Shirley Tallman

A new author for me,I have read one book of hers and so enjoyed it that I read a second one. She writes of Sarah Woolson a forthright  and fesity attorney of the nineteenth cantury when women did not become lawyers nor anything else other than wives and mothers. Society did not allow for anything other than the search for a husband. Sarah does not want a husband so is an anomaly in her time and place. She lives in San Francisco with her parents and siblings. Her mother is anxious for her to get married and at 27 it is almost too latefor her  to find a husband. She helps and takes as clients the downtrodden and poor women who have no representation in the court of law.
In the process she solves the mystery and murders that take place and for the accused who have no attorney that will represeent them. In the book I just read The Russian Hill Murders she takes on a Chinese cook as a client at the request of the powerful Tong leader and defends him from the accusation of murder. It is her first criminal trial and she meets opposition on nearly all sides. She has at the same time another client, a young mother  who is in dire straits and Sarah attempts to make her life more fruitful , safe and happier.
The setting and the time period make this story very interesting as it is well researched and appropriate to the times. The story has a exciting twist at the end  and keeps you reading until then.