The Crimson Rooms

Solicitor Evelyn Gifford remains troubled by the loss of her brother in the Great War. When the mother of his illegitimate child suddenly appears in the London home Evelyn shares with her mother, grandmother, and aunt, there is warranted misgiving about her authenticity. Josephine Bailey is extraordinary as the young, inexperienced attorney who is struggling to gain acceptance among her male peers. Furthermore, Bailey's ability to shift her voice from one dialect to another and from one gender to the other is seamless, making character identification immediate. As the mystery thickens, so does a complicated murder case Evelyn become involved with. Bailey captures the period, the characters, and her listeners with an intelligent performance. B.J.P. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

November 2, 2009
This brisk romantic mystery, set in post-WWI London, begins with a situation worthy of E.M. Forster as Evelyn Gifford and her family receive a visit from a nurse and a young boy who claim to be the wartime lover and child of Evelyn's late brother. Evelyn has little time to ponder the implications: a lawyer in training, she is pressed into service when her firm takes the case of a war veteran accused of murdering his wife and burying her body in the woods (along with all incriminating evidence). Evelyn believes in the man's innocence and tries to unearth new evidence that will exonerate him, but complicating her investigation are Nicholas Thorne, a handsome but engaged attorney whom Evelyn falls for, and the nurse, Meredith, who, having moved in with the Gifford family, begins to force Evelyn out of her settled existence. Despite these distractions, Evelyn doggedly follows a trail of clues leading back to a wartime coverup. In this determinedly old-fashioned novel of tangled mystery and morality, Evelyn makes for a smart and resolutely modest heroine.

June 28, 2010
Set in 1920s London, McMahon's suspenseful story weaves together three seemingly unrelated threads in the life of trailblazing female attorney Evelyn Gifford, as sordid secrets among the city's most influential and respected families come to light. Josephine Bailey does an especially masterful job contrasting the carefree North American speech patterns and boldness of a mysterious Canadian visitor named Meredith with the repressed manner of Evelyn and her relatives. Bailey also nicely captures the indignant determination of young mother Leah Marchant, one of Gifford's down-and-out clients. As the story progresses, keeping track of the characters —particularly the male figures involved in the climactic courtroom showdown—may require some effort, but attentive listeners should find the overall experience both engaging and entertaining. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 2).