Cordelia Frances Biddle

Before you ask, yes this author is from "that" Biddle family in Philadelphia. The family may be known mainly for finances and the Main Line, but Cordelia Biddle is an admirable historian and writer. Even if The Conjurer wasn't such a great story, it would be worth reading for its setting in Philadelphia in 1842.

From the very beginning the reader is in the middle of a mysterious disappearance. Two dogs wait faithfully beside the flooding Schuylkill River as it roars past carrying debris as show more large as trees. It is cold and the dogs shiver but refuse to leave the point where they last saw their master, Lemuel Beale. At the Beale mansion his 26 year old daughter Martha and his private secretary Owen Simms await his arrival for a meal.

The most interesting part of the book, and the most maddening to modern women, is the restricted life of the upper class woman contrasted with the hopeless life of the poor and/or black woman. You will be shocked at the fact of 11 year old prostitutes, many of whom had been sold by their fathers, and equally shocked at the way wealthy women lived, or rather existed. They had no say whatsoever in any aspect of their lives and had to obey strict rules of conduct and dress.

I was fascinated also by such historical tidbits as the story of Eastern State Penitentiary which is open to tourists now. Absolute silence was the rule. The men had an indoor cell and an outdoor one, but women only had indoor cells because they were thought to need protection from fresh air and weather. The stench in the place was terrible, partly due to sewage back-up during floods.

There is also the story of The Association for the Care of Colored Orphans created by some of the wealthy women of Philadelphia. They took in 60 orphans at a time and gave them clean quarters, basic education, and good food, but no toys.

The one objection I have to the book is that the solution to the several mysteries comes a little too abruptly as does transformation in major characters. This is a minor quibble though in an otherwise excellent novel.

Highly recommended ebook
Source: Open Road Media/Netgalley show less

This historical mystery is set in Philadelphia in 1842. Martha Beale is the unmarried daughter of Lemuel Beale, a wealthy financier who went out hunting with his dogs and mysteriously disappeared. When mayoral aide, Thomas Kelman, is sent to look into is disappearance, Martha teams up wih him to help discover what happened to her father. Before they can find anything, Kelman asked to investigate a series of murders of young prostitutes. Eusapio Paladino is an Italian who has become the toast show more of Philadelphia society, by fascinating them with his feats of mesmerism, somnambulism, and conjuring. During a seance, he describes the death of the first child which brings him to the attention of investigators. Soon the two stories start to interweave.

This book did a great job of depicting the differences between the rich and the poor of Victorian Philadelphia. The author also did a great job of giving the reader a look at how Victorian women were treated. Many parts of the book were disturbing, especially those related to the lives and deaths of the child prostitutes. I think the flow of the story was a bit slow but the series has so much potential I will definitely read another one in the future. show less

The first 2/3 of the book was interesting, the last 1/3 dragged. I got a good sense of Katharine's early life, her privileged - at least monetarily - upbringing and her stuggle to determine where she would fit in when she decided to devote her life to the church. She started her own order in Bensalem, Pa - and did outreach schools throughout the south and west for black and Indian children, believing the best thing was to give them an education.

A fictional take on the murder of Thomas H. Ince, who's death was famously hushed up. The story takes place in both the present and the past. A young lady searches for answers about her ancestry, and discovers that her grandmother worked for Marion Davies and was in proximity to Ince at the time of his death. The cast of characters is familiar: William Randolph Heart, Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin, Louella Parsons, Elinor Glyn. The setting: the magnificent Hearst Castle. A worthwhile read.