Karolina and the Torn Curtain

Zofia Turbotyńska’s maid, Karolina, has gone missing, leaving the house short-staffed in the midst of Easter preparations. Zofia hears the news a body of a murdered woman has been found washed up from the Vistula River and soon discovers the victim to be the same maid who has disappeared. Zofia is shocked and horrified and immediately starts to investigate on her own and soon finds herself in the underbelly of Crakow society, quite far from her own high social standing as the wife of a university professor.

This murder mystery is a bit of Agatha Christie, a bit of cozy mystery, a bit of detective story, and quite a lot of history. The setting is 1895 Crakow, Poland, with a background of human trafficking of young women. The very patriarchal society of the time is reflected but the main character of Zofia delves into this territory and privately marks a way towards some women’s rights by showing her own worth in helping to solve the crime.

One of the interesting aspects of this story that differs from so many is Zofia seemingly has helped solve the crime early in the book and thus carries on with the assumption that justice for Karolina has been served. A year or so later it is determined that perhaps the case hasn’t been solved and she sets off again to investigate. I really like the way this shows the fallibility of our hero and everything does not fall neatly into place as expected.

I also find it interesting how Zofia is basically living a dual life of a socialite and a crime-solving sleuth. Her husband Ignacy has no idea of her investigation as it’s all done behind the scenes. Ignacy has a very traditional view of women’s roles and it might break him to find his wife taking on roles that he deems unsuitable. Zofia’s character promotes the notion of women’s rights without shouting it out. And I suspect due to societal restrictions it’s very much how a woman of that time would have had to behave to avoid public downfall.

I really enjoyed this story although the Polish names might have slowed down my progress as I was trying to mentally pronounce them all. Overall I give this four stars.

I’d like to thank Netgalley and Mariner books for sharing an advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair review.