Heat Wave by Maureen Jennings

(43. - 1182.) Heat Wave by Maureen Jennings - Miss Charlotte Frayne is employed at T. Gilmore and Associates, Private Investigators, as the sole associate, “secretary and general dogsbody”. She wears her ‘uniform’, a white cotton blouse with long sleeves and a prim collar, and a navy blue linen skirt” even inn the 90F degree heat of a Toronto summer. She is on “the disconcerting side of thirty”. It is 1936.

Her employer, Mr. T. Gilmore, receives a letter privately dropped into their letter box. It says:

FILTHY COMMIE JEW. YOU DESERVE TO DIE.

Below there are “drawings of rats with vicious teeth. Each had a knife protruding from its side.”

Miss Frayne is a clever young woman with wit about her. She is enjoying private investigation. She is not fond of the “domestic situations” cases, their gathering of evidence for divorces but recognizes they are “lucrative”. More appealing are the cases reuniting people with “beloved pets, cherished jewellery, even lost relatives”.

She has made a personal study of door knocks. She confidently predicts male v. female knockers.

Mr. Gilmore’s wife, Ida, is attacked in their home and severely injured. He is the primary suspect.

Mr. Hilliard Taylor, one of the owners of the Paradise Cafe on Queen Street consults her while Mr. Gilmore is out of the office. Hill suspects someone is stealing from the cafe.

In an age where “air coolers” are rare, the fierce heat and high humidity dominate every waking and sleeping moment:

The temperature had climbed even higher, and I felt as if I was trying to suck oxygen from air reluctant to yield it up.

In a striking scene she saves an overheated dray horse from dying with cloth sacks soaked in a horse trough and buckets of water slowly poured upon the horse. In the process, she is overcome by the heat:

…. A wave of dizziness swept over me and I staggered against the dray. Hilliard was beside me at once.

“Hey, you need to sit down,” He half carried me to the tree, and I sank to the ground. “Hold on,” He grabbed one of the buckets. There was some water left in the bottom, and unceremoniously he poured it over my head.

Fans in the cafe provide customers and staff with a breath of relief from the heat.

I have spent time in Toronto during the summer, especially August, when the heat and humidity would leave me sweating and almost short of breath after walking a block. From higher buildings, when looking down, you could see the pollution in the air.

Charlotte diligently pursues both investigations. She is a thorough person alert to nuance and discrepancy.

I was surprised when one of the lead detectives is Detective Jack Murdoch. (The author gained fame with an earlier series set at the end of the Victorian era with Detective William Murdoch.)

The Paradise Cafe is owned by a quartet of WW I veterans who met while prisoners of war. Each still bears the trauma of their wartime experiences.

The owners seek to provide good food at the best price possible for the many Torontonians with only a bit of money. For 35 cents on Camp day (in memory of the fare they ate in the war) a diner gets an hour to eat a four course meal - potato soup, shepherd’s pie with 2 green vegetables, apple and beet or dandelion salad and either trench pudding or Eccles cake or chocolate biscuit for dessert. Coffee or tea are included. An extra slice of bread with dripping or parsnip marmalade costs 5 cents.

Charlotte goes undercover as a waitress at the Cafe.

The risk for Mr. Gilmore rises when his wife dies of her injuries.

The book takes readers into the political extremes of the 1930’s.

Toronto, oft perceived as Toronto “the Good” at that time, has strong undercurrents swirling through the city.

It is a good book with good characters and a solid story. Jennings is adept at moving the plot at a steady pace. I do think Charlotte and Detective Murdoch may have an unrevealed flaw or two. I plan to read more of Charlotte’s adventures.

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Jennings, Maureen - (2015) - No Known Grave