Genre Break - Gaslight Mysteries, Volumes Three through Six

Every once in a while, the lure of the wonderful Gaslight Mysteries tempt me away from fantasy to the world of New York City during the waning years of the 19th century. The Gaslight Mysteries are written by Victoria Thompson. I reviewed volumes one through three a few months ago.

I wish Ms. Thompson would give the year that her novels take place. The only historical marker I have is Theodore Roosevelt's tenure as a Police Commissioner in New York City. According to his Wikipedia entry, those years were 1895 to 1897, so these novels take place during those years.

Murder on Washington Square is my favorite of the series so far. There's lots of character development for both Frank and Sarah, and their interest in each other becomes more evident. The romance still proceeds at a glacial pace, because, after all, once you have a Happily Ever After, it would be difficult to continue the story.

In Murder on Washington Square, Sarah's neighbor Nelson Ellsworth finds himself the suspect in the murder of a young woman whom he had been ready to marry. In previous volumes, Mrs. Ellsworth's favorite activity was sweeping her porch so she could keep track of the goings-on of her neighbors. But with reporters crowding her doorstep, looking for the scoop of Mr. Ellsworth, she's in hiding.

Sarah continues her tactic of detection-by-nosiness, although it's not as evident in this book. This dress features a cross-dresser, women who prefer their men married rather than single, and Sarah getting high on opium. Oh, and a kiss.

Murder on Mulberry Bend, by contrast, is my least favorite of the series so far. In this novel, a young woman from the Prodigal Son Mission is murdered in a park wearing Sarah's clothes. By coincidence, a man who helped her previous investigation lost his wife to a fever while she was volunteering at the same mission.

The story of a young woman murdered while wearing Sarah's clothes seemed to have so much potential, especially since Frank is finally beginning to get somewhere with his investigation of Sarah's husband's death. However, the author evidently didn't think of what I hoped for.

The mystery in this novel was very frustrating, and Frank is ordered to terminate the investigation, leaving Sarah much on her own. There are a host of suspects--all kinds of shady characters. It was darker in tone that most of Ms. Thompson's novels, and the progression of the romance between Frank and Sarah comes to a frustrating halt.

Still, it was an enjoyable tale with new characters who return in subsequent books.

In Murder on Marble Row, Ms Thompson is back in her groove with scintillating dialog and humorous situations. It also offers a return to high-society New York--or rather, it's steamy underbelly.

Mr. Gregory Van Dyke has been blown up in his office. Frank is given the job of solving the murder by Commissioner Roosevelt, himself. Mr. Van Dyke's heir, Creighton Van Dyke, is a prime suspect because of his association with "anarchists".

Sarah's mother--of all people--helps Sarah solve this murder. The situations they find themselves in are hilarious, especially when the two of them venture to New York's rough Lower East Side to visit the anarchists. Their stop in the First Street Saloon was especially fun, but it wasn't as fun as Frank Malloy taking the two of them to a chop suey joint for lunch.

Great fun. However, this novel was way too plot heavy with almost no character development.

Which is my only flaw in the series, itself. I read books like this for the characters, not the plots. Alexander McCall Smith is a master of writing character development stories under the guise of mysteries with his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Sure, the mysteries are fun and the whodunits are a blast to guess, but the characters are the true reason I keep coming back.

I have the rest of the books in the series except the last one, but I probably won't read them for another three months or so. I'd love to read them back-to-back, but all the fantasies on my self are calling my name, and I'd better not neglect them for long.

If you like historical mysteries, these are wonderful. If you don't, you might want to try them anyway and like me, discover a new addiction!

Genre Break - Series Review - Gaslight Mysteries

Followers of my Twitter feed will know I've been cheating and reading Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries. Every now and then, I do take what I call a Genre Break, which recharges my fantasy-craving brain cells.

I first learned about this series via Mystery Robin's post on Enduring Romance. After a long delay, I finally bought the first three book in the series and immediately handed them off to a friend, because I knew she would like them as well. Well, she read those books and passed them back to me; then she bought and read the next six books, and passed them all to me as well! And now, I've read the first three books.

These books make me remember why I need to read novels by seasoned authors every once in a while. They are so wonderfully written that I can just utterly lose myself in the story. Debut novels tend to have little annoyances and after reading a long string of them, I get too critical. And the genre of fantasy has its own annoyances--such as the ever-villain and ubiquitous youthful male protagonists--and every now and then, I just need to get away from them for a while.(That isn't to say that mystery doesn't have its own problems, such as the villain monologue and the everlasting romance. But at least those problems are different.)

Sarah Brandt is a midwife during the 1890s. She comes from a background of privilege, having been born to the wealthy Decker family. However, she married a doctor--who her family considered beneath her--and at the start of the series, is estranged from her family due to mysterious circumstances after her husband's death, three years previously.

Frank Malloy is an Irish cop with the New York police department. The police during this time period are famously corrupt, and Malloy seems to fit right in with them. Sarah can hardly stand him, but she pesters him into actually solving the first case that brought them together. With Sarah's help, of course.

They both have prejudices against each other's profession--Malloy because he thinks a midwife botched the childbirth that killed his wife, and Sarah because the police wouldn't investigate her husband's death without a bribe.

Ms. Thompson portrays Malloy unapologetically as a product of his time. He's working long hours in order to pay the significant bribe necessary to buy a captaincy. He regularly beats confessions and clues out of suspects and witnesses, and when he doesn't beat them outright, he uses intimidation. People know he's a cop at a glance, even though as a detective sergeant, he never wears a uniform. But somehow, in spite of all this, Malloy is completely likable. I admit it--I read the book for him.

Sarah can get annoying from time to time. When she's on a case, she tends to pester potential suspects until she wears out her welcome. But she has no qualms with bugging someone who she thinks is guilty, so we can't fault her for that. And she has endless patience. Her medical knowledge even allows her to occasionally kick ass. But don't worry, she does not have the "kickassitude" heroine of today's urban fantasies. And Malloy thinks his efforts to attain her good opinion is ruining him as a cop.

The first book, Murder on Astor Place, was good enough for me to jump right into the second, Murder on St. Mark's Place. That one was so good that I eagerly read the third one at once, Murder on Gramercy Park. The first two novels focused a lot on character development. We learn exactly why Malloy wants his captaincy, and it's not out of pure greed. We learn a little about Tom Brandt's mysterious death. Of the three, Murder on St. Mark's Place is my favorite. Gramercy Park did not focus enough on character development to satisfy me.

At this point, I've had my fill, and will be turning back to fantasy. When I've read the next three books in the series, I'll put up another post.

If you occasionally like mysteries, I can't recommend this series highly enough.