Review of "The Briar Club: A Historical Novel" by Kate Quinn

It's 1950 and 'Briarwood House' - a four-story, somewhat dilapidated women's boarding house in Washington D.C. - has had countless tenants since the turn of the century, but the dwelling paid little attention until now.



Briarwood House perks up when attractive, 35-year-old Grace March takes a small room on the fourth floor, with a 'kitchenette' consisting of a tiny ice box and a hot plate.



As the house looks on, Grace has a transformative effect on the residence, which is run by Mrs. Nilsson - a crotchety, penny-pinching landlady with two children named Pete and Lina.



Pete is a good-natured 13-year-old boy who helps his mother and does chores at Briarwood House. Pete reads Mickey Spillane crime novels and misses his dad, who left some time ago.



Lina is a nine-year-old girl with a lazy eye and learning problems. Lina enjoys 'Ozzie and Harriet' and likes to bake, but since Lina can't read the recipes very well, her confections are terrible.



When Grace March moves into Briarwood House, she organizes a weekly dinner for the lodgers every Thursday evening, when Mrs. Nilsson is away at her bridge club. The boarders dub themselves 'The Briar Club' and take turns cooking on Graces's hot plate or bringing food.



The women living at Briarwood House are:

➣ Nora Walsh - a twenty-year-old Irish colleen who leaves Briarwood House in slim tailored suits for her job at the National Archives. Nora also moonlights at a restaurant, where she meets a charming gangster who steals her heart. The thorn in Nora's side is her brother Timmy, a married police officer who regularly raids Nora's purse for gambling and drinking money.



➣ Arlene Hupp - a woman with drilling eyes who works for the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Arlene wholeheartedly supports McCarthyism, and frequently rants about 'reds' to the irritation of her housemates. Arlene desperately wants to get married, and constantly schemes to get her boyfriend, FBI agent Harland Adams, to propose.



➣ Felicty Orton (Fliss) - an Englishwoman, trained as a nurse, who's raising her child alone while her physician husband serves in Korea. Fliss seems very put together in her stylish outfits, balancing a bowl of cookie dough on one hip, and her baby Angela on the other. In reality though, Fliss is anxious and exhausted.



➣ Claire Hallett - a sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued, big brassy redhead who's determined to save $8,000 to buy a house of her own. Claire works in the secretarial pool of a senator's office, and isn't above petty thievery to add to her bank account.



➣ Reka Muller - a 70-year-old Hungarian artist and art professor who escaped Nazi German....and was fleeced by the American senator who helped her emigrate. In America, Reka is reduced to shelving books in the Smoot Library, her one pleasure being the occasional excursion to New York City to visit art galleries.



➣ Bea Veretti - Bea was a baseball player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League until an injury ended her career. Bea, now a physical education teacher at Gompers Junior High School, speaks her mind and brooks no nonsense.



➣ Grace March - When Grace takes the top floor room at Briarwood House she tells suspicious Mrs. Nilsson she's a widow. Grace works in the Smoot Library with Reka, and demonstrates her artistic streak by painting vines and flowers on the inside walls of her room in the boarding house. Grace subverts Mrs. Nilsson's rules by smoking in the house, bringing men in after hours, and having 'coed' dinner parties in her room. When cheap Mrs. Nilsson ignores the needs and dreams of her children, Grace subtly steps in there as well.



As time passes, the residents of Briarwood House, who barely spoke to one another before Grace moved in, become something like a family. The women babysit for Fliss on occasion; assist Bea when she has to teach home economics classes that are waaaay out of her wheelhouse; provide moral support for each other; bake cookies to share; etc.



*****

The book is structured as a murder mystery with flashbacks leading to the fatal day. From Briarwood House, we learn disaster struck on Thanksgiving Day, 1954. "The house flutters its curtains, rattles a door or two, takes another peek into the murder scene on the top floor. The green walls of that particular apartment are painted over with a vast, intricate flowered vine, but you'd be hard pressed to tell what kind of flowers under the blood splatter. This was a very enthusiastic murder, the house muses. Not one moment's hesitation from the hand swinging that blade."

Detectives arrive at Briarwood House to investigate, question witnesses, and try to figure out what happened.



The police inquiry sections alternate with chapters about each of the residents, and we learn every woman's story. For example, we find out how Nora got involved with a gangster, and the progress (or not) of that relationship; we learn that Reka confronts the senator who stole her valuables, and the ramifications of that meeting; we find out Arlene sees communists around every corner, and shares Senator Joseph McCarthy's determination to get rid of them; etc.


Senator Joseph McCarthy

The story reflects the prevailing culture of the 1950s. For instance: women are expected to forego careers to marry and take care of the home; Americans are afraid of the red menace; domestic abuse is swept under the rug; the Korean war is on people's minds; birth control devices are illegal in some states (can you believe it ‽‽); segregation is rampant; jazz clubs - where Black and White people can congregate together - are targets of racists; and more.



