Deadly Proof

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.