{"id":2505,"date":"2018-03-27T17:33:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T00:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=2505"},"modified":"2018-03-27T17:33:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T00:33:17","slug":"mariah-fredericks-a-death-of-no-importance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/mariah-fredericks-a-death-of-no-importance\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariah Fredericks: A Death of No Importance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AThis kick ass book features ladies\u2019 maid Jane Prescott, who happens to be working for the newly wealthy and somewhat clueless Benchley family when a murder explodes the family\u2019s world. Jane has more or less taken the Benchley girls under her wing. Their mother is a feckless household manager and the girls, Charlotte, beautiful and headstrong, and Louisa, plain and shy, welcome the kind of insider society knowledge Jane possesses after working for various wealthy families. It\u2019s 1910 and a good marriage for each girl is uppermost in their minds \u2013 and in the mind of their mother.<\/p>\n

Jane is telling the story, and it\u2019s clear she\u2019s looking back in time as she remembers the incidents that so shaped the lives of the Benchley family. While Jane works for one of the wealthiest families in 1910 New York, she\u2019s also friends with an anarchist named Anna who brings her a different view of the world and when the murder occurs, a different view of the importance of the dead person. Jane balances her loyalty and affection for the family she\u2019s serving while hearing Anna\u2019s voice in her head.<\/p>\n

The other family affected owned a mine in Pennsylvania where eight children were left for dead after a collapse. This family has been receiving threatening notes from the anarchists referring to the mine tragedy. In this way, Fredericks almost gently points out the vast divide between the upper classes and everyone else, though her main character is ruled more by her heart than by principles.<\/p>\n

Jane, at the request of Mr. Benchley, helps to investigate the murder with the help of a tenacious and bold reporter. They ably follow the threads of the mystery back to the source. Jane and her reporter buddy are tormented by the classic dilemma posed in almost every mystery novel: does a killing come down to the killer\u2019s character or the situation? Or both?<\/p>\n

Fredericks, a brisk and lively storyteller, takes the reader on a careening ride through the various echelons of 1910 New York society, helping the reader to be invested in Jane from page one. I found this novel\u00a0extremely difficult to put down and satisfying after I\u2019d finished reading it. This is a wonderful first foray into historical mystery fiction for Ms. Fredericks. I can\u2019t wait to read more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This kick ass book features ladies\u2019 maid Jane Prescott, who happens to be working for the newly wealthy and somewhat clueless Benchley family when a murder explodes the family\u2019s world. Jane has more or less taken the Benchley girls under her wing. Their mother is a feckless household manager and the girls, Charlotte, beautiful and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-2505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-historical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2507,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505\/revisions\/2507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}