“She knew it would keep earning interest for quite some time, in terms of cordiality from those who saw her as someone who mattered, and envy from those who couldn’t forgive her social advance. She was sure she’d be able to put both of these responses to advantage for her own aims when the need arose.” (345)
1893. Poland. I can’t imagine working so hard to attain a prominent social standing. I can’t imagine working so diligently to advance my husband’s career. I can imagine being so bored that I might insert myself into a mysterious death investigation…well, maybe, but not today.
How does one go from fundraising for the common good, to advancing one's own place in a caste society? How do the nuns help this cause? The housekeeper? The duchess? How does the resolution of the crimes show that she really does matter? That she has worth beyond being a professor’s wife? How will the community view her detective skills? Who gets left in her wake? Will the status she achieves be enough?
Quid pro quo.
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