The year is 1912 and ladies maid Jane Prescott is preparing
to travel to
Long Island with the Benchley family for Louise's upcoming
wedding.
Louise is marrying William Tyler, whose uncle, Charles
Tyler, is New
York's Deputy Commissioner. Their wedding will take place at
his grand
home. Alas, everything goes haywire when the Tyler family's
nanny is
found murdered. Was it a kidnapping gone wrong, or a lovers'
tiff?
Charles Tyler has made enemies among the Italian mafia -
could they
have tried to kidnap the baby and the nanny got it the way?
And what
will happen to the wedding now?
DEATH OF A NEW AMERICAN is
the sequel to A DEATH OF NO
IMPORTANCE, a book I've been interested in reading and
definitely
more so now after reading this book. I came to like Jane
Prescott very
much, especially when I learned more about her tragic past,
which
made her a very interesting character. She's not an amateur
sleuth; she's a ladies maid who just happens to be the one
who finds the body.
Jane found Sofia to be a lovely girl and she's saddened by
her death.
With the help of her friend, journalist Michael Behan, she
is trying to
figure out who could have killed her. I found the case
interesting to
follow and the ending very poignant.
DEATH OF A NEW AMERICAN can
definitely be read as a stand-alone. The case in itself is
interesting and
in many ways heartbreaking. I also quite liked getting to
know the
Benchley and the Tylers, and of course, Michael Behan, who
Jane holds
dear. I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series!
Death of a New American by Mariah Fredericks is
the atmospheric, compelling follow-up to the stunning debut
A Death of No Importance, featuring series character,
Jane Prescott.
In 1912, as New York reels from the news of the Titanic
disaster, ladies’ maid Jane Prescott travels to Long
Island with the Benchley family. Their daughter Louise is to
marry William Tyler, at their uncle and aunt’s mansion; the
Tylers are a glamorous, storied couple, their past filled
with travel and adventure. Now, Charles Tyler is known for
putting down New York’s notorious Italian mafia, the Black
Hand, and his wife Alva has settled into domestic life.
As the city visitors adjust to the rhythms of the household,
and plan Louise’s upcoming wedding, Jane quickly befriends
the Tyler children’s nanny, Sofia—a young Italian-American
woman. However, one unusually sultry spring night, Jane is
woken by a scream from the nursery—and rushes in to find
Sofia murdered, and the carefully locked window flung open.
The Tylers believe that this is an attempted kidnapping of
their baby gone wrong; a warning from the criminal
underworld to Charles Tyler. But Jane is asked to help with
the investigation by her friend, journalist Michael Behan,
who knows that she is uniquely placed to see what other
tensions may simmer just below the surface in this wealthy,
secretive household. Was Sofia’s murder fall-out from the
social tensions rife in New York, or could it be a much more
personal crime?