Review: terrific historical mystery
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 11, 2013
Death By MisadventureE.E. SmithPhoenix International, Nov 16 2013, $3.99ISBN: 9780989935609In 1947, War Widow Alexis J Smith is late for work as a conductor of "Discreet Inquiries because she learned of the blood splattered on two floors of the building where her office is.  When she finally arrives, Lexie's secretary Sandy tells her boss that she has a client with apparently plenty of money waiting for her. Mrs. Kate Farraday offers the sleuth a lot of cash to find her missing husband Frank who vanished a year ago with their baby Daisy and a lot more if she kills him.  Lexie is taken aback as she failed to recognize Mrs. Farraday until the woman said she is her 1941 Sacramento High School friend Katie O'Toole and Frank is the boy Lexie loved six years ago.Believing Kate's tale of woe is false and fearing her old buddy will find a gun for hire, Lexie decides to locate Frank in London to warn him of his mad mate's murderous plot.  In England, Lexie obtains help from Harry of "The Yard" as she locates Frank at haunted Old Vicarage Inn with Kate trailing the American gumshoe.This opening act is a terrific historical mystery in which E.E. Smith captures the dreams of high school seniors a few months before Pearl Harbor and life in California and mostly London after WWII ended.  Although minor I could not accept Lexie failing to recognize her BFF Katie even with an affluent make-over.  Still readers will enjoy spending the 1940s with the heroine as our guide to post-war England, which enhances an excellent investigation made stronger by vivid flashbacks and a stunning twisted motive.Harriet Klausner