Indigo
Christmas
A
Hilda Johansson Mystery
Jeanne
M. Dams
Perseverance
Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-880284-95-2 (1880284952)
ISBN-13: 978-1-880284-95-7 (9781880284957)
Publication Date: September 2008
List Price: $14.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Once housemaid to the wealthy Studebaker family in
South Bend, Indiana, Hilda Johansson is now married and living a
well-to-do life with her new husband. But her Swedish family
doesn’t get along with his Irish relations. She’s
having trouble finding friends, since she no longer fits into her old
world and isn’t accepted in the new one. Just before
Christmas, when the husband of her sole remaining friend is accused of
theft, arson, and murder, Hilda has to find new ways of investigating a
crime that seems to make no sense.
In the hard times of 1904 with bank failures weekly, Hilda tries to
help the unemployed youth of South Bend by helping to form a
Boys’ Club (modeled after Hull House founded in Chicago)..
And she also enlists some of them as “Baker Street
Irregulars” in her mystery investigation, giving the reader a
vivid sense of the city and street life of the times.
Review:
When the husband of one of Hilda Johansson's closest friends is accused
of murder when he finds, and keeps, the abandoned wallet of the dead
man, Hilda jumps right in to clear his name in Indigo Christmas,
the sixth mystery in this series by Jeanne M. Dams.
Hilda is still struggling with her change in economic and social
status, from being a servant to having servants. An additional
complication comes in the form of a very pregnant Norah who arrives on
Hilda's doorstep after her husband Sean is arrested. Though Sean is
soon released, the police still believe he's involved somehow. Even
after Norah and Sean's daughter is born, they remain in residence at
Hilda's home. In the meantime, Hilda decides to find out more about the
dead man Sean was initially accused of killing and how he came to be
sleeping in a barn that caught fire. Under the guise of a community
outreach program, she enlists a group of young boys to be her eyes and
ears. As she notes, "People never really looked at servants, never saw
past the cap and apron to the human being inside." But she also knows
that gives them the opportunity to observe and hear things they
probably shouldn't, young boys share the same status, as it were.
Readers expecting a mystery may be disappointed with Indigo Christmas,
at least initially. Much of the early part of the book is devoted to
Hilda, herself an immigrant and until just recently in the employ of a
wealthy family, lamenting how to remain friends with other servants
while being the lady of her own house. Though of Swedish descent, she
deplores the conditions of the Irish immigrants in her community. This
discourse on social injustice and prejudice of the early 1900s
substantially overshadows the nascent mystery plot.
About halfway through, a standard mystery does emerge, the most
entertaining aspect of which is Hilda playing Sherlock Holmes to her
own version of the Baker Street Irregulars. The boys are eager
participants, asking questions of people and relaying the information
to her. In exchange they are rewarded with chocolate or nickels. With
what she learns, and from her own observations, she manages to piece
together a potential solution to the crime and sets out to expose the
real culprit. In the end, Indigo
Christmas
has an interesting and credible story but it's a shame the path it
takes at first is so circuitous.
Special thanks to Perseverance Press for providing a copy of Indigo Christmas for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Indigo Christmas? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Death
in Lacquer Red
Walker and Co. (Hardcover), May 1999
ISBN-10: 0-8027-3329-8 (0802733298)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-3329-0 (9780802733290)
The
Red, White and Blue Murders
Walker and Co. (Hardcover), May 2000
ISBN-10: 0-8027-3341-7 (0802733417)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-3341-2 (9780802733412)
Green
Grow the Victims
Walker and Co. (Hardcover), June 2001
ISBN-10: 0-8027-3355-7 (0802733557)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-3355-9 (9780802733559)
Silence
is Golden
Walker and Co. (Hardcover), May 2002
ISBN-10: 0-8027-3373-5 (0802733735)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-3373-3 (9780802733733)
Crimson
Snow
Perseverence Press (Trade Paperback), September 2005
ISBN-10: 1-88028-479-0 (1880284790)
ISBN-13: 978-1-88028-479-7 (9781880284797)
Indigo Christmas
Perseverance Press (Trade Paperback), September 2008
ISBN-10: 1-880284-95-2 (1880284952)
ISBN-13: 978-1-880284-95-7 (9781880284957)
Omnimystery
keywords for Indigo Christmas
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Location(s) referenced: South Bend, Indiana.
