Anna Blanc, a socialite in 1907 Los Angeles, cannot think of enough ways to try to avoid her very strict father from meddling in her life. She tries to elope, fails miserably, and she lands in jail after being caught in the middle of a suffragette demonstration. Her arrest however proves to be a godsend in disguise. Anna has always avidly read crime novels, and as her father is watching her like an eagle, she is more bored than ever. When she sees an advertisement in the paper for an assistant matron in the Los Angeles Police Department, she needs to get hired. Under an assumed married name, Anna Holmes, she gets the position, but upon hearing that prostitutes are being murdered and the cases are cavalierly dismissed as suicides, Anna is set upon uncovering the murderer and gets herself in a whole lot of hot water, surrounded by beaus who might be the real thing or not.
THE SECRET LIFE OF ANNA BLANC isn't exactly what I expected, given the subdued and quite attractive cover. It has more of a slapstick feel than your average "detecting debutante" historical novel. Ms. Kincheloe's writing is efficient and quite eloquent: her vivid descriptions sharply convey early 20th century visuals; the author possesses a razor-sharp eye for detail, and no one will forget Anna's wig at the very beginning of THE SECRET LIFE OF ANNA BLANC. Ms. Kincheloe doesn't shy away either from the realistic details of everyday life in Victorian America. It's obvious the author meticulously researched the settings for her novel. THE SECRET LIFE OF ANNA BLANC is very fast paced, and there are plot twists that will have the reader reeling as much as Anna. Anna Blanc is not your typical heroine, and THE SECRET LIFE OF ANNA BLANC is a very different historical crime novel.
It's 1907 Los Angeles. Mischievous socialite Anna Blanc is the kind of young woman who devours purloined crime novels—but must disguise them behind covers of more domestically-appropriate reading. She could match wits with Sherlock Holmes, but in her world women are not allowed to hunt criminals. Determined to break free of the era's rigid social roles, Anna buys off the chaperone assigned by her domineering father and, using an alias, takes a job as a police matron with the Los Angeles Police Department. There she discovers a string of brothel murders, which the cops are unwilling to investigate. Seizing her one chance to solve a crime, she takes on the investigation herself. If the police find out, she'll get fired; if her father finds out, he'll disown her; and if her fiancé finds out, he'll cancel the wedding and stop pouring money into her father's collapsing bank. Midway into her investigation, the police chief's son, Joe Singer, learns her true identity. And shortly thereafter she learns about blackmail. Anna must choose—either hunt the villain and risk losing her father, fiancé, and wealth, or abandon her dream and leave the killer on the loose.
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