Heat Wave

Paradise Café is where history meets mystery. In this first book of the series we are introduced to Charlotte Frayne, a junior associate for a private investigator in Toronto. She is a likeable, skilled and intrepid main character who holds her own in a city, society and profession where women have little agency over their own lives.

Set during a record breaking heat wave in 1930's Toronto, residents are hot and on edge and Charlotte finds herself digging into the brutal attack of her boss' wife while he sits at her bedside hoping his wife will recover. Charlotte also takes on a small case for the owner of the Paradise Café, a restaurant known for good, affordable food and staffed by veterans of WWI, and it seems like the two cases may overlap.

I enjoyed how Jennings incorporates historical details and the mindset of the time while still maintaining tension in the mystery. She reveals Toronto's building anti-Semitic sentiment, misogyny, the traumatic impact of WWI on Canadian veterans and the growing unease that the world may experience another world war.

With a well-paced storyline to keep readers riveted and well-drawn characters, including Jack Murdoch (from her Murdoch Mysteries book and TV series - which features swoony Canadian actor Yannick Bisson), this is an engaging mystery and a strong start to a new-to-me series that will appeal to many readers who want a whodunnit in a vibrantly described historical setting.

Note: Look for my review of the upcoming 4th book in the series, March Roars later this week.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Cormorant Books for the complimentary gift of this book which was given in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Maureen Jennings

Genre: Historical Mystery, Canadian

Series: 1st in Paradise Café series

Type and Source: Trade paperback from publisher

Publisher: Cormorant Books

First Published: April 8, 2019

Read: Aug 29 - 31, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: July 1936. Toronto is in the grip of a deadly heat wave. Horses are dropping in the street. Charlotte Frayne is the junior associate in a two-person private-investigation firm owned by T. Gilmore.

Anti-Semitism and murder in "Toronto the Good” in the depths of the Great Depression provide the historical background for this satisfying mystery. The fabric of the City of Toronto is as fully realized in Heat Wave as it is in all the Detective Murdoch books.

A hate-letter is delivered to Charlotte’s boss, who leaves the matter in Charlotte’s hands to investigate. On the same day, Hilliard Taylor, a First World War veteran who, together with three other former prisoners-of-war, operates the Paradise Café, seeks the firm’s assistance in uncovering what he believes is the systematic embezzlement of the Café. These two events, seemingly unrelated, come together and bring to life characters as real to the reader as those of the Detective Murdoch series.