Customer Reviews

Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This historical mystery set in the foggy gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco is a complete package of a modified locked room puzzle, more than one murder, daring undercover snooping, romantic tension and a few twists and turns for a powerhouse of a debut novel.

When I finished this book I immediately missed Annie (a liberated woman ahead of her time!) and the other characters, showing just how well they had been brought to life and made, dare I say...memorable. The mystery was well plotted so I went down the wrong path along with the police at first. The setting of Victorian San Francisco and period details are rich and layered, easily woven in the overall story from the attitudes towards Chinese and class divisions to the strict propriety rules restricting women. The journey back in time seemed so complete I felt jarred if pulled back into the modern world when my reading was interrupted.

The climax and revealing of the murderer was tense and an edge-of-your-seat ordeal where Annie is in very real danger. The ending was satisfying and I put the book down smiling at the wrap-up.

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Annie, the main character of Maids of Misfortune, a feisty pseudo-psychic, is so real she seems to walk off the page. Her male cohort, the lawyer Nate, is the epitome of gentlemanly sex appeal. The mystery advances the sizzling but restrained attraction between Annie and Nate to an almost unbearable pitch as it leads them into the most interesting by-ways and corners of Victorian San Francisco. You'll want to yell at Annie like a kid in a theater, "Get out, now!" as she explores the library in the middle of the night-you just know someone's behind her. Is someone? Wait and see. You're there at the dance where the swells invade and Nate defends Annie against a masher. And the final scene, in which Annie and her accomplices . . .but I don't want to spoil it for you. The mystery is not so easy to solve, in spite of the clues, and yet its solution satisfies.
M. Louisa Locke has a Ph.D. in history, and her research is meticulous. However, she never lets it stand in the way of her story-telling, and, in fact, her deep knowledge of the past enriches the story and makes it more credible even as it overturns your pre-conceptions of the nineteenth century.

M. Louisa Locke, a semi-retired History professor has written a delightful mystery set in Victorian San Francisco. In rating a book it is of first importance that I care what happens to the main characters and she has do a good job of drawing them in multiple dimensions and in a way that leads you to care about them. Secondly I look to see if I can figure out the plot before I get to the end. While she is very good at foreshadowing who the the "bad guy" is by the end of the book I was still unable to figure out several of the plot twists until she skillfully revealed them. Third I rate a book by how much I look forward to my next reading installment. This book I carried with me to that when I had a few uncommitted moments I could continue to read it. By the end I was willing to lose sleep to find out how the locked room (actually locked house) mystery was accomplished.

Very highly recommended and I look forward to her next book when it becomes available.

I was very disappointed with this book. It starts with a bang and sets up a potentially interesting character. But by the middle of it I was really bored and only kept going just to see how it would end. Unfortunately the ending is clumsy and lacks credibility. The closing scene then undoes the entire premise of the book - I thought "Well, if she had just done that in the first place ... then she would have saved herself all that trouble."

The plot flip flops between mystery and romance and achieves neither one well. The supposed attraction between Annie and Nate is unconvincing and seems to result more from proximity than any growing sense of relationship. The mystery is fairly standard and predictable, with no twists or surprises. There is little to no sleuthing involved, just lots of sneaking around until something happens. I got particularly annoyed with the character of Annie who switches back and forth from proto-feminist to helpless, self-pity. The other characters are highly stereotyped with little depth or sympathy.

In the end, not worth the time or money.

At the end of the book the author asks the reader to rate the book if you like it. It got me thinking about how it measures up to other books set in the Victorian Era. It is definitely not on a par with authors like Anne Perry. Thinking about it more made me realize the author describes the characters at the beginning, but never developes them further. There is potential for her maid, her cook, her boarders that are also long time friends and her alter ego to be really interesting, but she never follows through. There is a good reason to finish the book though. The capture of the villian ends us being very funny. You also have to the author kudos for having only of couple of typos.

M. Louisa Locke's page-turner, Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery, takes the reader on an immersive tour through the parlor rooms, dining rooms, kitchens and dance halls of Victorian-era San Francisco. Her heroine, young society widow Annie Fuller, remains delightful and likeable in all the various roles she inhabits (including clairvoyant and parlor maid) while trying to solve the mystery surrounding the death of her client and friend, Matthew Voss. Annie does not believe the official report that Voss died by his own hand; and at first, she is alone in her conviction. But her ingenious efforts soon coax the reluctant support of the Voss family lawyer, Nate Dawson. Nate may not approve of Annie's much-too independent methods, but he can't help his growing admiration of her person and her intelligence. Annie, despite her sometimes-disturbing attraction to him, has survived her own sorrows and lived by her own wits for too long to have much patience with Nate's Victorian attitudes.
Locke's tale is enhanced by the especially-vivid characters who inhabit Annie Fuller's richly-detailed San Francisco. There are the sometimes-eccentric residents of her boardinghouse (including eccentric pets!); and her own protective servants, Beatrice and Kathleen. The Voss household is manned by the quiet and mysterious Wong, whom one can't help admiring, if only for his incredible competence. Cartier, Mrs. Voss's lady's maid, is a thoroughly irritating counterpoint to her mistress's almost-as-irritating demureness (although both characters evolve intriguingly). While at first off-putting, Miss Nancy, the dead man's bitter, bible-thumping sister, draws you in and your loyalty will be vindicated. Jeremy, Voss's son, and Samuels, his business partner, also undergo interesting transformations.
These characters are beautifully created, distinct and worthy of their own stories... you will want to remain with them. By the (highly satisfying) end of the book, one is comfortable with these people and very sorry to finish!
I can't wait for Locke's next Annie Fuller mystery!
- Felicia Rose Levitt

It can be difficult for me to read books about San Francisco; it irritates me when they take too many liberties, and it annoys me when they get things wrong. That said, Victorian San Francisco was done well, and I felt like the setting was well handled; it was S.F., but it wasn't overdone, and it was never really about the city.

