Interestingly enough, while looking up historical mysteries to read, the Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery series by Maia Chance came up. I don’t normally go for giant twists on legendary events (i.e. murder on the Titanic, etc.) because I can’t reconcile the reality with the story. I don’t mind stories that take place and even participate in legendary events as long as they’re kind of outside the story (think Foyle’s War, on this one – Inspector Foyle investigated crimes during WWII, but the results didn’t and wouldn’t have had any direct bearing on the outcome of the war).
In Snow White Red Handed, Ophelia and her friend Pru are engaged as lady’s maids after being fired from their acting jobs in New York. Their employers are on their way to Germany to a freshly-purchased castle to meet with some professors who are researching a mysterious cottage in the woods that folklore says belonged to Snow White. While they’re taking care of their ladies, the two friends are caught in the middle of a murder investigation when the wealthy husband of one of the ladies is killed – via poisoned apple.
Who would be the chief suspects in the murder? Well, the foreign American maids, of course! Pru is soon being kept prisoner in the castle, and Ophelia feels obligated to help her out of it as it was she that suggested acting as maids in the first place. With help from one (handsome) professor, Ophelia looks to clear Pru of the murder before she’s carted off to German prison.
The mystery in this book was cleverly intertwined with fairytale folklore. Artifacts go missing from “Snow White’s Cottage,” dwarves come into play, and a mysterious missing map may help to clear up the mystery of not only the murder but Snow White herself. The academic point of view of the professors is what makes this story. If it was any other attitude, this novel would probably be classified as fantasy rather than a murder mystery. However, chasing down the legend of Snow White makes a fair amount of sense.
While I thought that Snow White’s history was a selling point of this novel, I didn’t really enjoy reading the novel itself. It was told from multiple points of view, and while I didn’t mind Ophelia’s and the professor’s, I disliked reading Pru’s view so much that it was kind of off-putting. She was annoying, impetuous, and whiny, which didn’t sit very well with me. I think it would have been better served to include more “research” on Snow White’s history rather than Pru’s perspective.
I also think that there were a lot of stereotypical characters in this story (mysteriously silent old woman, grumpy servant, etc.), but that was, at least, in keeping with the fairy tale theme. I’m not sure whether I will pursue the second novel or not; this was a leap outside of my comfort zone and I’m just not sure I liked the novel enough to keep up with the series.