{"id":6080,"date":"2024-12-10T06:51:55","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T14:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=6080"},"modified":"2024-12-10T06:51:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T14:51:55","slug":"rob-osler-the-case-of-the-missing-maid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/rob-osler-the-case-of-the-missing-maid\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Osler: The Case of the Missing Maid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Harriet Morrow Investigates #1<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This fun historical mystery from Rob Osler features an unusual heroine: Harriet Morrow, an LGBTQ woman at the turn of the 20th century who has just secured a job as the first female operative at a detective agency in Chicago.\u00a0 In 1898, law enforcement remained somewhat haphazard, so private detectives did lots of investigative work that today would be handled by regular law enforcement. Consequently, when Harriet tells someone she\u2019s an investigator, they tend to pay serious attention and respond to her questions.<\/p>\n

Something of a trial balloon due to her gender, she\u2019s assigned what the agency views as a \u201cno brainer,\u201d\u00a0 solving the mystery of the disappearance of the titular missing maid, Agnes, who works for her boss\u2019s neighbor. The senior operative in charge informs her that the neighbor, Pearl, is a bit crazy and probably delusional, but the intrepid Harriet pedals off on her bicycle to the neighbor\u2019s house regardless.\u00a0 The lady in question is indeed eccentric, mistaking Harriet for a man because of her bowler hat, addressing her\u00a0 as \u201cHarry\u201d as she explains that she certainly could never exist without a maid. Although she herself, thanks to age, never goes to the top floor or the basement, she allows Harriet to look everywhere in the house,<\/p>\n

After reaching the maid\u2019s top floor room she quickly reaches the conclusion that Agnes has been kidnapped when she finds an open window, an unmade bed, and abandoned belongings.\u00a0 Despite being new to investigating, she forms a plan, and asks for guidance from one of her friendlier fellow operatives, Matthew.\u00a0 He may be friendly, but there are plenty in the agency who aren\u2019t, including the secretaries, who resent a woman rising to a station higher than theirs, giving her the cold shoulder when she\u2019s relegated to sitting with them rather than having her own office.<\/p>\n

Living with her 16 year old brother, Aubrey, in an apartment they\u2019ve inherited from their late parents, Harriet is by necessity breadwinner, sister, and parent all in one.\u00a0 While Aubrey, a typical sullen, selfish teenager, is a lot for a 21 year old to take on, Harriet never feels sorry for herself, choosing to simply push ahead. Even though her first case is a difficult one, she continues to work in the hope that she will indeed be a fully minted operative one day.<\/p>\n

Her investigations take her to the Polish part of the city where she meets Agnes\u2019s family and discovers the sublime joys of paczkis.\u00a0 She acquires a gun and learns how to shoot it, discovering how to ask questions, or just how to stay in the background and unobtrusively observe when it\u2019s needed (something she finds extremely difficult).\u00a0 Through all of it, Harriet also discovers her own identity and how to survive and function as a gay woman.\u00a0 When Pearl gifts her with some of her late husband\u2019s clothes, Harriet gratefully accepts (she despises skirts, for one thing) but she isn\u2019t sure she will ever have the courage to wear them.<\/p>\n

From Pearl to Matthew to Agnes\u2019 sister, Barbara, Harriet meets people along the way who challenge the way she sees herself.\u00a0 Author Osler doesn\u2019t do things in an obvious way but in a fashion that seems natural and true to the story, which, among other things, is an excellent mystery with a clever and satisfying ending. All of which adds up to this terrific series debut. —\u00a0Robin Agnew<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harriet Morrow Investigates #1 This fun historical mystery from Rob Osler features an unusual heroine: Harriet Morrow, an LGBTQ woman at the turn of the 20th century who has just secured a job as the first female operative at a detective agency in Chicago.\u00a0 In 1898, law enforcement remained somewhat haphazard, so private detectives did … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1918,1919,1920,1916,10,162,1915,1276,1441,1917],"class_list":["post-6080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-1898-chicago","tag-bicycles","tag-detective-agency","tag-harriet-morrow","tag-historical","tag-kensington-books","tag-rob-osler","tag-robin-agnew","tag-series-debut","tag-the-case-of-the-missing-maid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6080","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6080"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6175,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6080\/revisions\/6175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}