Lady Can Do

New York: Grosset & Dunlap. Near Fine in Very Good+ dj. (c.1929). Reprint. Hardcover. [nice clean book with minimal wear; jacket shows a bit of edgewear, a couple of tiny closed tears]. Mystery novel about a young social secretary/companion for the wife of a "rich Orientalist," who arrives at the couple's home in the country (a bit outside NYC, although we're not told in precisely which direction) to take her duties -- which arrangement is immediately upset when the gentleman is found brutally murdered the very next morning. Elsie, who's described by others and herself as "the mental type," takes a keen interest in the investigation, which eventually leads her back into the city and into Darkest Chinatown in search of a solution to the murder. (There are lots of Chinamen in this storyAccording to his New York Times obituary, Merwin (1874-1936) was an "ardent chamption of women's rights," and indeed his fiction is populated with spunky working girls like Elsie Penn. This one, however, didn't spawn any follow-ups, and remains the only Exploit of Elsie. The wrap-around jacket art shows her commanding the rapt attention of a roomful of men. .