Murder on Astor Place: A Gaslight Mystery - Softcover

Thompson, Victoria

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425168964 ISBN 13: 9780425168967

Publisher: Berkley, 1999

Synopsis

The first novel in the national bestselling Gaslight Mystery series introduces Sarah Brandt, a midwife in the turn-of-the-century tenements of Manhattan who refuses to turn a blind eye to the injustices of the crime-ridden city...

After a routine delivery, Sarah visits her patient in a rooming house—and discovers that another boarder, a young girl, has been killed. At the request of Sergeant Frank Malloy, she searches the girl’s room. She discovers that the victim is from one of the most prominent families in New York—and the sister of an old friend. The powerful family, fearful of scandal, refuses to permit an investigation. But with Malloy’s help, Sarah begins a dangerous quest to bring the killer to justice—before death claims another victim...

About this title

About the Author:

Victoria Thompson is the Edgar® and Agatha award–nominated author of the Gaslight Mysteries and twenty additional historical novels. She lives in Illinois with her family and a very spoiled little dog.

From Publishers Weekly:

Sprinkled with fascinating details of turn-of-the-century New York City, Thompson's old-fashioned mystery takes the reader from the mansions of Fifth Avenue to the flophouses of the Lower East Side. Sarah Brandt is a midwife who has been estranged from her wealthy family for years. When Alicia VanDamm, a young woman from a prominent family, is murdered, Sarah must return to the upper-class society she has scorned to find the killer. Haunted by her past and disgusted by police department corruption, Sarah takes it upon herself to avenge the girl's death. Annoyed at first by her interference, Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy asks for Sarah's help only when he has been taken off the case at the request of the victim's scandal-fearing family. The feisty midwife and the ambitious policeman grudgingly become allies in their search for justice. Sarah and Frank are appealing characters, and the author develops their rapport subtly and believably. In this first installment in a new series of historical mysteries, Thompson vividly re-creates the gas-lit world of old New York, concluding her mystery with revelations that will shock even 20th-century readers.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0425168964
• ISBN 13: 9780425168967
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 288