She Be Damned: A Heloise Chancey Mystery

Set in 1863, Tjia’s uneven first novel and series launch introduces courtesan Heloise Chancey, who has worked on and off for a private detective agency over the last 18 months. Sir Thomas Avery, the agency’s head, has been looking into the mutilation murders of four London prostitutes, the savagery of which will remind readers of the crimes of Jack the Ripper; the victims’ occupation has made solving their killings a low priority for the police. But now, a 17-year-old girl from a good family, Eleanor Carter, has disappeared and may have fallen prey to the murderer. Since Eleanor was last seen in a house of ill repute run by a madam who once employed Heloise, Sir Thomas asks Heloise—who in her vanity has considered dyeing her pubic hair—to investigate. In the course of her probe, she encounters an attractive police sergeant with whom she develops a relationship that follows a predictable path. The novelty of having a prostitute as an investigator in Victorian England makes up only in part for the book’s derivative plot. (July)