Cinderella Six Feet Under
A Fairy Tale Mystery, Book #2
By Maia Chance
ISBN#9780425271636
Author Website: Maiachance.com
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Daniele
Synopsis:
Variety hall actress Ophelia Flax’s plan to reunite her friend Prue with her estranged—and allegedly wealthy—mother, Henrietta, is met with a grim surprise. Not only is the marquise’s Paris mansion a mouse-infested ruin, but Henrietta has inexplicably vanished, leaving behind an evasive husband, two sinister stepsisters, and a bullet-riddled corpse in the pumpkin patch decked out in a ball gown and one glass slipper—a corpse that also happens to be a dead ringer for Prue.
Strangely, no one at 15 rue Garenne seems concerned about who plugged this luckless Cinderella or why, so the investigation is left to Ophelia and Prue. It takes them through the labyrinthine maze of the Paris Opera, down the trail of a legendary fairy tale relic, into the confidence of a wily prince charmless, and makes them vulnerable to the secrets of a mysterious couturière with designs of her own on Prue’s ever-twisting family history. (Goodreads)
Review:
I fell in love with the Fairy Tale Mystery series when I read the first installment, Snow White Red-Handed, and eagerly awaited the release of Cinderella Six Feet Under. Unlike anything else currently available in the ever expanding cozy mystery genre, this is a clever mix of historical mystery and fairy tale lore. I was not disappointed in Chase’s sophomore effort, and the series is now ranked among my favorites.
Fresh off of their adventure in Germany (see Snow White Red-Handed), unemployed actresses Ophelia Flax and Prue Bright arrive in Paris in hopes of reuniting Prue with her somewhat estranged mother Henrietta. Ophelia has barely enough money for return passage to New York with hopes of leaving the theater world behind and owning a farmstead…she just needs to deposit Prue first. Discouraged when they are turned away by Prue’s step-sister, they soon have bigger problems on their hands when Prue literally trips over a body in the mansion’s garden. As if finding a corpse is not shock enough, the deceased woman is dressed in a ball gown, missing a shoe, and lying among pumpkins. And she could be Prue’s doppelganger.
This discovery provides admittance to the house where they find Henrietta is missing. The police think that the dead girl is merely a prostitute killed by a local vagrant, and no one else seems to take her demise seriously, so sensible Ophelia takes it upon herself to investigate. Meanwhile in England, Professor Gabriel Penrose, Lord Harrington, reads of the death in the paper identifying the girl as Prue. Gabriel is taken aback by the news, perhaps even more so by the concern for Ophelia’s welfare that he feels, and leaves immediately for Paris. It is a fortunate coincidence that Gabriel recognizes the mansion’s address, quarters that once housed the real Cinderella and might lead to a relic relating to the tale.
Prue is initially kept under wraps in the mansion, learning the skills of housewifery, until a stranger knocks on the kitchen door and snatches her. Lord and Lady Cruthlach, collectors of fairy tale paraphernalia, promise to leave Prue alone if she will steal a book, the Fairy Godmother’s Spell Book, from the mansion. Of course, they desire much more than that, and Prue is kidnapped multiple times.
Once Ophelia and Gabriel meet up, the adventure begins in earnest, and the pair follows clues which take them all over Paris, from the L’Opera de Paris ballet to drawing rooms to less reputable bohemian areas of town to the prince’s ballroom. They meet many likely suspects including Prue’s step-father and step-sisters, the dressmaker, the costume mistress and dance master at the opera house, the prince whom all of the young ladies wish to snag, and the maker of all things mechanical. The pair find themselves in more than one harrowing situation, including being chased by a velocipede, attacked by animatrons, flying bullets, and near drowning. Perhaps most dangerous of all, the unlikely couple find it difficult to squelch their growing feelings for each other. As sometimes happens with budding affairs of the heart, they manage on mucking up the whole thing.
Ophelia and Gabriel are good foils to one another. Where Ophelia knows the tricks of a good disguise, Gabriel is proficient at picking locks. Ophelia’s common sense and scrappy nature can get them out of a bind just as well as Gabriel’s title and funds. Together they make an effective investigative team. Their lively banter and romantic tension keep them fresh and interesting.
The Paris setting is magical. I was transported to the City of Lights right along with them exploring the bowels of the L’Opera de Paris or strolling the rainy streets of the city. I sensed the draft of the dilapidated mansion and heard the scampering of little mice feet.
There are several mysteries at play, and I think Cinderella’s relic that tied them all together was intriguing. The idea that fairy tales are not mere folklore but history is captivating and Gabriel’s passion for them contagious. There are plenty of misdirection and possibilities to keep the reader guessing until the very end. Cinderella Six Feet Under was entertaining from the first word to the last, and I cannot wait to read Ms. Chance’s take on fairy tales in, hopefully, many more mysteries to come. Highly recommended.
