The Unraveled Mystery seems to be an exercise in xenophobia, which is rather spoiling my enjoyment of the story. I know, I know ... it was written in 1864 yadda, yadda... but check this out and then tell me I should merely glance over it:

"The evidence of the fragments, therefore, goes problematically to prove that the murdered man was an educated foreigner, stabbed to death by one or more educated foreigners.

Now, what evidence can be offered which can support this theory?

Much.

In the first place, the complaints of the French Government to England, and the results of those complaints, very evidently show that London is the resting-place of many determined foreigners. In fact, it is a matter beyond all question, that London has at all times been that sanctuary for refugees from which they could not be torn. Hence London has always been the centre of foreign exiled disaffection. Then if it can be shown that foreign exiled disaffection is given to assassination, it stands good that we have here in London foreigners who are ready to assassinate. Experience shows that this tendency to assassinate on the part of foreign malcontents is a common understanding amongst them.

There is no need to refer to the attempts upon the life of the Emperor of the French, upon the life of the father of the late King of Naples—there is no need to point out that in the former cases the would-be assassins have lived in London, and have generally set out from London. All required is, to talk of tyranny with the next twenty foreigners you may meet, good, bad, and indifferent. It will be found that the ordinary theory in reference to a tyrant is, not that he shall be overthrown by the will of the people, but by the act of assassination."

I am aware that the female detective may be regarded with even more aversion than her brother in profession. But still it cannot be disproved that if there is a demand for men detectives there must also be one for female detective police spies. Criminals are both masculine and feminine—indeed, my experience tells me that when a woman becomes a criminal she is far worse than the average of her male companions, and therefore it follows that the necessary detectives should be of both sexes.

1864, people!

And, yet, the writing doesn't read as stilted as I might have expected, either. I think I'm really going to like this. 

OUT OF THE GATE LIKE A STUTZ BEARCAT

Radha Vatsal is a scholar and a talented storyteller, evident in her strong historical mystery debut,A Front Page Affair, just released this summer.

Capability Weeks (“Kitty” to her friends) and her father (a well-to-do, self-made mogul) live well in 1915 New York City. Kitty, a young addition to the New York Sentinel’s Ladies Page, covers a July 4th society soiree and becomes unintentionally tied to a murder and what looks like a plot to endanger the delicate international balance. 

Read the rest here

It took me a while to read this because school was keeping me so busy. This is a solid historical mystery with an intrepid female detective in the 1920s. There is some very dark aspects to this story that are surprising for a genteel historical mystery. Well-plotted and populated with interesting characters.

Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.

There is a not insignificant portion of the bookish world that seeks out the first instance of particular characters and genres. Because I am a trivia hound, I follow scholars who try to identify the first novel (probably The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shibiku, depending on how you define it), the first science fiction story (probably The Blazing World, by Margaret Cavendish), etc. etc. The first time I tried to chase down the first instance of something happened after reading “The Purloined Letter,” by Edgar Allan Poe. This story is one of the first recognizable detective stories that I know of, published in 1844. Andrew Forrester’s The Female Detective is probably the first collection of stories featuring a woman who works as a professional detective. It was originally published 1863-1864. I’ve been eager to read it since I first spotted a reference to this collection a few months ago...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.