When I saw the title of this book, I had to ask myself if I knew what a " green baize" door was. Well after a look into the word, I knew that I had no idea that such a thing existed! Do you know what a Green Baize door is?
Well, I love historical novels and this one fits into that category perfectly. Now for your own sake and a bit of education a " Green Baize" door is a simple door frame that was tacked with cloth, most often green in color. It was a door that separated the "Master's quarters" from the servants or staff quarters in the most stately homes.
In this story The Green Baize Door is thrown wide open when the elderly housekeeper is found murdered! It's the first day of the new century (1900's). And for this family living in the Chestnut Hills of New England, life has just taken a wild turn and no one knows who could have done this.
Oh there are the regular list of suspects, but both Marie Chevalier (the elderly woman's granddaughter) and James Lett (the owner's son) have very different ideas in who could be capable and for what end!
The Green Baize Door is an interesting historical tale that will take you through the early times when millionaires were made and family history was being written. The north was home to many that had been slaves in the south. Making money was still hard for the migrants from the south, but even harder sometimes due to no fault of their own.
Marie's love for her grandmother would not allow her to stop looking and wondering what had happened. Was someone in her family able to do something like this or was it someone of "means" that took some kind of exception to her grandmother?
Marie is determined to find out!
James Lett on the other hand, doesn't like that a dark cloud of suspicion has fallen on his family and their good name. So he is also on the hunt for whoever could have done this nasty deed. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of discrimination happening and the police are not in any hurry to find the killer of an elderly black woman servant.
I think that anyone who enjoys historical novels will find this book eye opening in so many ways. It was an enjoyable read for me and I think Eleanor Birney did a masterful job with The Green Baize Door and at bringing out the many ways that our history has had an impact on people's lives for generations.. It is worth reading and I bet you'll learn something new as well.
