Molly is just recovering from her own brush with the influenza epidemic that has been raging through New York City when her neighbors Augusta and Elena, or Gus and Sid, invite her to walk in the Easter Parade on behalf of Women's Sufferage. She accepts without hesitation and so begins her next adventure by meeting a group of Vassar alumni. In the group is Emily Boswell, a fellow single, working girl. When Emily finds out Molly is a private detective, she hires her to look into her past. Emily wants to know what really happened to her missionary parents who were reported to have died in China when she was a baby, leaving her to live with a wealthy, distant relation and her cold-hearted husband. Emily invites Molly to attend a the afternoon gathering of a married Vassar friend as a novelty for all parties but it also provides the connection to a new client for Molly. Fanny Poindexter asks Molly to come back for a private conversation and confides she believes her husband may be unfaithful. Molly agrees to investigate and quickly has news to share, but Fanny falls deathly ill and dies before she can deliver her report. Worse is that Molly feels there might be something too convenient about Fanny's sickness, especially when she herself is a near victim of a runaway carriage soon after. Further complicating the issue is a mysterious string of deaths amongst the women who had been at Fanny's get together. They're being attributed to the influenza, but could it be poison instead? Not to mention her frustration in trying to get her young man, Police Captain Daniel Sullivan, to take her concerns seriously. But he has two big criminal cases pending and he has limited time to help Molly. Will Molly be able to discover the truth behind the string of mysterious deaths? Is there some truth being hidden in Emily's past that could change her future? Is Daniel ever going to propose and will Molly want to accept? Take a step back in time and enjoy this eight book in the Molly Murphy series; things only seem to be getting more exciting and interesting.
Irish immigrant Molly Murphy and her New York City
P.I. business are in the midst of a sweeping influenza
epidemic and a fight for womenβs suffrage that lands her in
jail. Her betrothed, Police Captain Daniel Sullivan,Β finds
her, but he hardly has time toΒ bail her out, whatΒ with
Chinese gangsΒ battling for control of a thriving opium
trade. The only consolation Molly can take from her vexing
afternoon in the clink is that it made her some new friends
among the Vassar suffragists---and brought her a pair of new
cases.
For the first, Emily Boswell is convinced her
miserly uncle stole her inheritance and wants Molly to
uncover the truth behind her parentsβ lives and deaths.
Second, EmilyβsΒ college roommate Fanny Poindexter wants
Molly to find proof of her husbandβs philandering so that
she can leave him without one red cent. But when Fanny dies
and her husband claims sheβs a victim of the epidemic,Β itβs
more than MollyβsΒ conscience can take.
Rhys Bowenβs
Agatha and Anthony Award--winning historical series
continues to breathe life into the past with its wit and
charm and its complete sense of early-twentieth-century New
York, which makes In a Gilded CageΒ her most
accomplished mystery yet.
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