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The Secret Life of Anna Blanc
(2015)(The first book in the Anna Blanc Mystery series)
A novel by Jennifer Kincheloe
2016 Lefty Award for Best Historical Mystery Novel (nominee)
2016 Macavity Award for Best Historical Novel (nominee)
Anna made a mental list of things that would make her life perfect: her own prisoner; her father's permission to be a matron and to sleep overnight in the jail; matron uniforms designed by Vionnet at the House of Doucet; and a joint assignment with Eve to solve a murder.
It's 1907 Los Angeles. The best future Anna Blanc can hope for is to be married off to the highest bidder. What she really wants to do is use her formidable brain to trap criminals like Sherlock Holmes. So, Anna does what any girl would do in her situation. She buys off her chaperone with heirloom jewelry and uses an alias to secretly get a job as a matron with the Los Angeles Police Department. If the cops find out, she'll get fired; if her father finds out, he'll disown her; and if her fiancé finds out, he'll cancel the wedding. When Anna falls afoul of the police chief's handsome son, hot shot detective Joe Singer, and he discovers her secret identity, Anna must choose—either be the detective she was born to be and risk losing everything or abandon her dreams and leave a killer on the loose.
Genre: Historical Mystery
It's 1907 Los Angeles. The best future Anna Blanc can hope for is to be married off to the highest bidder. What she really wants to do is use her formidable brain to trap criminals like Sherlock Holmes. So, Anna does what any girl would do in her situation. She buys off her chaperone with heirloom jewelry and uses an alias to secretly get a job as a matron with the Los Angeles Police Department. If the cops find out, she'll get fired; if her father finds out, he'll disown her; and if her fiancé finds out, he'll cancel the wedding. When Anna falls afoul of the police chief's handsome son, hot shot detective Joe Singer, and he discovers her secret identity, Anna must choose—either be the detective she was born to be and risk losing everything or abandon her dreams and leave a killer on the loose.
Genre: Historical Mystery
Praise for this book
"The best kind of romp: fast, funny, and fabulous. Anna may be innocent of most of life’s mysteries as she stumbles toward freedom for herself and justice for those around her, but her heart is in the right place—and she’ll steal yours. Jupiter! You’re going to love this book!" - Lori Rader-Day
"Jupiter, what a novel! Jennifer Kincheloe brings turn-of-the-century Los Angeles brilliantly to life in a page-turner that is half The Perils of Pauline and half Nancy Drew. Anna Blanc is a delightfully quirky heroine who will leave you begging for a sequel in this wonderful new series." - Lynne Raimondo
"Anna Blanc is a character for the ages. Not to be confined by manners—society’s demands of perfection, respectability, and restraint for a woman—Anna resists the era she was born into to be fully human and alive. That attitude and spirit alone are worth the read. But it is the attention to historical detail, the spot-on use of 1907 language (I’ll be exclaiming ‘Biscuits!’ from now until forever), and Kincheloe’s skilled plotting talent that really [shines]. . . . The Secret Life of Anna Blanc is a brilliant debut that exceeds the expectation of genre and rushes full force, like Anna herself, into one of the best novels that I’ve read in a long time." - Larry D Sweazy
"A madcap frolic through 1907 Los Angeles, Jennifer Kincheloe’s debut mystery is an addictive read. Both hilarious and tragic, with inconstant suitors, cigarette-smoking suffragettes, and sinful painted ladies aplenty, The Secret Life of Anna Blanc transports you back to a City of Angels that few will recognize today (besides the blazing Santa Ana winds). The plot is tight and clever, and the historical research is quite simply remarkable. But most of all, there’s Anna Blanc herself. . . . One of the most infectiously likable heroines you’ll meet all year." - James W Ziskin
"Jupiter, what a novel! Jennifer Kincheloe brings turn-of-the-century Los Angeles brilliantly to life in a page-turner that is half The Perils of Pauline and half Nancy Drew. Anna Blanc is a delightfully quirky heroine who will leave you begging for a sequel in this wonderful new series." - Lynne Raimondo
"Anna Blanc is a character for the ages. Not to be confined by manners—society’s demands of perfection, respectability, and restraint for a woman—Anna resists the era she was born into to be fully human and alive. That attitude and spirit alone are worth the read. But it is the attention to historical detail, the spot-on use of 1907 language (I’ll be exclaiming ‘Biscuits!’ from now until forever), and Kincheloe’s skilled plotting talent that really [shines]. . . . The Secret Life of Anna Blanc is a brilliant debut that exceeds the expectation of genre and rushes full force, like Anna herself, into one of the best novels that I’ve read in a long time." - Larry D Sweazy
"A madcap frolic through 1907 Los Angeles, Jennifer Kincheloe’s debut mystery is an addictive read. Both hilarious and tragic, with inconstant suitors, cigarette-smoking suffragettes, and sinful painted ladies aplenty, The Secret Life of Anna Blanc transports you back to a City of Angels that few will recognize today (besides the blazing Santa Ana winds). The plot is tight and clever, and the historical research is quite simply remarkable. But most of all, there’s Anna Blanc herself. . . . One of the most infectiously likable heroines you’ll meet all year." - James W Ziskin
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