Publisher: NAL
Published: August 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-0451474896
Genre: Mystery
Format: Print
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by
name and email address: Gina Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com
FOUR HEARTS
Celia
Davies, a nurse in San Francisco of the 1880s walks a fine line between several
worlds, each controversial in its own way.
Working as a nurse is acceptable, however she has her own clinic with no
male doctor to answer to. Her husband
has disappeared and while she has a private investigator looking for him, she
half hopes he is not found. And contrary
to society’s dictates she treats not only the Chinese in their appointed neighbourhood—she
treats prostitutes. return to him—it is one across time. Six years before, while on an archaeological
dig with her father, Lisbeth fell into a well and found herself in ancient
Carthage. There she met, and fell in
love with, Cyprian.
Detective
Nicholas Greaves came west at the end of the Civil War to leave behind his own
painful past. While corruption exists
within the San Francisco Police department Nicholas will not put aside his
ethics and sense of justice. That includes walking the streets of Chinatown
and investigating crimes committed against all of its people, including prostitutes. When a former prostitute is found murdered on
the docks, despite his Captain’s admonitions to leave it alone, Nicholas continues
to investigate.
When
a young Chinese friend of Celia and her cousin, Barbara’s is murdered, Celia is
determined to find the killer. Despite Nicholas’s efforts to dissuade her,
Celia continues to dig to find Li Sha killer.
Even when she and her household are threatened, she continues on her
path. Despite his determination to keep
Celia safe he and Nicholas form a tenuous partnership to find the killer. Can they find him before the murder strikes
again?
Nancy
Herriman’s NO COMFORT FOR THE LOST caught my attention as soon as I saw the
series title: A Mystery of Old San Francisco. Aside from living in the San Francisco Bay
area and having worked in the City for a number of years, the history of the “city
by the bay” has long interested me.
Herriman does not disappoint.
Each
character, including the secondary characters, have multiple layers making each
memorable in their own way. Even Li Sha
who readers meet after she has been killed is fully developed with her own
secrets, needs and desires. As her story
unfolds you come to know her and feel the anger at her senseless killing.
Nicholas
and Celia have many layers and despite getting to know them in NO COMFORT FOR
THE LOST, you can see there is still much more to them—things that will undoubtedly
be revealed in the books that follow.
Addie, the Irish housekeeper with her husband hunt was a wonderful
addition—hopefully she will not settle on a suitor too soon because of how fun
her current “search” for a beau is going.
I
didn’t warm up to Celia’s cousin Barbara mainly because of the constant
reminders of how fragile she was. She is supposed to be a teen, but her age isn’t
clear and the direct mention of her being a teen doesn’t come until almost the
end of the book. The turn off on the character
came not so much because she was fragile and sensitive but because of the constant
reminders of it. After the first 20
reminders I got it; after the next 20 it was old and I didn’t really care what
happened to her. Her role in the
mystery, however, was nicely done.
Herriman
does a wonderful job of weaving together San Francisco during its early years,
the histories of the two main characters and a mystery that kept me guessing
until the very end who did it.
NO
COMFORT FOR THE LOST is definitely one to add to your must read list.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
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