Angel's Flight: A Mercy Allcutt Mystery

ANGEL'S FLIGHT is an adventure that makes the twenties live again. Mercy Allcutt will have you in her corner immediately rooting for her as she insists on a career in a society that's nearly deaf to all women and (horrors) working women in particular. Doing what she feels right for her but is not socially acceptable gets Mercy into trouble at work and at home just being herself. She works as a secretary and general help to Ernie Templeton who is a private investigator, former policeman, and is the current love interest in Mercy's life. When Ernie turns down a job involving investigating a couple of swindlers who are going to hold a seance Mercy attends the seance without his knowledge and is a witness to a murder. This infuriates Ernie and Mercy's mother from Boston who chooses this embarrassing time to visit and express her disapproval of her daughter Mercy's life style in LA. Her presence makes Mercy's daily escape to work a necessity for Mercy and tough on her sister with whom she is currently living. Alice Duncan has done her homework on her chosen period of time with styles, social mores, and events including the death of Rudolph Valentino. Settings are well done and the colorful characters Alice Duncan weaves into the plot's twists and turns will keep you turning pages right up to the cliff-hanger climax. Alice Duncan's Mercy Allcott series is a must for cozy mystery lovers. Jackie Griffey author of the Dead on Arrival

In 1926 in Los Angeles with her family mostly back in Boston, single woman Mercy Allcutt lives with her married sister Chloe and her brother-in-law Harvey Nash, owner of the successful Nash Studio. Mercy dreams of becoming a mystery author so to obtain knowledge of the genre, she works as all around office assistant to private investigator, Ernie Templeton. Mercy is excited with the renovations of the Figueroa Building where Ernie has his office; as does the law firm of James Quincy Carstairs who has an ugly history with Ernie from when he was a cop. Nash Studio costumier Mr. Francis Easthope hires Ernie to prove to his mother Rosemary that she is paying a fortune to a phony spiritualist couple Mr. and Mrs. d'Agostina. Overwhelmed with too many clients at the moment, Ernie rejects the case, but Mercy offers to help him. Mercy plants Rupert Mullins inside the household as a houseboy so he can keep her informed. Mercy meets Rosemary at a séance hosted by d'Agostina pair. However, after the session is over, one of the attendees, gossip columnist Vivian Hartland, is found dead. Someone in the room obviously killed her. As the scandal explodes over Southern California, Boston Brahman Mrs. Allcutt moves into the home of her brother-in-law having left her spouse on the East Coast. She is horrified that her daughter is working and in the middle of a brouhaha unbecoming of a lady. The second "Angel's" 1920s mystery (see LOST AMONG THE ANGELS) is a fabulous whodunit filled with twists, red herrings, and a horde of viable suspects; of whom none has an obvious motive. Mercy's mom with her upper crust Bostonian lifestyle adds humor as she is disappointed that her younger daughter is God forbid working. With a sense of time and place and loaded with a strong cast especially the heroine, Alice Duncan provides a strong historical investigative tale. Harriet Klausner

Set in August, 1926, Los Angeles, California. Miss Mercy Allcutt resides with her sister, Chloe, and brother-in-law, Harvey Nash. Mercy and Chloe's family are in Boston. (LA is as far away from Boston as the girls could get.) Nash Studio is doing very well in the motion-picture industry. Mercy wants to someday write mystery novels. For research and experience, Mercy is the secretary for a private investigator, Ernie Templeton. Mercy enjoys her job immensely, always striving to make herself indispensable to Ernie. Now that the Figueroa Building is getting a much needed face-lift, more businesses are moving in. The recent new business is a lawyer's office, James Quincy Carstairs, Esq. His secretary, Sylvia Dunstable is organized in a way that Mercy hopes to learn. Having been the lawyer's secretary for years, Sylvia is "in the know" about many famous people (clients). Mercy soon learns that Ernie and Carstairs have a history from when Ernie had been a cop. The two hardly tolerate each other and now they are neighbors! But Ernie's business has gotten busy so Mercy has little time to wring Sylvia out for her organizational skills. Mr. Francis Easthope is a costumier at Harvey's studio. He wants Ernie to help him prove to his mother that the two spiritualists she has been paying are frauds. Ernie did not take the case, but Mercy offers her help. She even convinces him to hire Rupert Mullins as a houseboy so he can help them spy on the pair. At the séance later, Mercy meets his mother (Rosemary), the two spiritualists (Mr. and Mrs. d'Agostina), Jacqueline Lloyd (who has been in a couple of recent movies), and Vivian Hartland (the most famous gossip columnist in the motion-picture industry). Also in attendance, as Miss Lloyd's escort, is Mr. Carstairs. Things take a deadly twist when the séance is over, the lights come back on, and everyone finds Vivian dead. To top off everything, Mercy and Chloe's mother has left their father and is residing in their home for an unknown amount of time. With her she brings the Bostonian hauteur she is well known for. Not only is Mercy actually working for a living, but she is also directly involved in the largest scandal around. If Mercy manages to survive the case, her mother just may be the death of her. ***** This is the second mystery in the Mercy Allcutt series. In my opinion, it is even better than the first. (The first is Lost Among the Angels (Five Star Mystery Series).) Readers will find their wits sorely tested as they try to figure out who the killer is and why. There are plenty of suspects but no solid motive for any of them. As for Mrs. Allcutt, all I can say is that Hitler could have taken lessons from that lady! It is no wonder to me the girls live on the other side of the continent. The author has done an exceptionally good job on that character. If you enjoy historical facts, the author has kept everything historically accurate. You will even read a bit about Valentino. I cannot recommend this st