March Roars - Maureen Jennings - Paradise Café Book 4

March Roars
Paradise Café Book 4
Maureen Jennings
Cormorant Books Inc.
ISBN 9781770867246

eISBN 9781770867253

ASIN 

This is the 19th book by Jennings I have read in the last few years. I believe I have read all her fiction that is in print. And this is another excellent book in this this series. It is a continuation of Heat Wave - Paradise Café Book 1, and November Rain Book 2, and book 3 Cold Snap. We are dropped back into a familiar Toronto, not terribly long after the William Murdoch books, or TV Series. This time yet again Charlotte Frayne finds herself in the middle of two cases but one case is related to two people of colour who have been convicted and she is working to prove their innocence. Charlotte is still working as a PI at the T. Gilmore and Associates. Mr. Gilmore is off on a trip abroad. Charlotte is finding out that Toronto the Good is not always so good if you are black. She witnesses some incidents and finds out much more. Yet again her cases cross over with those of Jack Murdoch and the Toronto Constabulary. The Paradise Café continues to be a meeting place and office away from the office for Charlotte. But things are not peaceful in Charlotte’s life. Charlotte has to deal with a strange client, a different client missing, and her grandfather is very ill. 

The story takes place over a few days during a cold March in 1937. The pace is slower than some of the other novels in this series, but it still moves at a good pace. The mysteries are again intense and much in need of unravelling. Charlotte is in the thick of it, working her cases, and assisting the police. 

When I wrote my review of book 1, I stated: “that there was going to be something different about this series, the other three series are all named after the main character, Detective Murdoch Series, Detective Inspector Tom Tyler Series, Christine Morris Series. And yet this series is named after a location, the paradise café. And boy was I right! It was a highly addictive read, like most of Jennings other works!” that sentiment persists, and grows with each new offering in the series. This is a great read in what is an excellent series. It is one that we can only hope will have many more volumes to come. The description of this volume is:

““A grave injustice.” Those are the words in the letter sent to Charlotte Frayne, P.I., on a cold March morning.

The newspapers have reported on the arrest of two Black teenagers in a burglary, but did the pair actually commit the crime? Not according to the letter’s sender, Mrs. Olivia Brodie. A resident of the Toronto House of Industry — “the poor house” — Mrs. Brodie was running an early morning errand when she witnessed, on the morning of the crime, two men behaving in a suspicious manner near the burgled home: two white men.

Meanwhile, Charlotte is investigating another theft — this one at the home of a woman on the opposite end of the social hierarchy. As she juggles her investigations, Charlotte finds unexpected links between people and personal histories, along with more than one “grave injustice.””

This story has a good deal about racial experiences in Toronto at this time, and some significant history around those issues. It does a great job as historical fiction. The characters are masterfully written, and the story is highly addictive. I could hardly put the book down. 

I have greatly enjoyed all the books and series I have read by Jennings. I will always have a special place for William Murdoch, but I now see Charlotte and Jack as amongst my favorite of her characters. I loved this book and this series. It is a great crime mystery historical fiction that I can easily recommend.  

Books by Maureen Jennings:
Detective Murdoch Series:
0.5 Shipwreck
1.0 Except the Dying
2.0 Under the Dragon's Tail
3.0 Poor Tom Is Cold
4.0 Let Loose the Dogs
5.0 Night's Child
6.0 Vices of My Blood
7.0 A Journeyman to Grief
8.0 Let Darkness Bury the Dead
...

Detective Inspector Tom Tyler Series:
1.0 Season of Darkness
2.0 Beware This Boy
3.0 No Known Grave
4.0 Dead Ground in Between
...

Christine Morris Series:
1.0 Does Your Mother Know?
2.0 The K Handshape
...

Paradise Café Series:
1.0 Heat Wave
2.0 November Rain

3.0 Cold Snap

4.0 March Roars 

...

Other books:
The Map of Your Mind: Journeys into Creative Expression
Investigating Murdoch Mysteries: The Official Companion to the Series – with Michelle Ricci and Mir Bahmanyar
...