Description
In the fashionable mansions on Chestnut Hill, a simple green baize door separates the masters’ world from the servants’. That door is thrown wide when an elderly housekeeper is found brutally murdered on the first day of the new century. Marie Chevalier, the housekeeper’s poor but ambitious granddaughter, and James Lett, the mansion owner’s kind but indolent son, suspect the killer is connected to one of their families—but which one?
From drawing rooms to alleyways, their separate investigations lead them through the sometimes lavish, sometimes brutal, landscape of turn-of-the-century New England. When long-buried secrets begin to unravel the fragile threads that hold both households together, Marie and James must find a way to bridge the gulf between them—if only to prove that the murderer belongs not to their own world, but to that strange and foreign land on the other side of the green baize door.
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Birney provides the reader with two intertwined mysteries in one.
Philadelphia, November 24, 1899: James (Jamie) Lett is setting out on an inspection tour of his father’s timber processing businesses accompanied by his father’s long-time friend and CFO, Manassas Edmunds. Due to his father’s (a.k.a. The Captain) failing health, this is Jamie’s first official business trip. During the first night, Edmunds mysteriously takes his leave, and the following day Jamie is approached by a mustachioed man demanding, “Do you have the bonds with you?” Knowing nothing regarding the matter, Jamie is able to put him off until the following day, but before he can gain more information, the man is trampled to death by a carriage. For weeks, the CFO does not return to the company.
Christmas Eve, 1899: Meme Alozia, the Creole housekeeper for the Lett family, is found murdered in the Lett home, oddly the only items taken appear to be pocket change and a silver watch. Growing more and more suspicious, Jamie teams with Meme’s granddaughter Marie Chevalier (daughter of fly-by-night, huckster John Chevalier, Meme’s son). Eventually additional characters are drawn into the melee which ensues as the two try to unravel the connections between both whodunits.
This is a well planned and executed murder mystery. There are multiple twists and turns, red herrings, and a surprise ending. The Green Baize Door provides powerful imagery for the entire novel. For those who are not aware, baize is the material used to surface gaming and billiard tables. In this instance, it also serves to divide the manor house servant area from the family. Reminiscent of the emerald-green curtain in The Wizard of Oz, it separates the servants from the imagined amazing, mysterious life enjoyed by the family of the estate. But a peek behind the curtain reveals a life, not so far removed from the hustle of the masses. I greatly enjoyed this novel. It kept me entertained, kept me guessing, and set itself up for a possible sequel. Definitely 5-Stars.
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