This book tricked me. It was in the Fantasy section, so I thought, yeah, I'll try it out. There was nothing Fantasy related in the summary but that happens sometimes. Maybe the Fantasy was subtle. Finished the whole book. Not a speck of Fantasy. Legit Historical Fiction the whole time. Which is not a problem! I love Historical Fiction! But I don't love Historical Fiction when I'm expecting Fantasy. My expectations definitely tempered my enjoyment of this book.
These Shallow Graces follows Jo, a nice girl from a good Manhattan family with a bright future ahead of her--the only one really available for a young girl from a good family in the late 19th century: marriage to a gentleman and babies to follow soon after. But Jo wants more--she wants to be a journalist. She has an innate curiosity that she nurtured by working on her school newspaper (is that a thing a girls school would have had in the 1890s?). But one day, she's called to the office to get the news that her father has died. In a locked room. By bullet wound.
Everyone says it must have been an accident. He was cleaning his gun. But Jo wonders why her father, an experienced hunter and gunman, would clean his gun with bullets in the chamber? He wouldn't. Some are saying it was suicide. But that doesn't ring true either. And when Jo overhears a young journalist discussing his death as murder, she decides he's just the one to help her learn the truth.
By day, Jo is your typical young woman looking for a husband. By night, she's a secret journalist, following leads with Eddie Gallagher and venturing into the seedier parts of town. She meets hustlers, prostitutes, coroners, and crimelords all while maintaining her modesty and falling in love.
Like I said, the book was pretty good. I mean, it was painfully obvious who the culprit was, as were numerous other subplot mysteries, but the characters are engaging and the book was actually pretty funny. Ladies, imagine walking down the street and someone offering you money, repeatedly upping the price and trying to convince you to take it. That happens to Jo and she has no idea the man is actually propositioning her. It's hilarious. And seriously, could Eddie Gallagher be a more perfect for name for a journalist?! The answer is no.
And I was curious about how the author would wrap up the love thing. How could Jo end up with the journalist? Her family would never allow it. And if she did marry him, she would be penniless. WHAT IS THE RIGHT ANSWER? I was very satisfied with the way that ended. Just FYI.
I read this recently for one of my book clubs. I enjoyed it, although I thought it should have been better. It would have benefited from a healthy editing, to reduce some of the redundancy in the middle and shorten it somewhat. I think it's more effective as a historical novel than as a mystery, and could be a good transition into Edith Wharton or similar authors. But what really bothered me was that Jo, who was very intelligent and capable, and had aspirations to a career as an investigative journalist, could be so exceedingly dense. She has no idea that anybody but herself could dread the life laid out for young people of wealth; she feels upset about the sales transaction-feel of her impending engagement/marriage, yet has some epiphany when the madam spells it out in just about the same terms...and so on? Even for a young woman who has been so sheltered all her life this seemed a stretch.
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