Book Review: The Lady from Burma by Allison Montclair

The Right Sort Marriage Bureau is jogging along nicely, much to the satisfaction of its proprietors, Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, and Miss Iris Sparks. Their personal lives are somewhat in turmoil, however. Gwen’s glide path to full emancipation, manifesting itself in her making decisions for herself and her son Ronnie, has hit a snag. Her conservator is being intransigent; his attitude towards her is belligerent and insulting. Is he trying to manipulate her? Considerable sums of money are involved: Gwen inherited her late husband’s estate but currently has no control over how it’s administered. Her reluctant baby steps into the dating pool are not proving to be particularly successful either. 

Sparks, at the end of The Unkept Woman (Vol. 4) seemed to come to an epiphany about her love life. But now she’s not so sure. Does she want the one she can’t get? How about Archie, the gangster bad boy she’s dating? Perhaps she doesn’t want to date just one gentleman … or does she simply have cold feet about the notion of having an exclusive relationship. Archie is smitten—proof positive: He asks Iris to be his date at a family wedding.

Given these personal challenges, Gwen and Iris welcome the distraction of a challenging request from a new client Their client, Mrs. Remagen, is dying of cancer. She wants The Right Sort Marriage Bureau to find her soon-to-be widower entomologist husband a wife—and she plans to hasten his need for a new wife by committing suicide. Bainbridge has had too close an acquaintance with death and sorrow to take the odd request at face value. She prods and pokes at Mrs. Remagen. Is there no hope of a cure or even remission? Her potential client wearily dismisses options like hope, miracles, and pilgrimages:

“No, I’m not speaking of hope,” said Mrs. Bainbridge. “I lost hope as well, and my time in the sanatorium didn’t restore it to me.”

 

“You were in a sanatorium. I’m so sorry.”

 

“It does beat a coffin.”

 

Mrs. Remagen turned even paler than she had been.

 

“That was harsh,” she said. “If you’re not going to help me—” 

But Mrs. Remagen is wrong. Gwen wants her to fully understand what she may be giving up by relinquishing all hope. She was missing out on seeing her son grow up. While her friends embraced life and love and adventures, Gwen experienced none of that. Not to beat a dead horse, but Gwen tells Mrs. Remagen that we’re all going to die someday and in the meantime, she should “live for the lucid moments” in between the pain of her cancer. Unless Mrs. Remagen promises her she won’t take her own life, Gwen won’t find a new wife for Professor Remagen:

“You are diabolical in your goodness,” said Mrs. Remagen.

 

“Bargain with the Devil, then. We’ll use ink for the contracts, though. There has been too much blood spilled in my life already.”

 

“To help my husband, I must choose to live until I die a natural and painful death. Is that what you’re proposing?”

 

“Yes.”

Mrs. Remagen and the partners hammer out the details and the papers are duly signed.

There’s always something new to learn about the ladies. Who knew Iris was an expert on bugs? Gwen twits her on the reason behind it:

“Your crush at thirteen was a boy named Trevor who grew up to become a naturalist,” said Gwen. “Did your love of creepy crawlies come from that attraction, or was your attraction because you loved creepy crawlies and he did as well?”

 

“The latter,” said Iris. “I still go back to the museum when I can. They’re reopening soon. I read that they’ve acquired a collection of scale insects from Professor Newstead. I’m looking forward to that.”

It’s simply too much of a coincidence that their new client’s husband is a renowned entomologist and that Iris loves “creepy crawlies” and is a proficient amateur naturalist. Soon enough, the various strands of Gwen and Iris’s lives co-mingle in disturbing ways. Mrs. Remagen is found dead in Epping Forest, in what appears to be a suicide. A business card for the Right Sort Marriage Bureau found on Mrs. Remagen’s body leads the local police to their office. The partners convince the eager young policeman that it makes absolutely no sense that Mrs. Remagen would commit suicide. Gwen’s conservator is also found dead, and because Gwen had a ripping row with him, accusing him of stymieing her attempts to achieve financial emancipation, she is a suspect. Given these disturbing events, it’s “once more unto the breach, dear friends” for Gwen and Iris—they take an active part in investigating these mysterious and possibly related deaths.  

Author Allison Montclair recently opined on the relationship between romance, marriage, and murder: Be sure to check out Love Marry Murder .