Sister Beneath the Sheet (Atlantic Large Print Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Gillian Linscott (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One sunny day in turn-of-the-century Biarritz, the celebrated courtesan Topaz Brown writes her will, bequeathing a certain sum to her maid and 50,000 to the Women's Social and Political Union, a British suffrage group. The next day she is dead, apparently a suicide. Miss Brown's brother plans to contest the will, arguing that Topaz was of unsound mind. But Topaz's maid, Tansy, is convinced that Topaz was murdered--probably by a rival prostitute. Into this maelstrom of doubt steps Union member Nell Bray, whom Emmeline Pankhurst has sent to collect the legacy. Newly released from prison for having hurled a brick at 10 Downing Street during a demonstration, Nell is smart and feisty . An altogether likable heroine, she proves quite capable of investigating Tansy's theories, even when a renegade suffragist's interference produces tragic consequences. Although a few too many gratuitous coincidences weaken her plot, Linscott ( Murder, I Presume ) shows off her historical and political backdrop to good effect, and leavens her mystery with well-measured wit.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Nell Bray of the Women's Social and Political Union is sent to Biarritz to uncover the mysterious affair of Topaz Brown's suicide. This charming lady of the night willed her fortune of 50,000 to the women's suffrage group just one day before her untimely death. Nell knows she and the group are suspect since Topaz hardly espoused the suffragettes' cause. Convinced Topaz was murdered, she enlists the dead woman's maid as a reluctant ally and searches for clues in lowlife dives and society mansions as well as at exotic parties and amateur dramatic performances at the popular Edwardian resort. Hampered by Tansy's almost puritanical regard for Topaz's reputation as well as the shenanigans of a sister suffragette intent on assassinating a vacationing MP, Nell struggles with locked doors, secret entrances, and missing keys, but especially with the enigmatic character of Topaz, the benefactor whose profession makes her a double victim. The unusual setting, time frame, and interesting vignettes about the struggle to obtain voting rights for women add an extra measure of delight to this witty thriller. --Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School, Upper Marlboro,
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: John Curley & Assoc (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745183557
• ISBN-13: 978-0745183558
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,060,753 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars France, 1910s, July 8, 2009

By 

Lyn Reese (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sister Beneath the Sheet (Paperback)

Here is a politically astute detective who is an active fighter for the rights of English women to vote. Nell Bray is sent by Emmeline Pankhurst to the fashionable French resort of Biarritz to claim the sizable legacy left to the movement in the will of a high class prostitute, Topaz Brown. The fact that Topaz had never expressed an interest in Nell's movement and that her death is suspect, means that Nell must seek out the truth behind Topaz's life. When it becomes clear that Topaz has been killed, Nell begins the dangerous task of tracking down the suspects, who run the gamut from circus performers to the judge who once sentenced Nell to time in prison.

The story accurately describes the disdain and even hatred of the general public against the idea of women getting the vote, and against the militant suffragettes in particular. Nell, one of the so called "vengeful viragos," is, in fact, fresh from spending time in Holloway prison for tossing a brick through the window of 10 Dowing Street. In this story, however, in the interest of winning public opinion to the suffrage cause, she must try and thwart the destructive plans of a fellow reformer.

This is book number two in a series of ten featuring the author's suffragette detective. We wish the author had provided background information. On the author's Web page, however, we found this excerpt where Gillian Linscott lets Nell Bray speak for herself. "....While I was growing up, we'd always assumed that by the time I reached voting age, the suffrage would have been extended to women. When it became obvious that this was not going to happen I knew that any career or personal ambitions must give way to this struggle. I set myself up as a freelance translator to get enough money to live on and joined the most militant and effective of the groups fighting for the Vote, the Women's Social and Political Union, soon after it was founded by Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903."