The Case of the Missing Maid

The first woman hired by a Chicago detective agency faces one daunting challenge after another in this excellent historical series launch from Osler (Cirque du Slay). When Harriet Morrow reports for her first day at the Prescott Detective Agency in 1898, she’s determined to make a success of it and leave her dull bookkeeping career behind. Yet from the minute Harriet walks through the door, she’s met with skepticism from her male colleagues. Only the boss, Theodore Prescott, believes in her, but even he gives her an apparently toothless assignment: report to the home of Pearl Bartlett, an elderly and often confused widow, to follow up on her complaint that her maid, Agnes Wozniak, has disappeared. While Pearl has a reputation for crying wolf, Harriet believes her this time and suspects that Agnes has been abducted. As Harriet digs deeper into the case, she also grapples with escalating hostility at the detective agency, wariness among Agnes’s peers in Chicago’s Polish community, and fears that her secret life as a lesbian might be exposed and used against her. As the intrepid, bike-riding lady detective plunges into Chicago’s seedy gay clubs and criminal hangouts, Osler doles out well-placed clues that set the table for a knockout conclusion. With lush historical detail, optimistic but plausible gender politics, and an unforgettable heroine, this series is primed for success. Agent: Stephany Evans, Ayesha Pande Literary. (Jan.)