In the world of the deaf, emotions are sometimes hard to
express. At the turn of the 20th century, when sign
language was first coming into use, a communication option
that would free the deaf from silence faced staggering
opposition. In Victoria Thompson's latest Gaslight Mystery,
MURDER ON LEXINGTON AVENUE, she explores this conflict in a
suspenseful murder mystery that will have readers holding
their breaths until the very end.
Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy has been called in to
investigate the horrific murder of businessman Nehemiah
Wooten. A prominent member of society and supporter of the
Lexington Avenue School, a school for the deaf which his
daughter Electra attended, Wooten was also a follower of
Alexander Graham Bell's theory that deaf people shouldn't
be allowed to marry another deaf person in fear that their
offspring would also be deaf. Wooten was also known for
being vehemently opposed to his daughter learning sign
language, a view that brought much conflict into his home.
As Malloy investigates the murder, he visits the Wooten
home where he learns that Electra had hoped to secretly
marry her teacher, Adam Oldham, who was also deaf. While
interviewing the family, Mrs. Wooten suddenly goes into
labor, and Malloy calls upon his old friend (and darn good
amateur sleuth), midwife Sarah Brandt, to attend the
surprise delivery -- a surprise made more so by the fact
that Mrs. Wooten was pregnant by her young lover, not the
recently deceased Mr. Wooten.
Scandals galore erupt in this post-Victorian era mystery as
Victoria Thompson once again delights her readers with a
fascinating who-dun-it. As the 12th installment of the
Gaslight Mystery series, MURDER ON LEXINGTON AVENUE once
again pairs up the charming couple of Detective Malloy and
Sarah Brandt as they work together to solve another mystery
in the gas-lit streets of New York City. Thompson's keen
eye for detail give these novels the old-fashioned intrigue
that keeps her readers coming back for more.
When an influential man in the deaf community is murdered,
Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy is assigned the case,
presumably because his own son attends the New York
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. The victim championed the
programs offered by a rival institution with different views
on the deaf, so Malloy suspects the murderer may be
affiliated with his son's school--and reluctantly turns to
midwife Sarah Brandt for assistance.
Finding herself in an unfamiliar world, Sarah must determine
who is innocent before she and Malloy can ever hope to find
the killer.
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