Dorothy Martin series is extremely enjoyable, but this one is a stretch--wooden characters, thin plotlines...not a great read!