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An engaging, interesting and strangely comforting read, – the first in a series that is historical, absorbing and not quite a cosy, but peopled with characters and a setting the reader can immediately relate to and feel comfortable with, and a plot that beckons one sink right into it, all resulting in an introduction to a series that leaves one wanting to read more.

It’s July 1936, the throes of the Great Depression, and Toronto is in the midst of a terrible heatwave. As the temperature rises, trouble is afoot. Luckily for the reader, our first person POV heroine is Miss Charlotte Frayne, licensed PI and as spunky a female lead you will meet between the pages, particularly in an era not particularly kind to women.

Charlotte, an attractive thirtyish and unmarried investigator (all of which add up to more significance back in the day), is kind, sensible, and not afraid to stick her nose in where it may not be welcome. Unusual for the time period, Charlotte is an associate in the Gilmore and Associates agency – in fact, we learn, she is the sole associate to her boss, Thaddeus Gilmore. In this, the first of the series featuring Charlotte and her companions, when Mr Gilmore is suspected of a vicious attack on his wife, Charlotte scrambles to prove his innocence and find the culprit.

Amidst the historically evocative backdrop of crippling poverty and widespread unemployment, Charlotte uncovers secrets and connections, revealed through a cast of characters (including the dishy Detective Murdoch, known to Canadians through his own book series by this author, and the related ‘Murdoch Mysteries’ TV show). For this reader, the pages flew by as wounded, vulnerable people, wartime losses, devastating traumas, and dastardly deeds, some involving personal danger to our heroine, spiraled to a final conclusion.

Without revealing too much, (no spoilers here), both plot and characterization does not disappoint, with an ending as emotionally satisfying as it is tidy.

I’m happy to have made an introduction to this wonderful author, and am looking forward to the rest of this series.

A great big thank you to the publisher and the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts provided are my own.