The Silent Film Star Murders by Melodie Campbell

 

This brand new traditional mystery from accomplished Canadian crime writer Melodie Campbell has all the panache of the original Golden Age crime fiction by notables Dorothy, L Sayers, Margery Allingham, and the inimitable Agatha Christie herself. In fact, several of those names are dropped by our illustrious sleuth, Lady Revelstoke as she cruises the high seas, partaking of delicious desserts in the First Class Dining Room.

Lady Revelstoke is no lady. She’s from the colonies, from a crime family (but that's a secret!) and widowed too soon after the Great War, left with a young son and a slew of business holdings as well as that convenient title. (And a castle, but we don’t see the castle in this book, it being inconvenient to pack and transport even on a grand ocean liner). 

 

In this second of The Merry Widow Murders from Cormorant, our Lady Detective is not even settled into her cabin yet when she realizes that she will have a famous silent film star as a dining companion at the captains table, along with the star’s current husband and mousy younger sister. They’ve barely left England when the first mystery of many pops up. Soon we are up to our ears in rival starlets, old flames and new, mysterious disappearances, and an inexhaustible stream of clues that seem to lead in too many directions.

Sorting out the real from the smoke and mirrors is a full-time job for Lady Revelstoke and her indomitable maid Elfreda. But they are more than up to the task, and Lady R makes good work of connecting with other bereaved wives and mothers, gaining vital clues along the way. 

 

In addition to the well woven shipboard background and the many discreet background references to the culture of the era, our illustrious sleuth, and her female, secondary characters, make clear the struggles and hopes of women who saw the Great War not only as a terrible tragedy, but as a step forward in the liberation of women, not only in work and family, but in politics and society. There is something bittersweet about their hopes, as here we are nearly 100 years after the fictional events of this book, and women are still struggling to keep the rights so long and hard fought for.

All in all, this is a very pleasant and also thought-provoking traditional mystery of an era long past, that will satisfy any weekend reader's murderous impulses.

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