Discreet Retrieval Agency Mysteries Series, Book 1
Starred review from July 6, 2015
Chance’s flawless first in a 1920s cozy series introduces New York socialite Lola Woodby, who sheds no tears over the sudden death of her philandering, debt-ridden hubby, Alfie. A shortage of funds forces Lola and her cook, Berta Lundgren, to move into Alfie’s last remaining piece of real estate, a Greenwich Village apartment that he used as a love nest. When one of Alfie’s former girlfriends, aspiring movie actress Ruth Simpkin, offers to pay Lola $3,000 for retrieving a canister of film from a country house where Lola will be a guest, the hard-up Lola and Berta accept, though Ruth is rather vague about the film’s content. Lola and Berta’s subsequent adventures thrust them into high and low society, and Lola winds up as a suspect in more than one murder. Chance (Snow White Red-Handed) displays a deft wit throughout (“Society Matrons, if you’re unfamiliar with the breed, groom and train to compete in matches more snappish and bitchy than those of the Westminster Kennel Club”). Agent: Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management.