Thanksgiving Angels by AliceDuncan
1920s. Mercy Allcutt moved to Los Angeles to avoid her upper-crust Bostonian parents. Except they bought a home in Pasadena and invited her to Thanksgiving. Worst holiday ever…until Mrs. Winkworth went splat on the parquet floor. Cozy mystery.
Mercedes Louise Allcutt found a job as Ernest Templeton's secretary. Her parents hated this. Her sister, Chloe, is married to Harvey Nash. Monty Mountjoy and Miss Lola de la Monica are stars at Nash Studio. Monty’s mother is Mrs. Pansy Hanratty, and his grandmother is Mrs. Winkworth. Mrs. Winkworth went splat on the parquet floor in Mercy’s parents’ house. The occasion of Mrs. Winkworth’s murder was a séance by Mrs. Desdemona Majesty, who is engaged to the Pasadena Police Detective Sam Rotondo. Is the murder motive about the Nash Studio or the intergenerational conflict?
MATRIARCHS
This book's theme is the relationship between matriarchs and
everyone else. No one wants to spend time with Mercy’s mother. Regardless, the
murder is at her mother’s house, and most characters end up with a bedroom at
the mansion. Mercy’s P.I. boss gets a guest bedroom on the second floor, while
the suspects are relegated to spare servants' rooms on the third floor. The
murder victim is Monty’s grandmother, and most of the suspects have been abused
by her. She likes to dig up dirt on people and use it to torment them. Mercy abandons
her mother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner to join Mrs. Majesty’s “happy family,”
who play games and sing together.
DOGS
Mercy has a toy poodle named Buttercup. Her friend Daisy’s
dog is a dachshund named Spike. “Dachshunds tend to be a little stubborn.” When
the author denigrates dachshunds, it is an inside joke because she has dachshunds
in real life. Mrs. Hanratty, a dog trainer, recommends English toy spaniels for
Chloe, who is pregnant in this book.
SECRETARIES
As Templeton’s secretary, Mercy takes notes of all interviews using Pitman shorthand and transcribes them on a typewriter. Detective Rotondo has a male police assistant to perform the same task. Mrs. Winkworth employs a male secretary, Delbert Mann, to type her correspondence, which she dictates. He passively-aggressively transcribes everything verbatim.
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