![]() Based on a disturbing premise, the story is heartfelt with a good plot and a good amount of suspense. This is a good murder-mystery story in the series. To view the review in it's entirety follow this link. This review is the copyrighted property of Night Owl Reviews. So, while this story is set in a historical time period, the story is just as prevalent today, and is very much a cautionary tale. But, it's still a HUGE risk, as Grace Livingston learned the hard way. Today there are background checks, and Skype and a plethora of other ways to check someone out before meeting them face to face, and of course women are no longer sheltered or as gullible perhaps as Grace was. While we currently lament the use of online dating services and apps, this situation was maybe even more dangerous. In this case, the use of newspaper personal ads lures young women desperately longing to marry into a deadly trap. The set up for this one is indeed sinister, and as the author herself noted, evil resides in all places and all time periods. I love historical mysteries and the Gaslight Series is one of the best ones out there. I also delighted in Frank and Sarah’s new relationship, providing some balance to a story that needed that sunshine. The outcome of the case was extraordinary, probably more fictional than true to life but I needed that. As usual, the author presents another historical factoid that was enlightening. The whole situation highlighted the powerlessness of women in a world where they had virtually no control over their futures. The case took a really sharp turn with the discovery of the “lair” of the man who placed the ad. ![]() In this story, plain and unmarriageable women were specifically targeted, making this even more insidious and heartbreaking. I’d heard of mail order brides during this era but was unaware of lonely hearts scams dating back this far. Their grappling with these issues was equally as interesting as the missing persons case. I so enjoyed this story as not only is the case highly engaging but Frank and Sarah are now coming to terms with all the considerations of merging their families. Frank soon determines that she’d answered a “lonely hearts” ad and fears Grace may have met up with an impostor. She’d left on errands and never returned. Victoria Thompson is has also written 20 historical romances.ĭetective Sergeant Frank Malloy is still reeling from recent life changing events, wondering when (not if) his new circumstances will affect his career as a policeman when he’s assigned the case to find Grace Livingston, the missing daughter of an affluent businessman. After reading many books about the village, and spending many pleasant hours dining, shopping, and just wandering the streets, I was permanently hooked!" "I became enchanted by New York City, and Greenwich Village in particular, while one of my daughters attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2012, where she has been a mentor and lecturer for 20 years. In her previous life, Victoria Thompson was the bestselling author of twenty historical romances. She also contributed to the award winning writing textbook MANY GENRES/ONE CRAFT and authored a short story for the anthology, SHERLOCK HOLMES IN AMERICA. Six of her Gaslight Mysteries were nominated for an Agatha Award. ![]() She was nominated for an Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America in 2001, and in 2012 she received a Career Achievement Award in Mystery Writing from RT Magazine. Victoria Thompson is the USA Today bestselling author of the Edgar® and Agatha nominated Gaslight Mystery series and the Sue Grafton Memorial Award nominated Counterfeit Lady Series. But as Sarah and Malloy delve deeper into a twisted plot targeting the city’s single women, it’s their partnership-both professional and private-that winds up in the greatest peril… Her father thinks that she’s eloped with a deceptive stranger, but Malloy fears the worst, knowing that the grifters who place such ads often do much more than simply abscond with their victims. It seems the girl had been responding to “lonely hearts” ads in the paper for months before she disappeared. While trying to keep both his relationship with Sarah and his fortune under wraps, he’s assigned to a new case-finding a missing young woman for her worried father, Henry Livingston. Now, as the Edgar® and Agatha Award–nominated series continues, the two must track down a cruel criminal preying on the hopes and dreams of innocent women…įrank Malloy has never known any life other than that of a cop, but his newfound inheritance threatens his position within his department. When facing injustice, the residents of nineteenth-century New York City’s tenements turn to midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy to protect their rights.
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