Customer Reviews

Death in Lacquer Red (A Hilda Johansson Mystery, No. 1)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This would never have been published as a first novel. I had read and loved earlier books by Jeanne Dams and was looking forward to reading this book. But the plot was almost nonexistent and the protagonist, young Helda, unbelievable and not very likeable. You had to do more than suspend disbelief with this book, since everything about the book was so improbable.

I loved Jeanne Dams' Dorothy Martin series and looked forward to reading about her new heroine Hilda Johansson. Unfortunately, I found Hilda an unsympathetic and unbelievable protagonist. The plot has Hilda, a Swedish servant in a well-to-do household, investigating the death of a relative of the prominent family next door. Hilda, with sixteen years of a Swedish upbringing and only three years in America (which according to my calculations makes her all of nineteen) is found entering into such wildly diverse activities as rescuing another immigrant wrongly accused of the murder, planting stories in the press, and of course outwitting the police, all while cleaning house. The book is well-researched in terms of the lives of the servant class in the year 1900 but I think Ms. Dams seems more in control of her material when writing about the middle years of her widowed and remarried expatriate Dorothy Martin.

After thoroughly enjoying Ms Dams books and finding her character Dorothy Martin a vibrant and delightful character I was very disappointed in her new series. Her writing of the period and the life of an immigrant servant I am sure are well researched and accurate. The mystery was contrived and secondary to the story. Hilda Johansson at nineteen, although portrayed as an extremely intelligent young lady, was too brash and manipulating to come across as a character that I would be interested following on further adventures. If some of the characters had been developed further instead of being used just as Hilda's pawns I feel that the book would have had more life and Hilda would have been better portrayed. The most interesting part of the book was Ms Dams portrayel of the servant class at the turn of the century.

This is the first entry in a new series by Dams featuring Hilda Johansson, a Swedish immigrant to 1900 South Bend, IN. Hilda works as a maid in the home of one of South Bend's scions. As she is returning from a day spent with her friend, Patrick, they discover the body of the sister of the next door neighbor, Judge Harper, in the bushes. Hilda knows that the police will not try to find the real killer, but will take the easy route and try to pin the blame on a fellow immigrant. She wants to prevent this, and begins investigating the murder herself with the help of Patrick, her sister, and fellow servants.

Dams has written a very good historical mystery. It will, however, anger some purists because she gave no clear-cut clues as to who the real killer was. That is less a problem than Hilda's obsession with saving a police suspect - she continually puts not only her job in jeopardy, but the jobs of those helping her - this after saying how difficult it would be to obtain another position if she were dismissed from the one she has. Her obsession makes no real sense, does not advance the story, and has little to do with the plot.

Dams' has a real talent for capturing the cadence of the characters' speech. The reader will find that Patrick's Irish lilt begins ringing in her head whenever he speaks and Hilda's English takes on the rhythm of her native language. The setting, while unusual, does not overwhelm the story nor does the history that Dams imparts. If you do not like Dams' other series featuring Dorothy Martin and have been reluctant to read this one, try this one, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I enjoy all the novels of Jeanne M. Dams. Hilda Johannsen
may be stubborn and sometimes overly assertive but through
her I can see what my ancestors went through, as immigrants.

Just listening to (audiobooks) all of the hard work Hilda and
the other servants perform from sunup to sundown at Tippicanoe
Place, I had a new appreciation for my own blue-collar job.

Life was hard back then but Hilda and her friends made the most
of things, they exercised their minds and asserted their rights
in their new beloved country.

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.

The previous reviews have summed up the plot fairly well. They've also disagreed on the merits of the story itself, and surprisingly enough, I agree with all of them. The mystery IS weak, with an annoying loose end or two never tied down. But I found Hilda to be a charmer, perhaps too progressive for the day, but a young lass of wit and determination. Will her romance with Patrick Cavanaugh go any further? (Swedes and the Irish did not really mix socially.) She faces a tremendous handicap in her detective work, as servants essentially needed permission to even leave the house, much less ask questions and do whatever footwork needs to be done. So Hilda is also resourceful, and I'm anxious to see how she fares in her next adventure.

Hilda Johansson, a lowly Swedish cleaning maid working in the mansion of South Bend Indiana's wealthy Studebaker family, turns out to have innate deductive abilities. When confronted with the bloody murder of the neighbor's aunt, a missionary recently returned from China in the throes of the Boxer Rebellion, Hilda feels she must not only clear her own name, but protect an unjustly accused Chinese man. Although expressly forbidden any involvement by her overbearing boss, the English butler, stubborn Hilda finds ways to enlist others to help uncover hidden facts. She realizes that servants will not talk to the police, but will say things to her, and "I put two and two together."

Jeanne Dams truly knows South Bend. She has drawn a fine portrait of this 1900 booming U.S. heartland city, whose industrial might welcomed immigrants escaping the hard poverty of their lives in Europe. The aspirations of the city's multi-national workforce, however, are dimmed by the city's sharp class distinctions and the immigrant's less than equal treatment.

The story's action is often deadened by the author's insistence that the reader learn of the rigid rules and strict relationships between employer and servant. We do, however, learn a great deal about the unending duties of servants who kept these large homes running.

The author lets us know that the Studebaker family did, and does, exist, and the mansion described in this story still stands, although now transformed into a restaurant. This is the first of a proposed Hilda Johansson series.

This was an entertaining book. As mentioned in other reviews, plot devices and character actions are frequently flimsy and even outrageous, but Jeanne M. Dams writes lovely characters and believable dialogue.

I have read all the Dorothy Martin books...again, for the characters, not necessarily the plot, and I intend to do the same for the Hilda Johansson series

For fans of the historical mystery, it's an excellent selection, and I look forward to tracking down the rest of the series.

Death in Lacquer Red by Jeanne M. Dams is the first entry in the Hilda Johansson series about a Swedish maid in 1900 South Bend, Indiana. This doesn't sound like an interesting premise for a mystery series, but Hilda is a strong, sympathetic character. When Hilda stumbles upon the body of the next door neighbor, she's drawn into a murder that's implicating foreigners by a police force that wants to quickly hush up the death. Hilda has an overblown sense of justice and wants to prove that the poor Chineseman who's been accused of the murder is not lynched for a crime he didn't commit. She overcomes her fear of Catholics and losing her job to find the truth. Dams does a nice job of writing accurately about the times without making the book feel like a history book. She weaves the prejudices against foreigners and Catholics into the story naturally. It's a very relevant book for the times that we're living through now. The most unbelievable part of the book was Hilda keeping her job when all is said and done, but for that I'm grateful, because it means that there is a sequel.