MURDER ON ST. NICHOLAS AVENUE is Book 18 in the
Gaslight Mystery series by the talented Victoria
Thompson. This is a historical detective series, set in
19th century New York City. I always enjoy the details of
how people lived in yesteryear America. The main two
characters, midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant
Frank Malloy, come from different ethnic and social
classes. The murder investigations always involve both the
upper classes as well as the servants or poor working
class. This allows the author to show all walks of life in
the stories, allowing for a great breadth of interesting
facts about society and daily life. These tidbits are
adroitly slipped in amongst the details of the crime and
investigation though, so the lovely details are anything
but dull. Fans of Anne Perry will enjoy this series.
Thompson shares in the Author's Note that her publisher
asked her to do a Christmas story featuring some of the
secondary characters from the series. Long-time fans of the
series will be aware that Sarah Brandt and Frank Malloy
just got married at the end of Book 17, MURDER ON
AMSTERDAM AVENUE. Sarah and Malloy are away on their
honeymoon, leaving Malloy's son and Sarah's adopted
daughter at home with Maeve, the nursemaid who has assisted
them in their many previous investigations. A woman who
knows Malloy's mother stops by his house to beg for
his help for her daughter, who has been arrested for
killing her new husband. The intrepid Maeve believes that
she can help the accused woman while Sarah and Malloy are
out of the country.
Gino Donatelli, a cop who has worked with Malloy and who
is sweet on Maeve, steps in to assist with the
investigation. Sarah Brandt's parents also play a huge
part in working the case. We have seen Sarah's mother play
an increasing role in solving the cases in this series.
Now Sarah's father breaks into the business as well, and is
a surprisingly decent chap about it, given his rather stodgy
(but appropriate for the time period) behavior in books
past. I love the interactions between these main four
characters as they really get to shine with Sarah and
Malloy out of the picture. I didn't even miss
Sarah and Malloy too much, although maybe this is because I
know they will be back for the next book. With an
engrossing mystery, lively characters, and a wealth of
historical detail, Thompson's MURDER ON ST. NICHOLAS AVENUE
is sure to please.
The author of Murder on Amsterdam Avenue returns
to nineteenth-century New York City to find Christmas in
the
air, a police detective and a midwife with love in their
hearts, and a wealthy newlywed with blood on her
hands…
Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy and Sarah
Brandt are not the only ones who have recently tied the
knot. Family friend Mrs. O’Neill was delighted when her
daughter Una wed the seemingly wealthy and charming
Randolph
Pollock. She didn’t wonder why such an affluent man would
want to marry a poor Irish girl, no matter how pretty she
was. But now Mrs. O’Neill has a problem.
Pollock’s
servants have found their employer bludgeoned to death with
Una cradling his body. Rendered mute by the horror of her
husband’s death, Una cannot explain what happened, so the
police have charged her with murder and locked her away in
the Tombs to await trial.
Mrs. O’Neill would like
Frank to investigate the case and save Una, yet with Frank
and Sarah still on their honeymoon, it’s up to the other
members of their newly formed household to do some
detective
work. But solving the mystery behind Pollock’s death means
first discovering the truth about who he really is…
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