MYSTERY

Vivianna Valentine Goes Up the River

Crooked Lane. (Girl Friday Mystery, Bk. 2). May 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781639102686. $26.99. M
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After Viviana Valentine became a PI and partnered with Tommy Fortuna in their Manhattan business, wealthy debutante Tally Blackstone moved into Viviana’s position as secretary. The firm’s newest client, Buster Beacon, is one of Tally’s acquaintances. A scientist with a sprawling estate in Tarrytown, Buster has been hearing creaks and ghastly sounds in the house and asks the PIs to uncover the cause. When Tommy and Viviana arrive, they find a house full of scientists and wealthy investors, but Buster doesn’t know whom to trust. Within a day, an undercover FBI agent is dead, and the estate is snowed in with a bridge out. Although the investigators try to keep their identities secret, it isn’t long before they have to dig into top-secret Cold War scientific experiments in hopes of uncovering a spy as well as a killer.
VERDICT Some questions are never fully answered in Edwards’s sequel to Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man. Sexist male attitudes toward working women are on full display in this 1950s period piece, which might only appeal to fans of the earlier book.
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