Murder She Reported by Peg Cochran

Peg Cochran has written a delicious 1938 murder mystery with all the sights and sounds of the Depression. Elizabeth is a "girl Friday" on a Newspaper even though her family is one of the wealthy. Through a lucky break she takes over photographing a Debutante Ball with the "It girl" featured prominently. Beautiful gowns and sleek- haired escorts provide the color but who could predict it would end in murder?

"The Rich are not like you and me," Kaminski noted, as he wrote his byline. He is a hardened Newspaperman reeking of onion and cigarettes. He took Elizabeth under his wing barking," Do you want to work for the Newspaper or not?"  Biz, her shortened name, questioned the ethics of taking photos of people at their very worst and most vulnerable. She had snapped a crying girl with blood all over her dress but questioned the right and wrong of it. Death left a bad taste in her mouth and a white-faced Biz. The murders continue as she and Kaminski track down clues and interview people. They relentlessly pursue the police theories for their newspaper. But Biz has a few ideas of her own.

The smooth delivery lines and the elegance of the attires really helps this Mystery bring that Era to life. But it's not all golden- the seamy side is written in also, so, that  makes a well-integrated murder mystery. I really enjoyed it and I will continue with the series. Five stars...

Blurb:

A Park Avenue princess discovers the dark side of 1930s New York when a debutante ball turns deadly in this gripping historical mystery for readers of Victoria Thompson, Anne Perry, and Rhys Bowen.

Manhattan, 1938. Tired of being trapped in the gilded cage of her family’s expectations, Elizabeth Adams has done what no self-respecting socialite would think to do: She’s gotten herself a job. Although Elizabeth’s dream is to one day see her photographs on the front page of the Daily Trumpet, for now she’s working her way up as the newsroom’s gal Friday.

But fetching coffee isn’t exactly her idea of fun. So when veteran reporter Ralph Kaminsky needs a photographer to fill in for a last-minute assignment, Elizabeth jumps at the chance. At the Waldorf Hotel, Elizabeth is tasked with tracking down the season’s “It girl,” Gloria DeWitt, who will be making her society debut. Working her own connections to New York’s upper crust, Elizabeth manages to land an exclusive interview with Gloria.

Then Gloria’s stepmother is shot dead in a Waldorf bathroom, placing Elizabeth at the scene of a headline-worthy scandal: “Murder of a Society Dame.” Now Elizabeth will have to get the scoop on the killer before her good name gets dragged through the gossip columns—or worse. . . .

Coroner's Pidgin, A Campion Mystery

Margery Allingham is an exceptional Writer. Her plots are sophisticated, as are her characters. The last one I read- I thought this is my favorite and then I felt the same with the next one. She has the ability to describe characters in a pre-war or post-war setting- in an England none of us knew. Charming, intelligent, people who get themselves in a bad situation and among the group- one is a killer.

Albert Campion has come home from doing intelligence work for the Government and is headed home to his wife and son. He stops off at his London flat for a luxurious soak in the tub- representing beauty, luxury and civilization to him. A body has been brought up the stairs and laid in his bedroom. A Woman, he has never seen, reposes there and has been brought by Lugg, his butler, and the Dowager Marchioness of Carados. The situation is ludicrous and he bows out determined to go home. The Taxi Driver has other plans. He wakes up chloroformed with a Policeman standing over him. His clothes, have been strewn over an empty building and himself drugged. Despite his best intentions of catching the train home he has to solve the mystery.

The characters are stunning in this book... consisting of a group of people collected together by Johnny Carados, Marquess and RAF Pilot.  Two of these are Peter Onyer and his wife, Gwenda. Peter, managed his financial affairs and Gwenda, acted as her husband's secretary. Ricky Silva, petulant and artistic, did the flowers. Captain Gold ruled the household servants, and a plump, cheerful Dolly, went about putting everything right. Then there is Eve Snow, Johnny's girlfriend and Susan, who Johnny is to marry despite that fact. Don Evers is in love with Susan.

Allingham is amazing at the way she collects the characters and sews them into a complicated plot but does it in a way in which you stay fascinated. One of the writers from the golden era of mysteries she is equal with Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers. I finished this book in one night and it stayed with me for several days. If you like charming and evocative- along with sophisticated people from another Era, then this is for you. I loved it. 

Blurb:
World War II is limping to a close and private detective Albert Campion has just returned from years abroad on a secret mission. Relaxing in his bath before rushing back to the country, and to the arms of his wife, Amanda, Campion is disturbed when his servant, Lugg, and a lady of unmistakably aristocratic bearing appear in his flat carrying the corpse of a woman.

The reluctant Campion is forced to put his powers of detection to work as he is drawn deeper into the case, and into the eccentric Caradocs household, dealing with murder, treason, grand larceny, and the mysterious disappearance of some very valuable art.