The Girl at Central

[from review in the Indianapolis News, Aug 14, 1915]

If you like a good detective story, don't overlook "The Girl at Central," by Geraldine Bonner, who has already done good work in previous novels. In this fascinating story, of a mysterious murder and the telephone girl who set herself to solve the mystery, there is originality, keenness, humor and excellent technique. Molly Morgenthau is a combination of Polish Jew and Irish Catholic, and fortunately she combines the best qualities of each of her parents. She is stationed at a small New Jersey town, where the estates near the town are owned by wealthy and aristocratic folk whom she never dreams of meeting, though she does fall romantically in love with one of them -- Jack Reddy. But when Jack is engaged to the beautiful and wealthy Sylvia Hesketh, and when Sylvia is found murdered on the edge of. a wood, a hundred miles from home, Molly sets her wits to work to find out who has done it. She succeeds, too, though not in the way she intended. The plot is well worked out, the characters are natural and interesting -- Molly is especially good, with her slang, her imperfect education, her "east side" point of view, her kind heart and capable brain. The mystery is not solved till just at the last, and when you put down the book, it is with a sigh of pleasude [sic] and satisfaction. You have had no detective, with a red hair in one hand and a slipper in the other, posing as an infallible person, but you have been splendidly entertained, and delighted with your new heroine, the telephone girl.

I've had a number of high school students see the cameo on the cover of The Girl at Central and every one of them's responded with something along the lines of: "I thought she was a gamer.... 'What's up Twitch? It's your girl. Today we're going to be playing Valorant.'" Apparently, an old look, new again. :)

I have been trying find information about Geraldine Bonner, who wrote a number of romances and mysteries in the first two decades of the 20th century, but it's been sparse going so far. Per Wikipedia, she was born on Staten Island and grew up in the mining camps of Colorado. As an adult, she worked as a journalist in San Francisco, authored novels, plays, and magazine pieces, and died in Petaluma in 1930.

The Girl at Central is the first of three mysteries starring Molly Morgenthau, and the review above is right: she's a delight. Molly's second-generation and from the poorer end of immigrant working class -- "raised in an East Side tenement", daughter of a tailor and a maid. She's the proud product of a solid public school education and a home that made up for in love what it lacked in financial security -- "my poor father, most killed with work, and my mother eking things out, doing housecleaning and never a hard word to each other or to me." (45) She's bright, self-reliant, loyal and principled...well, except maybe for the curiosity that leads this "smart little hello girl" into switchboard eavesdropping and ends up "lift[ing her] right into the middle of the Hesketh mystery" (37) and the detective business.

One of the things Molly's experience really highlights is Bonner's sense (perhaps from her own life?) of the relative freedom and independence young working women of the time were able to enjoy. Molly lives on her own, makes all her own decisions, chooses whom she wants to associate with, and develops friendships with men who respect her and come to treat her as a quasi-colleague. When Molly responds to some aspersions cast on wealthy Sylvia Heskith's flirtatiousness with "Excuse me, but I've left my etiquette book on the piano. What's wrong about going to the matinee or lunch?" (22) you get a sense of the confidence of the new century's young women in their right and their ability to challenge old gender norms and chart a new way.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given her author's career, Molly's love interest comes in the form of a crack young reporter, "Soapy" Babbitts, in town to cover the mystery. Babbitts not only thinks Molly lovely, he's proud of her intellect and their efforts to solve the murder are a true partnership. The resolution of the puzzle somewhat underwhelms, but getting there is a really satisfying ride. I've ordered Molly #2, The Black Eagle Mystery.

Flags: Repeated insensitive language used to describe Italian immigrants and a racist expression re. black people.