The Secret Life of Anna Blanc

The 1907 Los Angeles setting of this ambitious debut novel holds great potential, which, unfortunately, Kincheloe doesn’t achieve. Anna Blanc, the daughter of a widowed bank president, is pampered and spoiled, but also repressed and frustrated in her desire to break free and experience life. When her elopement is thwarted, she takes a job as a police matron. Dissatisfied with her office duties, Anna decides to go undercover, acting as a self-appointed detective, attempting to unravel a series of prostitute murders, which higher-ups in the LAPD insist are either suicides or accidental deaths. Along the way, she gets into a number of entanglements that descend from adventure to parody and, ultimately, farce. Kinchloe has a knack for creating vivid and effective scenes, but the book’s lack of a single likable or admirable character, including Anna herself, is a handicap. [em]Agent: Neil Blair, Blair Partnership. (Nov.) [/em]