VIVIANA VALENTINE GETS HER MAN

As the title suggests, Edwards’ debut is a snappy valentine to a bygone era when people actually talked, or at least wrote, like that.

Viviana Valentine, whose name everyone she meets duly comments on, is girl Friday to Tommy Fortuna, a private eye working out of Hell’s Kitchen in the summer of 1950. Tommy’s latest client is Tallmadge Blackstone, diamond merchant and railroad owner. Blackstone, a formidable figure who’s obviously used to controlling every variable in his world, has run into one he can’t control: his daughter, Tallulah, a debutante barely 18 who shows distinct signs of rejecting her designated fiance, Blackstone’s partner Webber Harrington-Whitley, for no better reason than that he’s three times her age and famously reclusive ever since an accident disfigured him years ago. Asked to keep tabs on Tallulah by accepting a dinner invitation to the Blackstones’ posh digs, Viviana quickly bonds with her quarry, who lends her clothing and confides in her about some of the downsides of being her father’s daughter. Next morning, Viviana reports to Tommy’s office brimful of information to share only to find a stiff on the floor. Closer examination reveals that the unknown man isn’t quite dead, but he clearly won’t be in a position to identify his assailant anytime soon. All this would doubtless be of great interest to Tommy if he hadn’t taken a powder, leaving his girl Friday to the tender mercies of smirking Det. Jake Lawson and 22-year-old Officer Alan Leary. Though the mystery doesn’t seem to be up to much, Edwards sneaks in a raft of twists and complications under your guard, and the big reveal is surprisingly big and revealing.

Just what 1950s men’s magazine fiction would be like if it were written by and about women.