Murder in the Park (An Oak Park Village Mystery Book 1) by Jeanne M. Dams

This review originally appeared in historical novels review

Elizabeth Fairchild is a privileged young woman living at home in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1925 with her overbearing mother and loving but dominated father and is tended to by caring household servants. Elizabeth was widowed at the end of the Great War and then lost the couple’s only child, causing her to retreat into an aloof existence at home, leaving the house rarely, for pursuits like church choir and philanthropy. When a local antiques dealer who is one of Elizabeth’s few friends outside the family is murdered, outrage propels her out of her shell to seek justice.

Oak Park comes alive as Elizabeth follows leads, with nods to its famous sons Ernest Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright, and the rising Prohibition-era influence of Al Capone and the Chicago mob. Elizabeth is determined to right a wrong and finds that her educated, enlightened attitudes towards people of color and for religious tolerance are not shared by all, with the narrative presenting nuanced explanations of sensitivities and intolerances of the time that are instrumental to Elizabeth’s search for the truth. She is portrayed with a breezy politeness as proper as her servings of lemon cookies and tea, and there is a comfortable rhythm to her character arc. Her investigation gathers momentum, and Elizabeth blossoms with her household capabilities (beloved house servant Susannah teaches her how to make coffee and boil potatoes among other kitchen tasks), reengages with a former best friend, enters into a slow-burn romance, and doggedly drives her search to conclusion. Author Jeanne Dams is a prolific mystery writer, most notably with her Dorothy Martin series.