Face of the Enemy: A New York in Wartime Mystery

Set mostly in December 1941, this disappointing first in a new series from Dobson (Death Without Tenure) and Myers (Her Deadly Mischief) focuses on a group of young women living at a Brooklyn boarding house. Nurse Louise Hunter has her eyes opened to the era’s rampant bigotry when the artist Masako Fumi Oakley, the Japanese-born wife of one of her patients, is interned by the FBI on Ellis Island soon after the Pearl Harbor attack. Masako’s situation becomes more dire after the murder of her art dealer places her under suspicion. Intent on preventing wartime passions from leading to an innocent woman’s conviction, Louise turns for help to her housemate Cabby Ward, an ambitious reporter, and an unusually open-minded cop, Lt. Michael McKenna. Time capsule references (movies, radio, clothing, etc.) do little to compensate for stereotypical characters and an overwrought plot. Agent: Damaris Rowland. (Sept.)