The Riddle of the River - Vanessa Weatherburn #4 (Paperback)

The 19th century is drawing to a close, and though Vanessa Weatherburn is still quite young, she's seen a lot of changes, particularly as concern the role of women. The stiff, elaborate bustles that were de rigeur when Vanessa first arrived in Cam�bridge have given way to less constricting skirts, and women are finding themselves less constricted in other ways as well. Vanessa's passion for science and mathematics, once an embarrassing oddity, is now quite nearly fashionable. And her work as a private investigator need no longer be presented as a personal hobby: She's actually been asked to help the police with their enquiries.

The enquiry in question concerns the identity of a pretty young woman found drowned in the river like the lovelorn Ophelia. Indeed, Vanessa suspects she may have been an actress, but that raises questions of its own. Not so long ago, "actress" was synonymous with, well, a woman with a past. But today it's said that Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the toast of the London stage, is received in some of the best houses. Have notions of respectability truly changed that much? Or are the newfound female freedoms merely a thin veneer, masking societal expectations that have, in truth, become no less restrictive?