Review of Murder Between the Lines (2017)
(The second book in the Capability “Kitty” Weeks historical mystery series by Radha Vatsal)
The story is set during the winter of 1915-16, Kitty struggles with the demands and limitations of her job working as a reporter for the Ladies Page of a NYC newspaper. The women’s suffrage movement, Margaret Sanger’s “family limitation” movement and the nation’s preparations for probable war entry all converge on this almost 20 year-old daughter of a wealthy NYC businessman. Kitty must navigate the perils of her job, be mindful of her position in society and be wary of the dangers of traveling about a teeming metropolis while attempting to investigate the apparent accidental death by exposure of a boarding school girl. Ms. Vatsal has written a fairly-clued mystery that is both compelling reading and features an accurate picture of her chosen historical period. The author manages to avoid a pitfall common to those who write historical fiction of making her character a “too good to be a true” woman of her times. Kitty is perhaps more open-minded than the average woman in her position back then but she struggles with new ideas and does not always come to correct conclusions about people and events. Kitty is an intrepid reporter and chronologically falls between “Nellie Bly”, the real-life groundbreaking female journalist of the 1880’s-90’s and future fast-talking, feisty, wisecracking, do-anything-for-a-scoop fictional girl reporters of the late 1930s like “Torchy” Blane and Lois Lane. Two small complaints about the book: at least one character is unnecessarily eliminated and the plot was not quite as tight as the first book in the series, A Front Page Affair (2016). These small criticisms do not detract from the fact that Ms. Vatsal has created a likeable and interesting character who partakes in thrilling yet believable adventures, and solves crimes, too. The conclusion of the story is not neatly wrapped up in a tidy bundle. Kitty is faced with some hard choices and difficult moral decisions which, I believe, will help her character grow and mature as this series continues.
It strikes me as interesting that an awful lot of fictional female sleuths (like Kitty Weeks) have lost their mothers early in their lives and were raised mostly by their fathers or other family members. Some examples that come to mind: Madeline Payne, Cad Metti, Violet Strange, Nancy Drew, Solange Fontaine, Sylvia Shale, Lucie Mott, Gale Gallagher, Cordelia Gray, Kinsie Millhone, V. I. Warshawski, Cass Raoines.
I am looking forward to adventure #3 in the Kitty Weeks series. What events will Ms. Vatsal write about? What historical persons will make appearances? Will the growing sport of major league baseball with it’s dangerous brush with gambling and game fixing be featured? Or maybe Kitty will tangle with the corrupt Tammany Hall political machine that once dominated NYC and New York State government? Perhaps Kitty will get to interview one (or both) of the great woman mystery story writers of the period: Anna Katherine Green, detective story pioneer and innovator and/or Mary Roberts Rinehart, Green’s challenger and successor? I can hardly wait to see.
CLICK HERE to visit Radha Vatsal’s website