Rather, the book was about Mrs. Annie Fuller, the widow who has found a way to eke out a living by running a boarding house and offering financial advice as t...moreIt can be difficult for me to read books about San Francisco; it irritates me when they take too many liberties, and it annoys me when they get things wrong. That said, Victorian San Francisco was done well, and I felt like the setting was well handled; it was S.F., but it wasn't overdone, and it was never really about the city.

Rather, the book was about Mrs. Annie Fuller, the widow who has found a way to eke out a living by running a boarding house and offering financial advice as the clairvoyant Sybil. Things get complicated, however, when an old associate seeks to call in her dead husband's debts and a friend turns up dead.

I found myself satisfied by the story, the developments of characters and relationships felt natural and well paced. I didn't feel like anyone was terribly unbelievable, and I hadn't solved the mystery within the first couple chapters, all of which bodes well for the title. There are seemingly more titles forthcoming by this author, and I'm likely to seek them out, as this one was very good.

I enjoyed this novel, which hit three of my hot buttons: believable characters, intriguing plot, and accurate history.

To keep her financial head above water in tough times, widow and boarding-house owner Annie Fuller slips convincingly into a pair of alternative roles as fortune-teller Sybil and amateur-sleuth-turned-domestic-servant-for-a-week Lizzie. When her grueling (and risky!) investigation is over--and with romance in the air--Annie slides just as easily back into her own comfort zone. Along the way, this clever heroine shines her lamp on an intriguing cast of characters who operate up and down the social ladder, reflecting in sharp detail the prejudices, mores, and lifestyles of Victorian America.

Plot-wise, I loved the interplay of good guys, possible villains, true villains, and hapless onlookers as they're assaulted with real clues, fake clues, red-herring clues, and easily missed clues. This cozy mystery worked for me.

History-wise, through the perspective of her fascinating array of characters, the author (a retired history professor) unfolds the living, growing San Francisco of 1879. I know from my own experience writing historical fiction how challenging it is to get right all the details of another time and place. Locke has surely gotten them all right here. I really felt like I was sharing the city with Annie/Lizzie/Sybil, and I'm looking forward to going back for another visit to their world when the next book in this series makes its appearance.

Martha Marks
Author of Rubies of the Viper, an historical mystery set in first-century Rome and Syria

I found this book entertaining, even though at times I really wanted to smack the female protagonist for being such a git.

Also, you'd think a college professor would know the difference between "compliment" and "complement."

Annie Fuller, M. Louisa Locke's main character in Maids of Misfortune, is a spunky young San Francisco widow, who secretly supplements her income as a clairvoyant. As Madam Sybil, Annie, is one of San Francisco's most exclusive clairvoyants. When a client dies and Annie believes he's been murdered, keeping her role as Madam Sybil a secret becomes increasingly complicated, especially because Matthew Voss's family will be destitute and Annie will lose her home if she doesn't solve the murder. She can't just walk away.

At twenty-six, Annie is a widow without family to protect her. Since her husband squandered his money and her inheritance before he committed suicide five years earlier, the San Francisco home she inherited from her aunt and converted to a boarding house is the only thing that saved her from being forever dependent on her dead husband's family, who blamed her for his suicide. Annie inherited the house after she settled her late husband's debts. However, one of her husband's creditors believes he can intimidate her and rob her of a successful business, as well as her independence.

If all of this isn't strange enough, Annie does the unthinkable for a woman in 1879. She decides to go undercover, as a maid named Lizzie, and find out what happened. In the process, she finds herself falling in love with her dead client's attorney, Nate Dawson. As Annie and Nate chase criminals, Nate finds himself strongly attracted to Annie and thoroughly confused by her intelligence, independence, and sometimes-unladylike behavior. He soon learns that Annie is also versed in finance and the stock market, thanks to her father, and that she knows a great deal about her client's financial affairs.

Nate grows increasingly worried as it becomes obvious that Annie is right about the murder. His concern heightens when two fishermen discover the previous maid's body, and Lizzie refuses to leave her undercover job as the dead maid's replacement. Unfortunately, while Nate's tracking down the final piece of the puzzle, the real killer grabs Annie, in her Lizzie persona, and holds her hostage at knifepoint. The only people near enough to help Lizzie are her employer, who is the widow of Madam Sybil's client, Matthew Voss, and Matthew's elderly sister. Can three upper-class Victorian ladies outwit an armed assailant? They don't even do their own hair!

Annie is a character with depth and personality. She's also a woman faced with huge challenges and limited solutions for a "proper lady" in 1879. In real life, the Annies of the world are the survivors. Locke shows great finesse in character development and provides supporting characters that are diverse and entertaining.

From beautiful Victorian houses to horses, carriages, manners, dress, lifestyles, fog, and gas-lamps, the setting is rich with authenticity. The author's research is thorough, and her descriptions contain details that are interesting and satisfying to readers who love this era. Locke's mysteries should develop a loyal audience quickly. This novel incubated for almost thirty years during the author's teaching career. Let's hope that it won't be thirty years before the next one.

by Penny Leisch
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women