Lost Among the Angels (A Mercy Allcutt Mystery, Book 1): Historical Cozy Mystery

I read Lost Among the Angels in one sitting and found it wonderful and so enjoyable. It is a fast-paced, exciting story and Mercy Alcutt is a terrific sleuth. The book's sequel is coming out this month and I can't wait to spend more time with Mercy!

Mercy Allcutt is a classic character from Boston, wealthy, prim and proper, but full of spunk. She moves to Hollywood to reside with her sister and brother-in-law, and takes a job as a secretary to P.I., Ernie Templeton. Determined to shed her upper class roots, she yearns to be considered as Templeton's "assistant" and to experience new and exciting adventures. Mercy goes beyond the call of duty to help put some bad guys behind bars. I look forward to more adventures of Mercy Allcutt and Ernie Templeton in the future. Alice Duncan has a new fan!

Too few books on the shelf today encourage us to chuckle--or to outright laugh. Alice Duncan's book does both. Her plucky heroine, her reluctant hero, and a host of bad guys are highly entertaining, as well as historically accurate. Alice clearly has a feel for that particular period in history. Lost Among the Angels is charming. It is enough to send you searching for everything else she's written--under whatever name.

In 1926 Los Angeles, former cop turned private investigator Ernest Templeton wants nothing to do with the classy Bostonian, but she refuses to accept no for an answer. Instead the Boston Brahmin Mercy Allcutt obtains a job working for Ernie though he plans to keep her in the office as show candy. However, Mercy refuses to sit idly working on her cuticles. Instead she demands Ernie teach her all he knows about sleuthing. Stunned by her energy and eagerness, Ernie, who thinks humanity should be classified below the other primates, finds Mercy at his side as they work the gamut of cases from kidnapping to murder, and meet an array of nasty individuals from a toy poodle accompanied by a siren (mercy says vamp) vamp to a stalker and a cold blooded killer. This is on the job training just like Mercy wanted, but it frightens the heebie-jeebies out of Ernie because he is afraid that she will get hurt. Readers will appreciate this terrific historical mystery that brings to life Southern California in 1926. Ernie is fabulous as he changes from a jaded person trying to rid himself of an aristocratic parasite to worrying how to keep her safe mostly from herself; he wonders what to do with the enthusiastic Mercy. However, there is no question that this is the heroine's tale as she jumps without looking from one escapade to another. Readers of 1920s private detective stories will want to read the fantastic LOST AMONG THE ANGELS. Harriet Klausner

Since one paragraph on the back of this book sums it up so well, I quote: "Raised in the ivory tower of proper Boston, when well-bred Mercy [Allcutt] gets a job with Ernest Templeton, Private Investigator, she's ecstatic. Ernie, a jaded ex-cop, is incredulous. Together, they must cope with a stray child, kidnapping, blackmail, murder, a toy poodle, a vamp, a stalker, Mercy's overactive imagination and Ernie's strong protective streak. Throw in a speakeasy, Chinatown, and a couple of down-and-dirty criminals, and Mercy and Ernie are in for a drama that will put the motion picture industry to shame. If they can survive long enough to tell the story." ***** This gem reminded me of the old Dick Tracy comic strips (that I avidly read as a child), as well as of the black and white PI movies we all recall with glee. The story is set in 1926, Los Angeles. I found myself totally immersed before the first few pages were read. Author Alice Duncan either did a lot of research or she grew up on stories of the era. Each character has their own personality. The characters all dress the parts, all the way down to the bobbed hair style, and speak slang. Don't worry, you won't be lost. This book is headed directly to my "KEEPER" shelf. Highly recommended! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.