Music and Murder

February 1, 2022
Set in 1925 in Oak Park, Illinois, this engaging story features young, attractive, wealthy Elizabeth Fairchild, whose happy life was nearly destroyed after she lost her husband in the war and, shortly afterwards, lost her unborn baby. Elizabeth tries to focus on the positive, using her wealth to help the needy and to fight gender, ethnic, and racial injustices. Then her dear friend, antiques dealer Mr. Anthony, is brutally murdered. When the police find out that he was originally from Italy, they're quick to arrest another Italian, a local music teacher, for the murder. Elizabeth is convinced the police have the wrong man and publicly vows to find the real killer. With the help of her father plus a handsome young lawyer, Ernest Hemingway's mother, and a sympathetic police officer, she accomplishes just that. A tenacious heroine, an involving plot that reveals the deep prejudices and divisions in 1920s society, and a happy ending make this a good choice for most mystery collections.

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July 24, 2023
Dams’s far-fetched second mystery featuring widowed sleuth Elizabeth Fairchild (after 2021’s Murder in the Park) goes off the rails early. It’s been eight years since Elizabeth’s husband, Will, was killed at the end of WWI and she miscarried their child back home in suburban Illinois. Finally ready to turn over a new leaf, Elizabeth allows herself to be pursued by the free-spirited Fred Wilkins, who invites her to a jazz club in Chicago. She enthusiastically agrees, but their evening is disrupted when a bomb goes off in the building—likely the work of a Ku Klux Klan campaign targeting Black spaces—and nearly kills both of them. Upset that anyone could “go around hurling bombs all over the place with no reprisals,” and by the city government’s laissez-faire attitude toward “the blatant crimes of the bootleggers and gangsters,” Elizabeth is determined to bring the culprits to justice. Helping her out—thanks to a series of improbable contrivances—is none other than Al Capone. Dams fails to anchor the story in either a heightened fantasy world or the gritty real one, and uneasily mixes impassioned social politics with clumsy, coincidence-heavy plotting. Fans of Jazz Age mysteries have plenty of better options. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc.

August 1, 2023
In 1926 Chicago, a wealthy young woman battles the mob and the Klan in the second installment of this character-driven series. Elizabeth Fairchild is a war widow with a large inheritance who lives with her parents in staid Oak Park, Illinois. Although she fears loving again, she falls for lawyer Fred Wilkins, who talks her into going to hear jazz at an illegal speak-easy in Chicago, where she's amazed by the talent of Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines. They leave the Sunset Caf� in a hurry when someone throws a bomb and are drawn into what might be a fight between local gangs and the Klan, which doesn't like white people listening to Black musicians. Fred's wise and steady Aunt Lucy is warned to tell him to "watch out" by an anonymous phone call they assume comes from the Klan, but Elizabeth comes up with a plan to disarm the Klan's suspicion and hatred by smothering the members of their ladies' auxiliary club with niceness and cookies. More practically, Fred suggests that Elizabeth, who's met gangsters before, call on Al Capone to ask him to deal with the Klan. Elizabeth, who's long deferred to her high-strung, unlovable mother, finally loses her temper and decides to move out. With Lucy's help, she looks at apartments but decides that a house will be more suitable for her needs. Before she manages to check out the houses, she's kidnapped by gangsters but manages to escape, an escapade that helps change her mind about marrying Fred. Unfortunately, the Frank Lloyd Wright house that most attracts her is occupied by mob members. A quick marriage and a get-out-of-town plan still leave the newlyweds exposed to danger. An adventurous tale.

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