Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare. New York : Berkley, [2022]
I am a huge mystery fan, and my favorites are those that fall between cozy and hard boiled, and have a historical element. Miss Aldridge Regrets fills both of those criteria!
Lena Aldridge is a singer in a nightclub who has big dreams of making it big on the stage, but feels stuck in her life. Her father Alfie died recently of tuberculosis, and her best friend Maggie is married to Tommy, a goon who owns the nightclub where she sings. It’s London, 1936, and Lena is multiracial – her father was black and her mother (who left when she was a baby) was white. Because of her lighter skin, she can “pass” as having Spanish or Italian heritage, but is still considered “exotic.”
Charlie Bacon approaches Lena and offers her the job of her dreams – starring in a Broadway musical. He says he’s the friend of Benny Walker, an old friend of her father, who wants to heal the rift between them by offering his daughter a job. Lena has never heard of Benny, and the job seems too good to be true. But when Tommy fires her, then is killed right in front of the stage (poisoned with cyanide), Lena makes the decision to accept his offer and go to New York with Charlie. He has two first class tickets on the Queen Mary leaving in a few days.
When they get on the ocean liner, Lena finds out Charlie has finagled to have them seated at meals with the Parker/Abernathy family, who are rich New Yorkers. The patriarch, Francis, is incapacitated after a stroke. His son, Jack, Jack’s wife Eliza, their two children, Frankie and Carrie, Francis’ nurse Daisy and his doctor Richard Wilding are traveling with him. Charlie tries to sell them on investing in the musical, and wants Lena to flirt with the men, but she feels really uncomfortable. The family obviously is dysfunctional. Francis Parker looks at her very strangely, like she reminds him of someone. Jack and Frankie both exude wealth and privilege, and the bad behavior that sometimes comes along with that. Doctor Wilding seems very boring, although his dry wit makes her laugh. Daisy seems likeable, but she also is having an affair with Jack. Eliza is ignoring the affair, and acts as though she wants to befriend Lena, but Lena’s not sure of her motives. And Carrie, still in school, is the most likeable and the only one Lena really wants to spend time with.
Up in the lounge their second night, Francis Parker dies – from cyanide poisoning. Lena knows if anyone realizes this is the second person in a week who has died in front of her from poisoning, she’ll be arrested on the spot. But what are the chances that two people she knew would be killed from cyanide within a week? Lena doesn’t know who to trust, certainly not the Parker/Abernathy family, who would throw her under the bus in a second if it kept the suspicion off of them. However, the piano player and singer on the ship, Will Goodman, seems like a good man (and is a good-looking man, too). But he isn’t sure about socializing with Lena, reminding her that if she wants to pass, spending time with a man of color isn’t going to do her any favors.
There are several mysteries to unpack in this novel, and vivid descriptions of the clothing, music, food, and atmosphere of the Queen Mary and London that give you a good feel for life in 1936. I didn’t want to put this book down, because I had to know who had killed the two men, and who was setting up Lena to take the fall. There are short chapters from the murderer’s point of view interspersed in the book, which ratchets up the suspense.
I hope Louise Hare continues to write, as this mystery was wonderful!
Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian at Alamance County Public Libraries. She can be reached at madams@alamancelibraries.org.