A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

When Annie Fuller's husband left her a widow and broke at age 26, she wasn't sure whether she would have to rely on the "charity" of her in-laws or find another way to survive. In Maids of Misfortune by M. Louisa Locke, Annie luckily inherits a house in San Francisco from her deceased aunt and moves across the country.

Turning the house into a respectable boarding house saves her until she receives Hiram Driscoll's letter. He claims to have lent her husband $300, but now with compounded interest, the amount has grown to $1,380 and he wants to be repaid soon. Annie believes she has no hope except to sell her house.

To augment her income from the boarding house, Annie has been posing as Madam Sibyl, a clairvoyant. When her favorite client Matthew Voss dies unexpectedly, she learns his assets are missing. She knows this is not true because she has helped him invest and decides to investigate. She goes undercover as a maid in the Voss household to try to find the killer and Matthew's missing assets.

The family lawyer Nathaniel Dawson, despite his better judgment, abets her plan to investigate with scary results.

Maids of Misfortune offers a glimpse of life for women in Victorian California. I look forward to other books in this series. For books by M. Louisa Locke, click here.