From Publishers Weekly
The author of the popular and acclaimed Dorothy Martin mysteries (Malice in Miniature, etc.) begins a new series featuring a turn-of-the-century Swedish servant woman as sleuth. Hilda Johansson is a maid for the prominent Studebaker family in South Bend, Ind., in the year 1900. Coming home from an outing with her beau, an Irish fireman, Hilda discovers the body of a savagely beaten woman. The dead woman is a missionary lately returned from China and the sister of the Studebakers neighbor, a Republican judge with political ambitions. Impelled to trying to figure out who perpetrated such as brutal crime, Hilda uses South Bends network of servants and immigrants to aid her investigation, fearing that an innocent man might take the blame for the killing. The resolution of the puzzle is a bit slapdash, relying too heavily on coincidence and not enough on real detective work. Hilda is nevertheless an appealing heroine, and Damss rich depiction of South Bend will please historical mystery fans. Mystery Guild main selection. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In her new historical series, Dams (Malice in Miniature, LJ 10/1/98) endows turn-of-the-century South Bend, IN, with vibrant atmosphere and a bright young Swedish immigrant heroine. Hilda Johansson, employed as a housemaid by the wealthy Studebakers, discovers the body of a female missionary in her employer's yard. Though properly horrified and warned by the butler and others to mind her own business, Hilda feels obligated to fight against narrow-minded police and typical social/cultural prejudice as she manages to unearth crucial clues. A piquant but sometimes humorous lookAunderscored by an Upstairs, Downstairs mentalityAat a rapidly changing America, this solid beginning is highly recommended. [Mystery Guild main selection.] Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
From the author of the popular Dorothy Martin mysteries comes the first installment of a series that will delight fans of gentle whodunits. The year is 1900. Hilda Johansson is a young Swedish emigreworking as a servant for the wealthy Studebaker family of South Bend, Indiana. When Hilda stumbles upon a body near the Studebaker residence, she determines to find the real killer and save the man wrongly accused of the crime. Hilda--young, poor, unfamiliar with the English language, but possessed of intelligence and determination--is an engaging, attractive character and refreshingly different from the scores of amateur female sleuths who populate the genre. Dams, who lives in South Bend, has a good grasp of life at the turn of the century and of the class structure that defined society at the time. Although the mystery itself is relatively easy to solve, the world as seen through Hilda's eyes is a slightly unfamiliar place, and readers will have a great time getting to know it. David Pitt


From Kirkus Reviews
The year is 1900, and, in South Bend, Indiana, pretty young Swedish domestic Hilda Johansson works at the Tippecanoe mansion of the Clem Studebaker family. Next door live retired lawyer Judge Harper, his sour-faced wife, and their overindulged attorney son James. Two married daughters also live nearby. Judge Harper's sister Mary is expected home any day from her missionary work in China, where the Boxer Rebellion is making her work dangerous. But not as dangerous, it seems, as life in South Bend, where it's Hildas fate to discover Mary Harper's strangled body while strolling in the park with her policeman boyfriend Patrick. Unimpressed by the efforts of the local police and haunted by nightmares, Hilda, with help from housemaid Norah, begins to investigate on her own, evading the eagle eye of Williams the butler. The drowning death of the Harpers's Polish maid Wanda, a few days later, adds urgency to Hilda's task. The police seem to regard Mr. Kee Long, a visitor from China, as their chief suspect, in the face of a solid alibi. Hilda comes to his rescue, eventually uncovering the murder motive and the close- to-home killer. This maiden outing for straight-arrow, gutsy, and highly likable Hilda is sure to please fans of the author's Dorothy Martin series (Malice in Miniature, 1998, etc.). -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Death in Lacquer Red, Jeanne Danis launches a new series that introduces Hilda Johansson, a young Swedish woman working in the South Bend, Indiana, home of the Studebaker family as the twentieth century begins.. "Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world, religious conflicts, and international unrest, Hilda finds herself facing the typical problems of an immigrant and the demands of a job that is both exhausting and exhilarating. Her struggle to be a good servant is compounded when she discovers, on the Studebaker estate, the body of a woman just returned from missionary work in China. Everyone has a theory. Everyone wants Hilda to stay out of things that don't concern her. But is it possible that she's the only one who can see what the others refuse to even acknowledge?.

FROM THE CRITICS

Chicago Sun-Times

Dams brilliantly crafts a mystery that defies the usual category.

Rocky Mountain News

If you like your mysteries rated G, you'll enjoy this modern Miss Marple.

New York Times Book Review

...Hilda loves life, and the joy the takes in the simple pleasures...is treat enough for now.

Publishers Weekly

The author of the popular and acclaimed Dorothy Martin mysteries (Malice in Miniature, etc.) begins a new series featuring a turn-of-the-century Swedish servant woman as sleuth. Hilda Johansson is a maid for the prominent Studebaker family in South Bend, Ind., in the year 1900. Coming home from an outing with her beau, an Irish fireman, Hilda discovers the body of a savagely beaten woman. The dead woman is a missionary lately returned from China and the sister of the Studebakers neighbor, a Republican judge with political ambitions. Impelled to trying to figure out who perpetrated such as brutal crime, Hilda uses South Bends network of servants and immigrants to aid her investigation, fearing that an innocent man might take the blame for the killing. The resolution of the puzzle is a bit slapdash, relying too heavily on coincidence and not enough on real detective work. Hilda is nevertheless an appealing heroine, and Damss rich depiction of South Bend will please historical mystery fans. Mystery Guild main selection. (May)

Library Journal