The book is the first of the Persephone Cole Vintage Mystery Series taking place in the early 1940s. The author is Heather Haven. I read this mystery a couple of years ago. Was it called Persephone Cole and the Halloween Curse (the original title) or The Dagger Before Me? I don’t remember. Was the cover the original one (pictured left) or the new one? Think it was the original, but, I read the book on my Kindle, so I’m not sure.
As I remember the story, I like the first cover the best. Persephone (Percy for short) is big and beautiful—extra large size. She’s a single mother, living with the extended family (space was a problem) and helping her father in his detective business. She’s determined to succeed at her first solo case. It’s in the theater, which is an added complication—since she doesn’t know that much about theater. But, she’s a good faker (she hopes). And so does the reader—pulling for Percy with every page.
There are so many great reviews of this title, I’d like to quote from a couple of them:
Percy is certainly not the stereotypical mother of the 1940s. She’s a tough woman with an attitude big enough to match her 5’11” frame. She possesses a sharp mind and an even sharper tongue. I love the way she handles people, men in particular, who doubt her abilities as a detective. Though she can be brash at times, Percy also knows how to turn on the charm when she needs to. I can just as easily picture her buttering up a potential witness with free food or roughing up a hostile one.
Here’s what another reviewer had to say:
I found Percy engaging. I liked her moxie. Not exactly feminine, people “often remarked that between her wild hair, thin body, and daffy personality, she reminded them of a Dandelion caught in a windstorm.” (I like that word-picture.) Percy does things like: “she popped a nut into her mouth and separated the meat from the shell with her teeth.” Haven offers delightful and “punny” prose: “What color the interior was supposed to be was difficult to say. I’m going with drab.” Or how about this one—when Percy looks up at a man, we read: “It was novel, looking up to someone not standing on a stepladder.”
And here’s my review: Persephone Cole (Percy for short) is a female detective in early 1940s New York during World War II. There’s great historic atmosphere (sweaty because it’s a non-air-conditioned heat spell) dealing with strange accidents in the theater district. She detects undercover as a manager who doesn’t really know that much about managing, but she’s right up there with detecting, including gun-handling. The nicely convoluted plot kept me guessing, and the ending was wholly satisfying. Definitely recommended for readers of historic mystery (with sassy women).
I’m wondering, why the title and cover change? I understand an author wishing to present the best face to her readers. And, since I do love this series, I hope it was a good choice. But I have to ask, which cover and which title do you like?