Deadly Proof by M.
Louisa Locke
Nate Dawson, an attorney, is engaged to a widow, Annie
Fuller, who owns a boarding house and moonlights part-time as a psychic, Madam
Sybil. The Madam dispenses financial advice, which she gleans from reading the
financial papers, and she is also a skilled bookkeeper.
When Joshua Rashers, owner of a printing company, is found
dead in his office, his body is discovered by his employee, Mrs. Florence
Sullivan. Rashers’ widow, Catherine,
accuses Mrs. Sullivan of having designs on her husband, and killing him in a
rage of passion because she was going to be fired . Nate Dawson is hired to
defend her, but Mrs. Sullivan will not say a word in her defense. She even
refuses to see her husband or her ailing mother.
Dawson’s sister Laura is a typesetter, and helps him to
investigate the crime. Police aren’t looking beyond Mrs. Sullivan for a
culprit. Franklin Griggs, the print shop foreman, says that Florence was a
valued employee and would never have been fired. The victim, who had an eye for
the ladies and exploited his young female apprentices, also undercut
competitors, and was complicit in driving other printing companies out of
business. Orrie Childers, an attractive
young employee, is spreading gossip about the suspects.
During the investigation, Laura crosses paths with Seth
Timmons, a man she had met before. They had both been teachers, but had taken
jobs in the printing business to help make ends meet. They both hoped to attend
the University of California, but will the investigation interfere with their
plans to study for the entrance exams?
Annie is finding it impossible to plan a wedding amid Nate’s
long hours on the case, and not knowing whether their families can travel to
attend.
An absolutely enjoyable mystery. The details of life in 1880
San Francisco are woven into the story so that the reader is transported into
another time and place. Women struggling to gain entrance to the printing
trades, and battling with the shop owners and the unions, lend a rich
background to this tale of murder.
