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A touch of cozy in Los Angeles, CA, in 1926.
What is the Mercy Allcutt series about?
Coming from the American author Alice Duncan, the Mercy Allcutt series is a historical cozy mystery series set in Los Angeles, California, in 1926.
The story focuses on Mercy Allcutt, a Boston Brahmin who wants to experience life in all its grittiness. That’s what led her to Hollywood to a down-on-his-luck PI named Ernest Templeton.
After learning what a PI is, Mercy is more than intrigued and starts working for Mr. Ernest Templeton, sleuthing in the LA of the 1920s.
How to read the Mercy Allcutt Books in Order?
Every book in the Mercy Allcutt series works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other.
- Lost Among the Angels – Raised in the ivory tower of proper Boston, when well-bred Mercy Allcutt gets a job with Ernest Templeton, Private Investigator, she’s ecstatic. Ernie, a jaded ex-cop, is incredulous. Together, they must cope with a stray child, kidnapping, blackmail, murder, a toy poodle, a vamp, a stalker, Mercy’s overactive imagination, and Ernie’s strong protective streak. Throw in a speakeasy, Chinatown, and a couple of down-and-dirty criminals, and Mercy and Ernie are in for a drama that will put the motion picture industry to shame . . . if they can survive long enough to tell the story.
- Angel’s Flight – Mercy Allcutt is thrilled with her new job as secretary to private investigator Ernie Templeton—until she opens the door and discovers her mother on the doorstep. Known to her friends as Honoria and to her daughters as the Wrath of God, Mrs. Allcutt is the last person on earth whom Mercy wants to see–barring a couple of cold-blooded murderers she’s met in the past few weeks. But more surprises lay ahead for the aspiring sleuth: a couple of phony spiritualists, a Hollywood gossip columnist who gets bumped off during a séance, a semi-famous starlet, and several other colorful characters. Soon Mercy finds herself in very deep waters indeed.
- Fallen Angels – As secretary to private investigator Ernie Templeton, transplanted Bostonian Mercy Allcutt has had some pretty exciting adventures. One hot September afternoon, Mercy sets out to find her wandering boss and discovers not only a corpse, but Ernie bound and gagged. The LA police peg Ernie as the killer, prompting Mercy to prove them wrong.
- Angels of Mercy – Former Boston Brahmin Mercy Allcutt is excited to be renting suites of rooms to deserving working women in her new Bunker Hill home. She considers it an act of good-heartedness, no matter how skeptical her boss, private investigator Ernie Templeton, is about her endeavor. When her housekeeper’s son is arrested for the murder of a Hollywood big-wig, Mercy presses Ernie to solve the case.
- Thanksgiving Angels – Forced to endure a visit with her parents for Thanksgiving, Mercy Allcutt’s week is made even more miserable when she investigates the death of a woman flung from a second-story staircase.
- Angels Adrift – Mercy Allcutt’s imagination is more exciting than her job as secretary to P.I., Ernie Templeton. As usual, she has nothing to do except gaze out the office window overlooking Pasadena and imagine the plots of stories she plans to write someday. Generally, when she watches the alley behind the Figueroa Building, she needs to imagine someone being strangled, today was different. She calls the police to report the murder but the corpse is gone before she hangs up the phone.
- Christmas Angels – Mercy and Lulu visit one of Ernie Templeton’s favorite Chinatown dives, a silken items shop owned by Ernie’s friend, Charley Wu. Their Christmas shopping plans take a chill when they witness a young Chinese woman being dragged kicking and screaming into the shop by its proprietor. Even more chilling is the woman’s plea for help as she passes Lulu and Mercy. When the body of an elderly Chinese man is found in a nearby alley the next day, the police arrest Charley for the murder.
- Hollywood Angels (2023) – January 1927. Mercy Allcutt’s friend, Lulu LaBelle, has an unwelcomed encounter with an alleged talent scout, producer, and director in the burgeoning motion-picture business in Los Angeles. When the philandering producer is found dead in his office, police arrest Lulu when witnesses report seeing Lulu coming and going from the office.
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