Marilyn's Mystery Reads

Book Author: Cathy Pegau

As president of B & H Foods, Margot Harriman is used to being successful at everything she does.  That includes fundraising, even if most of the credit goes to the all male New York City Charity Hospital board.  This is, after all, the early 1900s, and men are in charge of nearly everything.

Margot is discussing the plans for the upcoming gala in support of the hospital with Dr. Stephen Jameson when something catches her eye as it moves past the physician’s window.  Then there is a thud, followed by a scream.  The deceased was Stella Nowak, a nurse at the hospital, and her death, sad as it is, is officially ruled a suicide.

Margot, however, doesn’t agree, especially when her friend CeeCee, a nurse at the facility, tells her that Stella’s death was only the most recent one.  Is there something going on at the hospital that Stella was aware of that led to her passing?

Much of the plot contrasts the care given to patients at the Charity Hospital and that given to the residents at the Caspian, a luxurious setting catering to well-to-do clientele suffering from the stresses of high society.  But here too, there are mysterious happenings, including the death of Margot’s friend Dotty shortly after they share lunch at the facility’s beautiful dining room.

When Dr. Beales, a physician at both hospitals, visits Margot to tell her of Dotty’s passing, she decides the only way she will find out what caused the death is to become a patient at the Caspian herself.  It’s certainly easy enough to plead fatigue and overstimulation as the reasons to do so, and the following week Margot is at the facility.

At the same time, CeeCee and her lover, private investigator Rett Mancini, are looking into the recent deaths at the Charity Hospital, including Stella’s.  Is it simply coincidence that both hospitals are experiencing an unusual number of deaths, or is it something more sinister?

One of the most interesting things about reading novels that take place in another time is how similar or different things were then compared to our own time.  In A Deadly Entanglement, it’s easy to spot the differences between that time and ours, but it’s also easy to see which things haven’t changed at all, or at least not much.

One of the changes is certainly the recognition of gay relationships.  CeeCee and Rett are in a committed lesbian relationship, but they can tell no one about their feelings for each other.  And Margot has strong feelings for Shiloh, a magician’s assistant and lock-picking expert, but in addition to the same-sex aspect of their affair is the issue of their very different places in society, with Shiloh being especially aware of the economic and educational differences between them.

A Deadly Entanglement is more than an entertaining read, although it is that.  It’s also a penetrating look into society’s mores and values in the early 20th century and how they compare to ours.  Cathy Pegau has written an outstanding mystery with characters and a plot that will resonate with readers.

You can read more about the author at this site.

A single woman in the early 1900s in New York City, Margot Baxter Harriman is the head of B&H Foods.  She inherited this position on the death of her father, and although she has been at the company her entire working life there are those who question her right as a woman to be its president.  Still, as the third generation of Harrimans involved in the food business, Margot has been educated in the field since childhood and is confident that she belongs at the head of the table.

When Margot enters the company’s building after hours to pick up a report the company’s accountant left for her, it’s totally silent.  Of course there’s no one here, she thinks, that’s why it’s so quiet, but it’s still unnerving when compared to the usual clamor of people and machines she’s accustomed to.  Taking her master key from her pocket, she slides it into the accountant’s office and only then realizes that the door was already unlocked.  Sitting at the desk with her head at a strange angle is Giana Gilroy, the highly respected assistant to Margot’s father before her retirement.  But now Mrs. Gilroy is dead, and a note addressed to Margot is in her hand.

Margot says nothing about the note to the police, who have ruled that Mrs. Gilroy died of natural causes.  The note is almost inexplicable to her, as it says that Mrs. Gilroy and the late Mr. Harriman were “involved in a situation” at the company and that people got sick, some dying.  Margot knows that there are food companies that use fillers and cheap additions to prolong the life of their products, even though these practices are unlawful under the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, but she never knew or even suspected B&H of such activities.  Could she have been so naive, so trusting of her father, when it now appears he may have been involved in illegal practices?

Determined to find the truth and not knowing whom to trust in the company, Margot hires the firm of Mancini & Associates to investigate if there is any truth to what is inferred in the note.  Margot and Rhett Mancini decide that the best way to look into the situation is to have someone join the company as a worker, and when Margot asks whom Rhett is thinking of, the latter replies, “Why, me of course.”

Their first joint venture is checking out Mrs. Gilroy’s home before her cousin, Letitia Jacobs, gets the house ready to be sold.  The two women enter the house and begin their search; the late homeowner’s bedroom yields a book with notations in code and a key that looks like one for a safe deposit box in a New York City bank.  They are interrupted by another intruder, and as Rhett reaches into her pocket for her brass knuckles, Margot heaves a ceramic pitcher across the room and the man falls to the floor.  Thus the partnership begins.

A Murderous Business is a winning combination of an exciting plot, realistic characters, queer romance, and a fascinating look into Manhattan in the early part of the 20th century.  Cathy Pegau has written what is subtitled “A Harriman & Mancini Mystery,” so this is obviously the first in the series.  I look forward with much anticipation to the second one.

You can read more about the author at this website.

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novels.