A Curtain Falls: A Novel (Detective Simon Ziele, 2)

Stefanie Pintoff won an Edgar for In the Shadow of Gotham, her debut novel.. A Curtain Falls is the second in the Detective Simon Ziele mystery series. I'm very used to reading modern day mystery/detective novels that use the latest technologies and methods to pursue the case. It was a treat to go back in time when fingerprinting, graphology and profiling are just being accepted as a possible means to solve a case. A Curtain Falls takes place in New York City in 1906. Although there are references to Ziele's previous case in the first few chapters, it didn't deter me from enjoying this book, but it did whet my appetite for the first case. Two chorus girls, dressed in leading lady finery, are found dead in two different theatres with no apparent means or manner of death. Their bodies are 'staged.' It is only the poetry included with the bodies that link the murders to one killer. Ziele is called in to help his former partner Captain Mulvaney. Pintoff has crafted a careful, well pace mystery in keeping with the time period it is written in. Social mores and stations dictate how the case progresses as much as political machinations. The personal life of Ziele is just as interesting as the case he is pursuing. Isabelle and her father in law Alistair are fascinating characters. The unresolved tension between Isabelle and Simon provides an interesting subplot.Ziele is a character I enjoyed. He is headstrong and sometimes acts before he thinks, but he is honest and forthright. Pintoff has done her homework - the flavour and feel of time is accurately captured and portrayed. I look forward to reading the third book in the series - An Oath of Silence - due out in 2011. Fans of historical mysteries, such as Caleb Carr and Charles Todd, would enjoy this series.

A Curtain Falls is excellent both as taut mystery and as a recreation of early 20th century NY. The author blends in the period details extremely well. The plot is tight and riveting. The characters are interesting and worth following for many more books. I can't wait for another in the series.

In 1904, New York City residents are stunned by the tragic sinking of General Slocum. Like so many locals, NYPD partners detectives Simon Ziele and Declan Mulvaney are impacted by the calamity. Simon's fiancée died with the sinking; he quit the force and left the city moving to Dobson up the Hudson. Declan stayed with NYPD until now in 1906 he is a captain. Needing someone he trusts, Mulvaney asks Ziele, who just watched in disgust a jury set free a spouse killer, to investigate the murder of a Broadway chorus girl; the second such homicide made to look like a suicide near the Garrick Theater on West Thirty-Fifth in the last few weeks. Ziele believes a serial killer is loose. The cops arrest a suspect, but Ziele thinks the wrong man has been brought in. He and criminologist Alistair Sinclair investigate the murders. The latest Ziele historical police procedural (see In the Shadow of Gotham) is an excellent period piece with a strong whodunit. Readers will enjoy the cankerous camaraderie between Ziele and Sinclair who respect each other professionally but also distrust one another personally especially with the former guilt-laden attracted to the latter's widow daughter-in-law. With insight into the beginnings of the Great White Way becoming the American Theater District inside a strong cop case, Stefanie Pintoff provides sub-genre fans with another superb early twentieth century mystery. Harriet Klausner

Dead chorus girls dressed as leading ladies. Cryptic handwritten notes. Scenes of murder displayed for a particular audience. Detective Simon Ziele returns in another harrowing case with New York City's Captain Declan Mulvaney, law enforcement faced with solving the recent murders of chorus girls carefully staged as leading ladies, the cause of death not readily apparent. Ziele and Mulvaney suspect the work of a serial killer in an unfolding scenario where the killer is far too intimate with the police investigation. Ziele is still recovering from the death of his fiancé in the General Slocum steamboat disaster, reluctant to return to New York but for the entreaties of Mulvaney, who appreciates Ziele's investigative talents. As in the former novel, In the Shadow of Gotham, Ziele once more requests the expertise of Alistair Sinclair, a law professor and criminologist. And when a New York newspaper receives a letter from the killer, Ziele and Mulvaney accept unpalatable terms in order to keep the investigation secure, while Sinclair develops a profile of the killer. From the shocking murder scenes of the dead chorus girls to Professor Sinclair's stuffy apartment to the bustle of a newsroom on deadline, Pintoff takes charge of her characters and plot in a taut mystery that is all the more riveting for the era in which it takes place, including the growing suspicion that the murderer is acquainted with his unsuspecting victims. Fingerprinting has become a standard investigative tool, criminal behavior a worthy area for scientific study. And while Ziele trusts Sinclair, he also understands the professor's fascination with the criminal mind and the limited opportunities in which to study such individuals. Desperate to identify the killer before he strikes again, the chapters are charged with menace. Early 20th century New York comes alive in Pintoff's well-written thriller, from Ziele's diligent investigation to the darkened stage where killers lurk, even Simon Ziele isn't immune to sudden violence. Luan Gaines/201