I love this series for the historical detail of Victorian NYC and the generally great characters. I can't give it the highest marks because I really didn't care much at all about the victim(s), but I was genuinely surprised to be surprised by the outcome and, as usual, loved the interaction between Sarah and Malloy.

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#3 Sarah Brandt Victorian mystery set in turn-of-the-century NY featuring Brandt, a midwife, and Frank Malloy, a detective on the police force. The mystery was ridiculously easy. I figured it out very early on and kept trying to convince myself that I must be mistaken, only to discover that I was dead right. But I still enjoyed the book; I like the main characters and the journey describing how they get to the resolution is still an interesting ride.

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This is the third book in Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries series. In this story, Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy is called to investigate the suicide of mysterious healer Edmund Blackwell. Malloy notices that certain aspects of the crime scene don't match up with a suicide, and starts to investigate this as a possible murder. He calls in Sarah Brandt, much to his chagrin, to help him with the case because the victim's pregnant young wife found the body, which forced her into labor. We find out that nothing is what it seems under the shiny veneer of Dr. Blackwell, his pretty young wife, or the people they are involved with, leading to many possible suspects in his murder. I agree with Cheryl R (Spuddie)'s review above where she says "I figured it out very early on and kept trying to convince myself that I must be mistaken, only to discover that I was dead right." Still, it is a nice, light read that's a lot of fun. We get a bit more information about Frank's son Brian, but I would love to see a bit more progress on that front, as well as with Sarah and Frank's friendship.

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Det. Sgt. Malloy has to ask Sarah's help because the husband of a woman expecting a baby is murdered. It's made to look like suicide, but Malloy is sure it's not. The characters in this series are well defined, interesting and likeable people which helps to make them a very enjoyable read.

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This is the third of Thompson's "Gaslight Mysteries." I just finished it and am looking forward to reading the rest of them, as soon as I a get the fourth one.

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As a midwife in the turn-of-the-century tenements of New York City, Sarah Brandt has seen her share of suffering and joy, birth and death. Now, she learns that crime doesnt discriminate, when the highest echelons of society are rocked by murder A Gaslight Mystery At a summons from Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, Sarah arrives at the elegant home of famed magnetic healer Edmund Blackwell to find his wife in laborand the good doctor dead from an apparent suicide. Only Malloy sees what no one else wants to: that Blackwell was murdered in his own home After a successful delivery, the Blackwell baby falls mysteriously ill. Relying on her nurses training and womans intuition, Sarah discovers the source of the babys sicknessand discovers a scandal that leads Malloys investigation down a gilded path paved with greed, deception, and desire

This was a delightful, entertaining plot well worth reading! The complication of the murders involved the complexity of the people involved just make them a treasure to read!

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Good series and well written characters. I appriciate more the freedom women have gained since the 1890s, after reading these books.

I checked out some of the facts about the time period in which the book was written and found that the author has really done a lot of research and been careful to portray things as they were in 1895-97.


I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

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Another good story in the Gaslight series. This is book 3. Another who-dun-it but the story continues on between Sarah & Frank and his son. Looking forward to reading what will happen next between them in book 4.

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