A Dangerous Business

A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley 224 pages 

I'm a big fan of Pulitzer-Prize winning author Jane Smiley; I'm not sure how I missed this 2022 publication. But if perusing the perusing the reviews on Amazon is any indication, well, it was not a huge commercial success. I didn't hate this novel, but I didn't love it either. It was okay. 

Set in the 1850s in Monterrey, California, this book had a lot of layers. When readers join Eliza, she has gone to work in a brothel after her abusive husband is killed in a barroom fight. Readers are never sure if the man who shot her husband was punished or not. This is the most freedom that Eliza has ever experienced.  And thanks to the wages she earns at Mrs. Parks and the tips the men leave, she has achieved what the majority of women in this era cannot: financial security.  

Eliza becomes best friends with Jean, another prostitute whose brothel services women. This astounded me. I've never heard of brothels for women, but why not?  Smiley did not go into as much detail here, but Jean's customers mostly came in the daytime whereas most of Eliza's customers were at night.

I was also surprised that the majority of women in this novel were educated and could read and write and do math. Eliza and Jean share a love of reading Edgar Allen Poe's short stories, and when the dead bodies of young women begin to be found, the two amateur sleuths use Poe's Detective Dupin's investigative techniques to get involved with the quest to find the killer. That part of the story lacked tension.

The story is rather plodding, educating the reader on the lives of the prostitutes, the brothel and the men who frequented them, the gorgeous locale, and sometimes more graphic descriptions of the deceased women. 

A Dangerous Business receives 3 out of 5 starts in Julie's world.

 

Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose

Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose (Book 2 in a series) by T. A. Willberg 304 pages

Back in 2020, when I reviewed the first book in this series (“Marion Lane and the Midnight Murders,” I stated that it was interesting enough to keep me reading, but that I wouldn’t read any more in the series. Ah, the power of receiving a free Advanced Reader’s Copy in the mail!

London 1959. The Cold War is in full swing. Far below the city streets are a series of secret tunnels and passages, shifting doors and hallways, gadgets of all kinds and the home of Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries. They are a group of researchers, spies, agents that take on the cases that Scotland Yard cannot solve.

Scotland Yard is stumped once again. Someone is murdering Londoners and leaving a special image with each one: a rose branded onto the body. Newspapers have nicknamed the killer “The Florist.”

Marion Lane is now in her second year with the agency. As the agency begins to be involved, Marion begins receiving off notes about the new recruits, that one of them cannot be trusted. This distracts her from The Florist Case, especially when another second-year is murdered. This murder casts speculation and distrust among the other employees of Miss Brickett’s.

I disliked this novel more than I did the first one. I felt like I was in “Get Smart” episode. It tried to be serious, but the result was far-fetched. “Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.