This is the 12th book in Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries series. In this book, we find that Frank Malloy has been called to investigate the murder of a wealthy businessman, Mr. Wooten. Because Frank's son is deaf and the man who was murdered had a deaf daughter, it was felt that Frank would be the best one to handle the case. When he goes to question the widow of the victim, she ends up going into labor, although no one knew she was pregnant because she was a larger woman and was able to hide it from the rest of the household. She refuses to send for the family doctor, so Frank has no choice but to send for midwife Sarah Brandt. Once the widow gives birth, Sarah is asked to stay on to help for a while and she is in a position where she is able to help Frank with his investigation. There is no shortage of suspects in this case as it seems many people would benefit from having Mr. Wooten dead. Wooten felt that speech-reading was the only way to benefit the deaf, so he was fighting to have schools that taught signing shut down (including the school Frank's son, Brain, goes to). Meanwhile, Wooten's daughter, Electra, had secretly been learning to sign from a teacher from Brian's school, who just might be her lover. Wooten's son Leander was constantly earning the anger of his father, but would do anything to help Electra. Rounding out the cast of suspects are Wooten's business partner and his son, both who had motives to kill Wooten. With so many motives and suspects, how will Frank and Sarah ever sort out who the killer actually was?!

I enjoyed the Wooten family and their various connections (friends, lovers, business partners, etc) in this book. I felt they were an interesting family to investigate. I've heard about Alexander Graham Bell's theories on teaching the deaf and his belief in eugenics, so it was interesting to see how it was presented here (we typically just think of him as the inventor of the telephone, not someone who felt that selective breeding should be used with people). Very little time is spent on Frank and Sarah's personal lives outside of the investigation, with the exception of a bit of a set up to possibly revealing what happened to Catherine, Sarah's adopted daughter, before Sarah met her. There also isn't much on the Frank/ Sarah budding romance front, so don't get your hopes up, though their friendship has warmed up a bit in the sense that Frank isn't as afraid to call Sarah for help and willingly discusses the case with her, rather than hiding details from her. Perhaps by making her more of his confidant, we will eventually see something more than just the banter that we all enjoy?

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I love this series. I was thrilled when I discovered it and the fact that there were so many that I had yet to read. I'm almost up to date with reading it and I'm sad that I have to wait for future installments. Thompson does so a delightful job of weaving the details of the time period in with a well crafted story with characters that I'd love to sit and have a cup of tea with. I highly recommend this series!

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Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy is called to investigate the murder of wealthy businessman Nehemiah Wooten. Wooten's daughter, Electra, is deaf and attends the Lexington Avenue School for Deaf Mutes. Frank's own son is deaf and attends a rival school. When Frank learns that Electra is working with a teacher at his son's school against her father's wishes, he begins to believe that someone at his son's school may have been behind Mr. Wooten's murder. On visiting the Wooten household to tell them of Mr. Wooten's murder, Mrs. Wooten goes into labor and Frank must call midwife Sarah Brandt to help him with the baby...and the murder investigation.

Another excellent addition to the Gaslight Mystery series. Unlike the last couple of books, Frank and Sarah are working closely together on this one. There are lots of suspects in this story. It had me stumped for a while. I highly recommend this book (and this series). My rating: 4.5 Stars.

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If you're a fan of the past, stories of another time and place, then this series is definitely one to read. Post Victorian New York comes alive under the author's pen.

From the jacket: When Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy is assigned to investigate the murder of an influential man in the deaf community-presumably because his own son is hearing impaired -- midwife Sarah Brandt lends a hand, only to find herself searching for a killer in an unfamiliar world where those who can hear refuse to listen to those who cannot.

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Another outstanding addition to the Gaslight Mysteries series.....Malloy, who knows first hand about life of the hearing impaired because his son was born deaf, is thrust into a murder that has an involvement in the world of the deaf.......Sarah has been summoned , by Malloy, to deliver a baby in the home of recently murdered Mr.Wooten, whose daughter is deaf. Much to the opposition of her family,Electra Wooten has fallen in love with a deaf man, who was teaching her sign language.......

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This is the 12th book in Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries series. I have enjoyed each book and look forward to "visiting" with the characters every time I open the next installment . It is like seeing what my old friends are up to now.

I think everyone is waiting for the romance between the two main characters to progress. It has been very slow moving but eventually I am sure it will move forward.

The description of New York City in the late 1890's always interests me and each book Victoria Thompson writes has a different subject discussed. In this book the debate over the two different types of schools for the deaf was brought to light. This was something I knew nothing about. This book is a solid cozy with a bit of history thrown in.

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