lives that don’t fit them; Daniel McAdam,
a charming, secretive delivery man who
helped Kat in a time of great need before
she joined Lord Rankin’s household; and
James, Daniel’s sweet, fiercely independent 15-year-old son. Kat and Daniel,
aided by James and Lady Cynthia, investigate the murder of a young servant, battle
Fenians, and race to thwart an act of terrorism. Meanwhile, Kat, a single mother,
must deal with the possible loss of her
10-year-old daughter, who lives with a
couple who now propose to adopt the girl.
Kat’s displays of her knowledge of food and
preparation techniques add to the story’s
appeal. Readers will look forward to this
fascinating lead’s further adventures. Agent:
Bob Mecoy, Bob Mecoy Literary Agency. (Jan.)
The Perfect Nanny
Leila Slimani, trans. from the French by Sam
Taylor. Penguin, $16 trade paper (240p) ISBN
978-0-14-313217-2
Slimani received France’s Goncourt
Prize for this unsettling tale of a nanny
who insinuates herself into every aspect of
her employers’ lives, with tragic results.
When Parisian housewife Myriam Massé
accepts a job as a lawyer, she and her husband, Paul, hire Louise, an unassuming,
doll-like woman in her 40s, to watch their
two children. Initially enamored of Louise’s
quiet competence, delicious cooking, and
constant availability, Myriam and Paul
eventually find her dominating their lives
in unwelcome ways. As they steel themselves for a confrontation, Louise preempts
them in a shocking act of violence. Slimani
expertly probes Myriam’s guilt at leaving
her children with a stranger and the secret
economy of nannies in Paris’s tony professional districts. Taylor’s spare, understated translation underscores the quiet
desperation, economic struggles, and
crushing loneliness that build to Louise’s
final act. Those seeking a thought-provoking character study will appreciate
this gripping anatomy of a crime. (Jan.)
Scones and Scoundrels:
The Highland Bookshop Mystery
Series, Book 2
Molly MacRae. Pegasus Crime, $25.95
(320p) ISBN 978-1-68177-620-0
The deaths of an author and a tourist
pose complications for the operators of Yon
Bonnie Books in MacRae’s lively follow-up
The Big Book of the Continental Op
Dashiell Hammett, edited by Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett. Vintage Crime/Black
Lizard, $25 trade paper (752p) ISBN 978-0-525-43295-1
In San Francisco in the 1920s, Dashiell Hammett carved out his reputation as the father of the hard- boiled American detective story with a wildly enter- taining series about a short, fat, nameless operative
for the Continental Detective Agency. Throughout 28
short stories and novelettes and two full-length novels,
the Op never told readers his name. And they didn’t
care. Whenever the “fat shorty” yanked out his roscoe,
you knew action—and more than one moment of hysterical humor—would fly. The casework was pulled from memories Hammett
had of the job he’d just left, sleuthing across America for Pinkerton’s National
Detective Agency. From wandering-daughter jobs and embezzlement to kidnapping and murder, the tough little Frisco gumshoe faced it all.
Now, for the first time, the complete adventures appear in one place, drawing
on the original text from the pulps. Every previous edition either misses some
stories or features exploits cut to shreds by editorial blue pencil. And this hefty
volume reprints, for the first time since they appeared in the pages of Black Mask
magazine, the original serial versions of the novels Red Harvest and The Dain
Curse (when Alfred Knopf did them in hardback in 1929, he asked for lots of
changes—Harvest had too many dynamitings).
The current editors do intrude with occasional footnotes explaining period
slang (really, who doesn’t know a gat is a gun?) and make the glaring misstep of
breaking the contents down by the three Black Mask editors (ending with Joseph
Shaw, the editor last in line, who is now a legend for nudging the former detective toward novel-length work). Obviously, Hammett’s incandescent talent is the
major factor, not the editors. Each editorial “period” has weaker efforts and then
its triumphs—the earliest stories in 1923 are feeling their way, but by “Zigzags
of Treachery” the work is top-notch. In 1924, “The Girl with Silver Eyes” and
“The Whosis Kid” scorched the typewriter keys, but the pulpster still stumbled
with “Creeping Siamese.” The final two Continental Op stories published under
Shaw, and The Dain Curse, seem to show a writer grown tired. Maybe he was
ready to move on—he had enough gas in the tank to create Sam Spade for The
Maltese Falcon and conjure up Nick and Nora Charles and Asta for The Thin Man.
You don’t need the ponderous and academic to explain the fun away. Few read-
ing experiences equal going through the Ops in order, so knock yourself out. (Dec.)
Don Herron has led the Dashiell Hammett Tour in San Francisco for 40 years and is the
author of Willeford, a biography.
[Signature]
Reviewed by Don Herron
★ Death Below Stairs
Jennifer Ashley. Berkley Prime Crime, $15
trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-399-58551-7
Set in 1881, this exceptional series
launch from Ashley (the Shifters
Unbound series) introduces Kat
Holloway, a brilliant cook employed in the
lavish London home of Lord Rankin. The
cast of distinctive, well-drawn characters
includes Lady Cynthia, Lord Rankin’s
cross-dressing sister, who embodies the
plight of Victorian women forced into
