Review by Booklist Review
Kay Thompson, recently hired as Eleanor Roosevelt's secretary, knows the job will be interesting. But when the beautiful daughter of one of ER's friends is murdered on a train, the position also becomes dangerous. Unlike some books where the famous name in the title plays a secondary role in detecting, here Roosevelt is fully engaged, even overseeing a Christie-like ending when the killer is unmasked. Kay, too, gets her due as an attractive young woman trying to navigate Washington social and political circles. Yardley does a good job of weaving historical backstories into the narrative, richly fleshing out the people and issues of the day. Kay and Eleanor make a smart team, expect to see more of them.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The pseudonymous Yardley debuts with an exciting historical series launch featuring former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1951, Susan Meyer is found dead in a train car bathroom in Washington, D.C. Roosevelt was scheduled to meet Susan--the daughter of her friend, German scientist Elsa Meyer--at Union Station and discuss why she's been absent from work for the last several weeks. Instead, Roosevelt finds a crime scene, which rattles her 25-year-old secretary, Kay Thompson, more than the former first lady herself. Distrustful of the police assigned to handle the case, Roosevelt pursues her own inquiry into Susan's death, with Kay's help. The pair's investigation soon uncovers a shadowy network of men passing atomic secrets between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and their propensity for using and abandoning beautiful women. Kay is a spirited reader surrogate, and Yardley makes clever use of historical figures including JFK and journalist Lorena Hickok, who was rumored to be Roosevelt's lover. Roosevelt is the book's center of gravity, however, and Yardley renders her beautifully: tested by loss and personal pain, politically savvy, and attuned to the suffering at the mystery's core, she's an unforgettable sleuth. This series is off to a strong start. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (Feb.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Eleanor Roosevelt's temporary secretary finds that solving murders is part of her duties. When she starts working for Mrs. Roosevelt in 1951, Kay Thompson thinks her job will be interesting and possibly glamorous. Little does she know. Her world changes when she and her employer open the door of a washroom on theRoyal Blue train standing in Washington's Union Station and find the body of a young woman Mrs. Roosevelt had been searching for. Elsa Meyer, an atomic scientist living in Sweden, had asked Mrs. Roosevelt to try to find her daughter, Susan, because she was afraid Susan had been recruited by the Soviets. Kay, who quickly learns that the former first lady is tough as nails, still worries that the State Department will be furious because Kay failed to keep her out of trouble. She notices that whoever was in the room with Susan was wearing the distinctive and expensive Caswell-Massey Number Six cologne, ruling out the porter as a leading suspect. Going to call the police, Kay sees a distinctive-looking man and an exhausted woman with an unruly child who'll play important roles. When the police arrive in the form of handsome Det. Timothy O'Malley and his rude and racist partner, Det. Barlow, Mrs. Roosevelt explains that Susan had been using the name Susie Taylor, wanted to be an actress, had a lover, and may have been involved in espionage. So, which of those entanglements provided the motive for her murder? Sleuthing with Mrs. Roosevelt makes Kay, whose sole previous ambition was to find an attractive, well-off man to marry, completely change her goals. An engrossing story set in an era of communist hysteria. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
