Murder Wears A Hidden Face

Gilded Age Mystery Book 8

Rosemary Simpson

Kensington Pub

Nov 28^th, 2023

Murder Wears A Hidden Face by Rosemary Simpson is more historical than mystery.  Readers gain the ability to learn about social issues of the time which becomes front and center to the plot that also includes a murder.

“When I first started the series, I had a list of events that I wanted to include, one of which was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 in the US.  I knew I had to send my two protagonists to Chinatown. All my books in the series dealt with historic events or social problems of the era such as the Reconstruction, Jack the Ripper, and abuse of women. I just did not want these as background but as another character in the book.” 

The plot begins with Former Pinkerton detective Geoffrey Hunter and his partner, socialite lawyer Prudence MacKenzie invited to attend an exhibition of Chinese Art Objects at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Unfortunately, they view more than just art as they watch in horror when Peng, the Chinese diplomat, is stabbed to death by an assailant who escapes. Rumors circulate that Peng had fallen out of favor while serving in London making it likely that the family fortune will be confiscated, and the son executed in his place.

“The Peng Family was completely fictional, but I based them on other diplomatic families I read about, mainly in England. The family was wealthy and noble with the father as a diplomat. The Chinese had a diplomat in England before the US. They came to the US under the protection of diplomatic immunity which was lost when the father was murdered.  Although his bones were repatriated back to China. I also put in some cultural aspects of the Chinese.  For example, the mother and daughter had bound feet, something common at that time.  To preserve their aristocratic status the women had to have bound feet.”

Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the family can no longer stay in the US.  They enlist the services of Geoffrey and Prudence and decide to hide in Chinatown with the help of Peng’s estranged brother.  But there is a price, Peng’s son must become his uncle’s apprentice in crime, while his eldest daughter will be forced to marry a Tong leader she has never met. Now it is up to Prudence and Geoffrey to find the killer before the family is found and deported.

“The Chinese Exclusion Act is the only law that is directed against a special ethnic group. It excluded Chinese from emigrating to the US for a ten-year period. There were exceptions for diplomats and academics. The US no longer needed this cheap source of labor, so they excluded this group.”

As in the last few books, both Prudence and Geoffrey are dancing around a relationship.  It was obvious that they cared very much for each other and took their breath away.  “The next book takes place in the theatre section of New York City. It is titled Death Takes the Lead, coming out in November 2024.  It begins with the death of an actor poisoned because he claims to have written a play that will be an enormous success.  Although a very famous actor/producer/director also claims he wrote the play. Prudence has an accident that was almost fatal. She and Geoffrey decide to formalize their relationship after the scare of her almost losing her life.”

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