Sisters Unto Death by Michele Torrey

San Francisco, 1905. After their father was washed overboard during a storm at sea, beautifully exotic Eugenia (16) and Inda (12) seem doomed to live with his hateful family a cold Nob Hill mansion filled with criticism and prejudice towards their Calcuttanese/American heritage. Having stumbled upon a young aunt’s diary, they find diversion in reading its secrets: her lust for life, her beauty as perceived by herself and others, her loves, and family relationships.

Since the aunt is supposed to be in Italy, they find her room and try on her exquisite clothing, then plan a fun evening on the Barbary Coast to relieve their boredom. They narrowly escape the clutches of a brothel owner, and returning home, receive severe reprimand. Returning to the diary, they learn of the aunt’s slow murder by poison by the very woman who hates them, and they now know that their older aunt’s prejudice and meanness towards them is really the best side of her they’ll ever see.

The girls report their reading to the police, but have no evidence. Terrified by the aunt, they accept the help of a family friend who apparently also hates Aunt Mable and believes the girls, but he takes them to Spider Jack, the brothel owner. Now they must escape into the even harsher outside world of the Barbary Coast. Fate lands them in a well-run orphanage, where they are happy to remain in safety, but they are returned to their aunt by well-meaning officials who see her only as their wealthy aunt/provider.

The girls are immediately imprisoned by Mable in the bowels of the mansion in a tiny, pitch-black cell, kept barely alive only because Auntie wants to be custodian of their inheritance. Penelope, an overly class conscious teenage maid, despises them and abets diabolical Mable. The girls escape only because Penelope’s hatred and jealousy drive her into their cell, without Mable’s knowing, to cut off the girls’ beautiful long black hair. She is off guard for a moment...which is enough for Eugenia to act.

With the diary now in Mabel’s possession, the girls must prove to the authorities that there was at least one murder. Therefore, they head to the year-old grave in the garden, which, they believe, contains the remains of Jewel’s pet dog who was poisoned when he ate a goodie prepared by Mable for Jewel. Eugenia digs and is horrified to find Jewel’s body. Mable arrives with a knife to finish the girls off. She toys with them and brags that she buried Jewel alive and also killed her husband’s small son, who every-one believes drowned. Mable lunges for Eugenia who has found Jewel’s letter opener, hidden by Jewel in her sleeve before she died (and recorded in her diary) as a last protection against Mable. Inda whacks Auntie from behind with a shovel and sends her falling into the grave on top of Eugenia, who pushes her off and sees Jewel’s letter opener sticking through her chest.

But the tale is not told until the girls once again have their freedom and take charge of the Apenea. It is clear that they intend to hire a worthy captain, restore the ship and crew and head out to sea as mistresses of their father’s cargo ship, their home.