A Measure of Madness (Dr. Genevieve Summerford Mystery Series)
Overholt’s mystery features a pair of sleuths who are romantically involved and who both, for different reasons, face family censure. Genevieve Summerford has been raised in a wealthy Protestant background, but her father refuses to tolerate her boyfriend, Simon Shaw. Simon is an Irish Catholic Tammany captain, who was the Summerfords’ stable boy until he and his mother were ignominiously fired, partly due to Genevieve’s immature actions. It’s now 1907, and the couple are enjoying their growing relationship in peace. Genevieve isn’t overtly seeking her father’s approval, but she won’t be able to settle until he finds some redeeming feature in Simon. It’s also high time she met Mrs. Shaw.
When an old family friend’s father falls to his death, Genevieve and Simon do some snooping into the aggressively competitive oyster business owned by the dead man who, according to sons Bartie and Ned, was struggling to keep the business afloat. Compounding this family tragedy, their mother, May, has had a breakdown and is in an asylum. Wearing her psychiatrist hat as attending family physician, Dr. Genevieve calls at the asylum, where she encounters hard-line, old-school Dr. Franklin, who, according to Genevieve, has incorrectly diagnosed the grieving woman. May confides in Genevieve that she heard voices the night her husband died and thinks he was murdered.
The first chapter, where Bartie is introduced with his drunk cousin, Otis, feels awkward because Otis plays no further role in the story. It’s my small gripe and in no way spoiled what is a fine standalone with even-handed plot tension and pacing. Oyster fishing is an unusual subject, and the oyster gathering and processing sections are enlightening. Wide-spread rivalries and competitiveness are tense and revealing, and there’s no shortage of murder suspects. Anticipating another fine Summerford adventure soon.
