Murder in Chelsea (Gaslight Mystery)
New York midwife Sarah Brandt is upset when she learns that someone has been inquiring at Hope Mission about Catherine, the abandoned girl who is now her ward. The woman asking claims to be working on behalf of Catherine’s mother, who wants to be reunited with her daughter. Sarah will not simply hand Catherine over to an unknown woman, so she asks her police-officer friend, Frank Malloy, to investigate. When he goes to the woman’s boardinghouse in Chelsea, he finds her dead. This is hardly bad news for Sarah, since her custody will not be challenged, but her sense of justice compels her to look into the murder. She and Malloy, along with a bit of help from her wealthy parents, the Deckers, scour the high- and lower-class neighborhoods of Manhattan as they learn about Catherine’s past and discover the foibles of some prominent families. Malloy also has a challenge to face. It will affect both his future and Sarah’s. Thompson’s Gaslight Mysteries are first-rate historicals with a strong female sleuth. --Barbara Bibel--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.