There were also winds (or at least breezes) of change in the air, with Senator Margaret Chase Smith going up against Joseph McCarthy; ongoing research to develop birth control pills; hints of the upcoming 'free love' revolution; and other things.

One of my favorite arcs in the book involves Lina's learning to bake, helped by the women in Briarwood House. It's fun and heartwarming to see Lina start to thrive.



As in all good mysteries, there are twists and a surprising denouement.

As an added treat, author Kate Quinn includes recipes for Grace's sun tea and the dishes served at the 'The Briar Club' dinners, including: beef wellington bites; candle salad (which has everyone in stitches); fried chicken; haluski; medovik (8-layer honey cloud cake); ragu; rassolnik; and smoked salmon canapés.


Sun Tea


Beef Wellington Bites


Candle Salad


Fried Chicken


Haluski


Medovik (8-layer honey cloud cake)


Ragu


Rassolnik


Smoked Salmon Canapés

This is a well-researched, well-written book with a compelling storyline. Highly recommended.

 Rating: 5 stars

Review of "A Farewell To Arfs: A Chet and Bernie Mystery" by Spencer Quinn

In this 15th book in the 'Chet and Bernie' series, the detective team investigates a financial scam.

*****

In the Chet and Bernie stories, Bernie Little and his hundred-plus pound dog Chet are partners in the Little Detective Agency in Arizona.



Bernie is a West Point graduate, former police officer, and good at his PI job. Sartorially, Bernie is a fan of Hawaiian shirts, which are loose enough to hide a gun when Bernie's carrying.



Chet is Bernie's invaluable partner, always ready to clamp his jaw on perps and drag them off by the pants.



The books are narrated by Chet, whose somewhat limited vocabulary, unfamiliarity with idioms, and doggie logic set the stage for plenty of smiles.

Bernie and Chet's next door neighbors, Daniel and Edna Parsons, are an elderly couple with a dog named Iggy. Bernie helps out the Parsons from time to time and one of those times is at the core of this story.



Mr. Parsons gets a call from his ex-convict son Billy, who's currently a director at ProCon, an NGO that helps former convicts get back on their feet. Billy asks his dad to loan him two thousand dollars for a few days, to fix a temporary payroll problem.



Mr. Parsons is proud Billy turned his life around, and is happy to lend his son the two grand. But when Mr. Parsons checks his bank account the next morning, ALL his money is gone, the entire $47,600. Bernie and Chet take Mr. Parsons to the bank, where they consult a bank manager called Ms. Mendez.



With gentle questioning, Ms. Mendez learns that Mr. Parsons is not familiar with online money transfers, and he gave Billy his password and banking number. One minute later ALL the funds were gone from Mr. Parsons' account, and the cash can't be traced.



Mr. Parsons can't believe his son would steal more than 45 thousand dollars from him, and Bernie and Chet set out to find Billy and see what happened.



Unfortunately, Billy seems to have vanished! Billy's live-in girlfriend doesn't know where he is, and Billy's secretary speculates her boss went off to help an ex-con having a hard time, as he's done before.



The plot thickens, and tragedy strikes, before this swindle is resolved.

In an adjacent storyline, Bernie recently got engaged to his girlfriend, police officer Weatherly Wauneka. When Bernie happens to hear that a perp gave Weatherly a hard time, his masculine hormones kick in, and Bernie races off to rough up the thug.



This infuriates Weatherly, who can fight her own battles, thank you very much!!



Worse yet, the subsequent 'police brutality' charges get Weatherly suspended by the new district attorney - an arrogant woman with an agenda. Will this mishap end Bernie and Weatherly's engagement? Time will tell.

For me, the plot of this novel is too convoluted, but I still enjoyed the book, especially Chet's narration. I'll include a couple of examples of Chet's amusing remarks.

➤ Mr. Parsons is speaking to the banker, Ms. Mendez, and says, "Just let me get my ducks lined up."



Hearing this, Chet observes: Would it be true to say that I was totally on top of things up to this point? No. But no way was I expecting ducks. Where were they? I didn't have to look around for ducks. They have a very distinctive smell - a sort of combo of down pillows and an oven getting opened on Thanksgiving morning - and there wasn't a trace of it here.

➤ When Bernie and Chet are passing a block with self-storage units, Chet notes: A very bothersome fact is that one of those self-storage units is ours. You'll never guess what's inside so I'll tell you. Hawaiian pants stacked floor to ceiling. balled up on shelves, hanging from wall hooks. Hawaiian pants are just like Hawaiian shirts, except for being pants. A lot of guys, Bernie included, love Hawaiian shirts, but it turns out that none, not even one lone dude, loves Hawaiian pants. I still remember the moment Bernie snapped his fingers and said, 'Hawaiian pants! Chet! We're rich! After that a whole boatload of Hawaiian pants arrived....and we didn't sell a single pair.

 


This worries Chet because it contributes to the Little Detective Agency's constant financial problems.



This is a fun mystery and a must-read for fans of the series.

 Rating: 3.5 stars