Lost Among The Angels

Alice Duncan, Lost Among The Angels (2006).

I just finished a perky little detective story by Alice Duncan, entitled Lost Among The Angels. It is set in 1920s Los Angeles and details the adventures of the young Mercedes Louise Allcutt. Mercy (as she would rather be called) is all of 21 and has just come west to live with her sister and brother-in-law, after growing up very rich and even more sheltered in Boston. Mercy finds life in L.A. to be a major adjustment, as for instance when her sister insists that she bobs her hair.

“Mother and Father would disown me if I had my hair bobbed,” I said.

“Mother and Father aren’t here.”

Even as she stated the obvious, my heart soared. I told it to stop doing that. Such behavior on its part was extremely unfilial and in very bad taste.

Mercy decides to find employment, not because she needs money, but because she wants to mingle with people in order that she might find grist for the novels she yearns to write. She goes to work for Ernie Templeton, a detective who is as worldly wise as Mercy is naive. They quickly develop strong feelings for one another, a fact which Mercy is reluctant to admit to herself. At one point in the story, after she has just survived a harrowing moment of danger, Ernie affectionately embraces her. Mercy provides narration:

Personally, I didn’t mind the embrace. It showed proper managerial anxiety over the welfare of a person in his employ.

Mercy’s continual incredulity at the modern world around her, coupled with her surprising effectiveness in spite of her naivete, makes this a very fun book. Hopefully it is just the first installment in a very long series.