Miss Melville Rides a Tiger

Sure, you could say this is largely Orientalist claptrap, but it's also very diverting! That genteel artist and assassin Miss Melville is back, in a changing New York City where Altman's and Gimbel's have closed. The story begins at Rundle House, a home for pregnant teens that seems to be a front for criminal activity. The pimp of some of the pregnant girls is on the Board of Directors--but don't worry, Miss Melville soon murders him!

I was wondering if Evelyn E. Smith was inspired by the Covenant House scandal but maybe it was a case of life imitating art, because the book says Rundle House wasn't "a well-known institution like Covenant House, where even a run-of-the-mill chain snatching would have gotten headlines." I did do a little show more research, and the Covenant House scandal broke in January 1990 and the sex pest priest retired in February. Bloomingdale's went into bankruptcy in January 1990, which is referenced in the book, and the book is copyrighted 1991. So at some point in the writing or the editing process Smith learned about the shady goings-on at Covenant House, & maybe the coincidence helped make her book more topical. (The book is dedicated to Smith's agent Charlotte Sheedy "with gratitude for her patience and understanding," making it sounds like her manuscript took a long time to finish.)

All this talk about department stores is not irrelevant because the long-awaited murder of the Begum of Gandalfistan takes place in Bloomingdale's.

A big surprise is that there is one more Miss Melville book! Goodreads says it was written in 1993, but it was not published until 2006 (posthumously) and there aren't any reviews. If I do read it, I'll keep you posted! show less

I remember enjoying some Miss Melville books years ago. This one was disappointing.
Susan Melville, who is now rich and still an assassin, is asked to be on the board of directors of a home for wayward girls supported by the family of an old school friend. The home now seems to be a place for prostitutes to stay while pregnant and the organization seems to be involved in illicit activities. The head of a crime family wants Susan to be on the board and to date her; his manner of speaking is picturesque. The sister of Susan's school friend has an easily guessed secret. There is a new young ruler of an imaginary Moslem nation who wants to do good but there is a problem, which Miss Melville fixes by the end of the book.
Susan's travels show more around New York are interesting; I must admit that I've never been in Bloomingdale's in the city. show less