“Death in Lacquer Red by Jeanne M. Dams is the first entry in the Hilda Johansson series about a Swedish maid in 1900 South Bend, Indiana. This doesn't sound like an interesting premise for a mystery series, but Hilda is a strong, sympathetic character. When Hilda stumbles upon the body of the next door neighbor, she's drawn into a murder that's implicating foreigners by a police force that wants to quickly hush up the death. Hilda has an overblown sense of justice and wants to prove that the...”

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