The Girl on the Doorstep

Berkshires Cozy Mystery #2

by ANDREA KRESS

The jazz singer Lulu has plenty of admirers. So, who would want to kill her? Too many suspects, too little time.

Lulu Evans makes quite a splash at the Mountain Aire hotel in 1931 when she fills in for her cousin. Not only is her performance jazzy and sexy, it delights the band director who sees financial success in his future. She also attracts the attention of a vacationing business mogul eager to back her, a Broadway producer looking for a new star, a struggling playwright in search of a muse, and a gaggle of lovestruck teenage boys.

Success breeds jealousy and rivalries and one morning Lulu is found dead on the doorstep of one of her admirers. Nurse Aggie Burnside is called to help the doctor determine the cause of death but she can’t help herself from investigating who could have killed the young woman.

Can Aggie sort through the bogus alibis and motivations and get justice?

The Girl on the Doorstep is the fast-paced second book in the Berkshires Cozy mystery series. If you like good-hearted heroines, delightful doses of humor, and smart surprises, then you’ll love Andrea Kress’s classic whodunnit.

284 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 20, 2021

About the author

Hooked on mysteries at an early age by Nancy Drew, Andrea blasted her way through all the Golden Age authors. Her work is reminiscent of that genre with an inquisitive amateur sleuth, a puzzling murder, a slew of suspects, multiple motives, a few red herrings and a surprise ending.

The BERKSHIRES COZY MYSTERY Series features Aggie Burnside, a young nurse and amateur sleuth trying to figure out whodunnit in 1930s small town Massachusetts. There are 9 books.

The MASSACHUSETTS COZY MYSTERY series has Amanda, Aggie's cousin, solving mysteries in the neighborhoods of Boston. There are 9 books.

The CAROLINA COZY MYSTERY series is a contemporary collection of 3 books.

Reviews

[Cece · Rating 3 out of 5]

Body in the Library by Agatha Christie is the model for this episode.

[KathleenWH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indifferent attention to narrative

I read all the books by Andrea Kress in this series. I had previously read all the books in the Beacon Hill series.

Ms Kress is a difficult author to evaluate. She excels when she writes of human interactions such as love for a child or parent or partner, but she treats the mystery aspects of her books with short shrift. For example, in one book, which I shall not name lest I provide a spoiler, there are two brutal murders - only one of which she pays any narrative attention.

This series is far superior to the Beacon Hill books, and for that I give the entire Berkshire series with 4 stars.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second of this series I’ve read. While I enjoyed it, it left me lacking. It bothers me with the way Aggie just casually brushed aside Glenda’s treatment of her . It continues in this book . The stereotypical way women are portrayed continues. Aggie is reduced to a secretary. She’s a nurse but does absolutely no nursing whatsoever.
I think I’m done with this series.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to like this series more than I actually do. I just find it an okay set of stories. Not awful or anything, but I'm not super excited to continue either. The mystery is reminiscent of the Body in the Library, only not as well done. The characters are fine. I do appreciate that it is done in a historical era; we don't get a lot of mysteries set in.

[Velma Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the last book.