Murder in Chinatown (A Gaslight Mystery)

Getting to know all the characters was the best part. Great reads

I love mysteries in old Nw York. This book really shows me New York city in at the turn of the century. Great plot!

I thoroughly enjoy Victoria Thompson's plot lines and characters. She weaves a rich and compelling story in each of her novels.

Victoria Thompson has done it again with the new Murder in Chinatown. This thriller has great character development and is a well written book you'll love from the beginning. Good subplots that make it a fun summer read. I highly recommend.

As the new century brings new hope for many, there remains much of the prejudice especially towards mixed racial couples and their offspring. Perhaps the most scorned mixed couples are that of big strapping Irish females and their smaller Chinese husbands; they met on Ellis Island where both impoverished groups were alone with no opposite gender available from their race. Midwife Sarah Brandt is in Chinatown tending to pregnant Irish expatriate Cora Lee, whose labor pains prove false. Cora's teenage half-Chinese niece Angel rushes inside the apartment to see her. She begs for Cora to help her as her father demands she marry elderly restaurateur Mr. Wong. When she obtains no help from Cora, Angel vanishes. Although Sarah searches for the missing girl, she assumes Angel is a runaway teen. However, when Angel is found dead in a nearby alley, Sarah knows the child had an Irish lover, but not who he is. She asks her friend Detective Frank Malloy to investigate. The latest Gaslight Mystery is terrific although the whodunit comes late and enhances the deep look at early twentieth century racism in New York. The vivid story line brings home the down side of tenement living in the slums as marriages are economic necessities. The final twist will stun the audience, but it is the discerning look at life during the Gaslight era that makes Victoria Thompson's newest historical a must read for sub-genre fans. Harriet Klausner

Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson is the latest entry in the Gaslight mystery series. I've fallen in love with Thompson's tales of Knickerbocker turned midwife Sarah Brandt and her ally Detective Frank Malloy, and while this tale doesn't satisfy on every point, it's definitely a good read. Sarah is summoned to Chinatown to attend the birth of Cora Lee, a Irish girl who's married a Chinese businessman. Sarah soon meets the rest of the Lee family with both its Irish and Chinese roots and sees the effects of American xenophobia. Chinese women are not allowed in the US, so Chinese men marry Irish girls who are hoping for something more than life in a tenement and aren't afraid to face the racism they will face with their mixed marriage. When Cora's biracial niece, Angel, disappears, Sarah does her best to investigate without infuriating Malloy who wants her to stay out of trouble. Sarah's newly acquired daughter Catherine encourages her to watch her own safety as well. Maybe that's why this story has a little less teeth than previous entries. Soon, Angel turns up dead, and Malloy is on the case, both to make sure it is solved in New York's climate of ignoring crimes against minorities and to ensure that Sarah stays out of it. Thompson has created considerable heat between her lead characters in previous books, but in this one, only a few glances are exchanged. Perhaps because Sarah and Malloy are thinking so much about each other, they miss the obvious clues to the real killer, or maybe Thompson is making a statement about how judging purely on appearance can lead to tragic consequences. The climax is powerful as both Malloy and Sarah realize what they have missed. The denouement promises interesting things to come for the Gaslight series. I can only hope for a little more romance and a little more excitement.