Death in Lacquer Red: A Hilda Johansson Mystery

Death in Lacquer Red by Jeanne M. Dams is the first entry in the Hilda Johansson series about a Swedish maid in 1900 South Bend, Indiana. This doesn't sound like an interesting premise for a mystery series, but Hilda is a strong, sympathetic character. When Hilda stumbles upon the body of the next door neighbor, she's drawn into a murder that's implicating foreigners by a police force that wants to quickly hush up the death. Hilda has an overblown sense of justice and wants to prove that the poor Chineseman who's been accused of the murder is not lynched for a crime he didn't commit. She overcomes her fear of Catholics and losing her job to find the truth. Dams does a nice job of writing accurately about the times without making the book feel like a history book. She weaves the prejudices against foreigners and Catholics into the story naturally. It's a very relevant book for the times that we're living through now. The most unbelievable part of the book was Hilda keeping her job when all is said and done, but for that I'm grateful, because it means that there is a sequel.

I enjoy all the novels of Jeanne M. Dams. Hilda Johannsen may be stubborn and sometimes overly assertive but through her I can see what my ancestors went through, as immigrants. Just listening to (audiobooks) all of the hard work Hilda and the other servants perform from sunup to sundown at Tippicanoe Place, I had a new appreciation for my own blue-collar job. Life was hard back then but Hilda and her friends made the most of things, they exercised their minds and asserted their rights in their new beloved country.

The previous reviews have summed up the plot fairly well. They've also disagreed on the merits of the story itself, and surprisingly enough, I agree with all of them. The mystery IS weak, with an annoying loose end or two never tied down. But I found Hilda to be a charmer, perhaps too progressive for the day, but a young lass of wit and determination. Will her romance with Patrick Cavanaugh go any further? (Swedes and the Irish did not really mix socially.) She faces a tremendous handicap in her detective work, as servants essentially needed permission to even leave the house, much less ask questions and do whatever footwork needs to be done. So Hilda is also resourceful, and I'm anxious to see how she fares in her next adventure.

Hilda Johansson, a young servant in 1900 South Bend, is gutsy, clever and determined to solve a murder so that an innocent person doesn't get blamed. Dams makes her and the Indiana city come alive with meticulous research involving Notre Dame, Swedish Lutherans and even Decoration Day parades. Hilda lets nothing stand in her way, not even her well-meaning sisters and her "young man", Patrick. With her fellow servant, Norah, at her side, Hilda gets to the bottom of the crimes with a few surprises along the way. I enjoy Dorothy Martin, Jeanne Dams' other series character, but I like Hilda even more. I could see her coronet braids and hear her Swedish accent - that's what good writing is all about.

After living in America for three years, Swedish immigrant Hilda Johansson works as a housemaid in the Studebaker mansion in South Bend, Indiana. Hilda saves all her money in order to help the rest of her family come to America even as she struggles with prejudice against foreigners.Her world changes when she stumbles across the murdered body of a woman, who turns out to be from an eminent family. Hilda fears that the police will concentrate on the immigrant population as the suspects while ignoring the prominent families who employ them. She begins sleuthing until she places her own life in danger from a murderer who will kill again if necessary.The debut appearance of amateur sleuth Hilda Johansson is a smashing success. Jeanne M. Dams' uncanny ability provides readers with insight as to what it felt like being a foreigner in 1900 America. The who-done-it is intriguing, especially the behavior of the interested groups like the immigrants, the elite, and the police. Award winning Ms. Dams, the author of the Dorothy Martin series, has scribed a phenomenal historical mystery that warrants follow-up tales. Harriet Klausner