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MARCH ROARS is the fourth in the Paradise Café series, Maureen Jennings' presentation of Toronto in the 1930's. It is toward the end of the decade, when the iron grip of the Great Depression is easing somewhat and the news from Europe is raising fears of another great war, especially among those who suffered at the front during the previous one. Police Detective Jack Murdoch (William's son) is one such veteran, though he seems to be dealing with his trauma reasonably well. He has been helpful to Charlotte Frayne, the private detective who is the centre character in the series, and the two continue to cooperate when it is useful.
Charlotte is an independent woman, over 30 and unmarried, an age by which she "should" have been married if she weren't to disappear into the category of spinster, generally to be pitied. Charlotte, however, prefers the independence of spinsterdom. Nor is she lacking in sexual contact, as every acceptable spinster was assumed to be. She is living the life she has chosen, making her own living and intervening in situations when she feels she can be of help.
Charlotte's Toronto is not the city of the established classes but of those who, like herself, must provide for themselves on limited incomes. It is also a city populated by many still coping to a greater or lesser degree with two of the great catastrophes of the 20th century–the Great War and the Great Depression. For some, the first of these, though now almost twenty years in the past, is still a present wound; for all, the second, now loosening its grip, still has prompted either aggressive behaviour in some, or, in others, the desire to cooperate in order to alleviate some of the hardship. The Paradise Café of the series name is an example of the second response. It is not quite a soup kitchen, but a restaurant that offers very inexpensive meals in an atmosphere that treats its clientele with respect. Charlotte is closely involved with it and with its general manager.
Charlotte has received a letter from a woman who is a resident of The House of Industry, which despite its name was more generally known as the poorhouse, to advise her about a potential miscarriage of justice. The woman claims to have seen two men leaving the house where a doctor had been assaulted and carrying what appeared to be loot. She was worried because she'd read that two young Negro boys had been arrested for the offense and were facing not just a short jail sentence but of receiving ten strokes of the strap in addition. The witness says that the two whom she saw were grown men and white. She is afraid they may know who she is.
This interview is the opening of a series of events that seem initially unrelated, but will eventually be seen to connect. But crime and detection are not exactly central to the appeal of this novel. Instead, it is Maureen Jennings' ability to construct a view of a past in which the actors are believably decent without resorting to a false optimism and a manipulative happy ending. Although MARCH ROARS appears to draw on two favourite sub-genres of crime fiction, it is neither a cozy nor a girl detective. It is an invitation to maintain hope in dark times.
§ Yvonne Klein is a writer, translator, and retired college English professor who lives in Montreal. She's been editing RTE since 2008.
Reviewed by Yvonne Klein, September 2024
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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