The Gaslight series by Victoria Thompson is one of my favorite mystery series, mostly because of the two main characters--Sarah Brandt, a young widowed midwife, and Frank Malloy, an Irish police detective--but also because it takes place in New York in the last part of the nineteenth century. I love that time period. And I love the spunkiness of Sarah and the steadfastness of Frank, as well as watching their relationship develop and grow over the course of the series.
But in
Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue, Sarah and Frank are in Europe on their honeymoon. So this time it's up to their nanny, Maeve, and police officer Gino Donatelli to solve the murder in Harlem with a little help from Sarah's high society parents, Elizabeth and Felix Decker. The mystery involves a battered wife, her murdered husband, and a Panamanian Railroad scheme intended to cheat a lot of people out of their money.
Watching the Deckers play detective is delightfully humorous. And Maeve and Gino are great, too, especially Gino who keeps trying to get Maeve to admit that she likes him. In fact, this unorthodox foursome was so much fun, I didn't even miss Sarah and Frank.
Any and all of the nineteen books in Thompson's Gaslight series are worth reading, although if you've never tried her books, it's probably best to start with the first one in the series. Though this novel could almost be read as a stand-alone. It's a very entertaining mystery, and one I would read again.
Happy Reading!
