Eugenia Lovett West. Firewall. SparkPress, 2019.

Emma Streat’s godmother Caroline Vogt is beginning to show signs of dementia. At the same time, Mrs. Vogt received an anonymous blackmail note. Married four times, she is also trying to get her widowed goddaughter interested in men. The reader soon learns that there is more going on than Emma is letting on to Caroline.

Firewall involves the upper classes, the heirs of the Gilded Age. Mrs. Vogt is old New York money and an art collector. Emma’s onetime boyfriend belongs to the House of Lords and has worked for British Intelligence. She rubs elbows with Cyrus Liden, a Silicon Valley billionaire.

Emma tries to help Mrs. Vogt sort out her options, but Mrs. Vogt insists on paying the blackmailer. Mrs. Vogt is convinced that husband number one, who now lives in France, is out to get her. To France Emma goes and gets in deeper. There is also time in England, and much of the action occurs in Italy. She makes stops in Switzerland, Ireland, and Connecticut.

Every turn gets Mrs. Streat deeper and deeper into trouble. Firewall follows the Edward Stratemeyer method—a cliffhanger every two dozen pages or so. (Stratemeyer was the author of the original Rover Boys, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, etc.). It is fun to read for that reason.

The book does run against type in one way. Usually novels like this involving the upper classes tend to cozies with a wry humor—think Peter Wimsey, Drew Farthering, or Emily Hargreaves. This has the characters from the upper crust with the big bucks, but it is quite serious and deadly.

Even though the mystery begins as a personal problem, the crime becomes international in scope. While the story is not political at all, some scenes are more reminiscent of Tom Clancy than Dorothy Sayers. From this reviewer, that is a compliment.

Mrs. Streat may not be the most sympathetic narrator. She is somewhat calculating, but she loves her two sons (i.e., she “saves the cat”). She also clearly loves her godmother and is not especially interested in her money. And she is very well-connected. She knows people. And if she does not know them, she knows people who do.

Firewall keeps moving. At least half a dozen times it appears that Mrs. Streat or her allies have things wrapped up, but there are too many pages left. That means more complications, more adventures, more surprises, more mystery—and more entertainment for the reader.