Murder on Lenox Hill: A Gaslight Mystery

When a reader buys a historical mystery, she hopes for balance: good writing, an exciting plot, characters she can care about, and a setting that comes alive, giving details about life in another era. All this comes together in MURDER ON LENOX HILL, a Gaslight Mystery by Victoria Thompson. The reader is drawn to Sarah Brandt and cheers for Frank Malloy. We want to know how they'll get on and what they'll do next. The mystery is not secondary to their deepening relationship but woven into it, so that their actions bring them closer to a solution and closer to each other as well. Although Sarah is determined and Frank is protective, they are believably so within the structure of the society they inhabit. It is especially laudable that Sarah does nothing the reader can't imagine her doing, avoiding the "don't go down in the basement" moment so common to some mystery protagonists. She is as practical as a person in her situation would have to be, which is refreshing. All in all, this book is satisfying on every level, giving clues, history, and great characters that the reader will want to get to know better.

Murder on Lenox Hill by Victoria Thompson is the seventh entry in the Gaslight Mystery series starring Sarah Brandt, a New York midwife and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy. This book was probably the most disturbing book in the series so far. The wealthy Linton family asks Sarah to examine their 17-year-old daughter when they suspect that she's pregnant. The girl is mentally disabled and always supervised, so the mystery of who the father is haunts the family. Sarah and Frank work together to track down the rapist. Thompson does a wonderful job of building the story while juggling the long-arcing subplots that have been playing out since the first book.

This is an excellent series, very readable, but what I love most are the period details. The author gives the reader insights into social protocol of the day, which is actually fascinating. (The books are set in turn-of-the-century NYC.) We find out the rules of courtship, of "calling" on friends and acquaintances, and how one would go about snubbing another. It makes for much more interesting than books in which characters rip each others' clothes off immediately or tell each other off with numerous f-bombs. What's particularly impressive is the fact that the author manages to do this without being pedantic. One character, Frank Malloy, comes from an Irish immigrant background and, like most readers, doesn't know these rules - so the explanations are woven in seamlessly.

Enjoyed this book immensly. Highly recomend it . When you think you have it solved, something happens to lead you elsewhere. Will be looking for other books by Victoria Thompson.

Just back from delivering a baby boy, widow midwife Sarah Brandt returns home to the tenement apartment she shares with Maeve and four year old Aggie. Maeve informs her that a respectable looking older gent came by and left her note. Mr. and Mrs. Linton of the Upper East Side Manhattan neighborhood Lenox Hill would like her to visit them at her convenience. Sarah takes the elevated train and a street car to the Lintons' home where they ask her to determine whether their beloved teenage daughter Gracie, who is mentally a young child, is pregnant. Sarah confirms that the teen is six months pregnant, but neither parent can understand when it could have happened because the child is never alone. Sarah asks her friend police detective sergeant Frank Malloy to investigate. Though no crime has been committed and no payment for his services will be remitted, Frank reluctantly agrees. However, someone poisons the minister of the congregation that the Lintons belong to. Frank and Sarah believe there is a link between the homicide and the pregnancy, but everyone connected seems so respectable. Though a Gaslight era mystery, the events of MURDER ON LENOX HILL could have come out of recent headlines. The story line is fast-paced with a strong intrepid protagonist and a powerful deep secondary cast including real figures like Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt. Readers will appreciate the "innocence" of Gracie and root for Sarah to learn who impregnated her and when since she already ruled out the obvious, fatherly incest. This is a tremendous entry in one of the best historical series on the market today and investigating her spouse's murder from four years ago may be next. Harriet Klausner