Face of the Enemy

July 16, 2012
Set mostly in December 1941, this disappointing first in a new series from Dobson (Death Without Tenure) and Myers (Her Deadly Mischief) focuses on a group of young women living at a Brooklyn boarding house. Nurse Louise Hunter has her eyes opened to the era’s rampant bigotry when the artist Masako Fumi Oakley, the Japanese-born wife of one of her patients, is interned by the FBI on Ellis Island soon after the Pearl Harbor attack. Masako’s situation becomes more dire after the murder of her art dealer places her under suspicion. Intent on preventing wartime passions from leading to an innocent woman’s conviction, Louise turns for help to her housemate Cabby Ward, an ambitious reporter, and an unusually open-minded cop, Lt. Michael McKenna. Time capsule references (movies, radio, clothing, etc.) do little to compensate for stereotypical characters and an overwrought plot. Agent: Damaris Rowland.

August 15, 2012
The days surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack find New York City gripped by hysteria. Private-duty nurse Louise Hunter moved from Kentucky with her doctor fiance only to be dumped when his mother disapproved. She's outraged when patient Robert Oakley's wife, gentle Japanese artist Masako, is swept up by the FBI and accused of espionage. Masako's art show had recently been shut down by racist demonstrators, and when the body of her art dealer is found under one of her paintings, Masako is accused of murder. One of Louise's Brooklyn housemates, ambitious Cabby Ward, who works for The New York Times, is ready to exploit Masako's problems to get a good story. The German immigrant who owns their house has troubles of her own: Her underage son runs off to enlist to make up for the fact that his missing father is a Nazi. NYPD lieutenant McKenna has to fight the FBI for access to Masako until another of Louise's roommates helps her find a civil liberties lawyer who will take on her case. McKenna is getting pressure from above to charge Masako; Oakley is at death's door in the hospital; and all Masako's paintings have vanished as Louise joins a skeptical McKenna to try to prove Masako innocent. Dobson (Death Without Tenure, 2010, etc.) and Myers (Her Deadly Mischief, 2009, etc.) collaborate to introduce a planned series on wartime New York. Even mystery mavens who spot the villain early on will savor the colorful characters and the evocation of Gotham in the 1940s: the Bund, America First, egg creams, Schrafft's, Horn & Hardart. More, please.

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August 1, 2012

Talk about bad timing: acclaimed Japanese artist Masako Fumi Oakley's show opens just a week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Anti-Japanese fervor is already high and the show closes early; more dramatically, the gallery's owner is murdered, and suspicion falls on the artist. The FBI detains Masako. Louise, a private nurse, is tending to Masako's ailing husband and promises him that she'll try to help his wife. Meanwhile, Louise's roommate, Cabby, a spunky reporter, smells a good story, and she soon runs into investigating NYPD detective McKenna. McKenna is not thrilled with the FBI's style either, and he begrudgingly teams up with Cabby and Louise. The secondary plot involves Louise and Cabby's landlady, a German-born woman haunted by her absentee Nazi husband. VERDICT This winning collaborative debut by Dobson, author of the Professor Karen Pelletier mysteries (Death Without Tenure), and Myers, author of the Baroque series (Her Deadly Mischief), introduces two determined female amateur sleuths operating just as the United States enters World War II. Almost a cozy, this historical comes close to overdosing the reader with both fronts being fought in New York City. Still, shifting points of view, short chapters, and a character-based approach make for a quick read with great YA appeal. Recommend for fans of Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy series and Sarah Shaber's Louise Pearlie mysteries.

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