Her Forbidden Knight by Rex Stout

This is the first book by Rex Stout, writer of the Nero Wolfe novels, but is unrelated to those. Set and written in 1914, Lila Williams is a telegraph operator at the Lamartine Hotel, and has a group of admirers called the Erring Knights. When the “Knights” warn off a new admirer named Knowlton, he joins them, only to be banished from the hotel when Lila shows him preference over her other admirers. Meanwhile, someone is apparently using Lila to circulate counterfeit money.

I liked Lila, Knowlton and the counterfeiting plot, but not the “Knights,” who are way too controlling and intrusive, and actually tell Lila that she owes it to them to not actually have feelings for someone. Stout seems to think they’re absurd, but in a cute way, while many of their scenes set off my “Women are not possessions, thank you!” reaction.