Murder on Astor Place: A Gaslight Mystery

I really enjoyed this book and the twists it has. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 only because some phrases and word play is used too many times not to be seen as redundant. But, I very much liked the book and will most likely read the next book in the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Sarah and Malloy. They are an interesting fictional pair with plenty of edges and life experience to give them depth. Thompson does an excellent job of incorporating NYC into the narrative so that the city comes alive and vibrant, just as one imagines it might have been in the Gaslight era.

Loved the setting and the characters. Ms. Thompson created an intriguing and believable relationship between Sarah and Malloy. The plot was a bit too predictable, but still held my attention as she unveiled it. I am a newcomer to NYC and will enjoy reading the rest of this series to get a better feeling for this city during the "gaslight era".

I enjoyed the historical New York aspect of this book very much. For me, the author captured something of the flavor of old New York City, and fit her characters into that flavor - that history - very nicely.

My comment is exactly in line with Rocco Dormarunno's entitled "Touch call". I enjoyed the book enough but the story was not even close to being original. By the 5th chapter, the book has 14, I could tell how the book was going to end. So basically the mystery in the book was useless but I enjoyed the development of the two main characters. I enjoyed it enough that I will purchase the next book in the series to see it the mystery is better and to see the progress of the two characters. It would be hard to recommend this book without knowing the type of reader that wants the recommendation. If you want an in-depth well developed mystery then it's not for you. If you're like me and enjoy the character but don't really care about the mystery then you'll enjoy it. Judging a book is very subjective so to help you better understand what I like to read: Massie Dobbs, Mrs. Pollifax, and Bruce Alexander's John Fielding books.

I stumbled on this book in the recommended books based on my viewing history. I loved it. This book had me hooked from the first page! If you like historical type stories, this might just be the book for you!

The effects of family secrets destroys a fine family set in a part of New York where such things didn't happen to good families. A mystery set in early twentieth century tracks the murder of one person to another connected by the wealth of a social network lost in time. The polite and strict rules of etiquette that once governed the rich and famous are explored by a midwife who once played by its rules. A fascinating stroll in history.

NICE READ, BUT PREDICTABLE. This is an ok historical mystery. The research information is interesting as well as the conflict between the lead characters. But, I pretty much figured the "who did it", although not the extent of the crimes. Also thought it was overpriced.

Very mundane....a bit predictable....but I gave this author a second try. It's just ok--until I find my next captivating mystery series like the Louise Penny Gamache mysteries or the Hacquline Windspear Maisie Dobbs series. These Thompson mysteries are time fillers.

I never thought I'd like a futuristic mystery, but I was wrong. This is a fun read; I recommend that you try it. The mystery is memorable, the characters are intriguing, and the setting in the future is neither gimmicky nor intrusive.

I loved the historical aspects of the book, it is fun to read about New York city during this time period. The story line was OK, not my favorite but it did keep my interest. I will probably try some of her other titles.

I liked the writing, the background given on the main characters , plus the interaction between Sarah and Frank. I did not think the mystery as to who had committed the murder was all that difficult to figure out. I do look forward to reading more books by this author.

I could've overlooked the unimaginative writing skills, which produced poorly developed characters and a boring plot line, if this haden't turned out to be such a repulsive story. I find it quite difficult to understand why it's got so many good reviews.

*Spoiler Alert*

Young, affluent, teenage girl found dead & determined, upon autopsy, to be six months pregnant. Sound like a so-so mystery but, I gave it the benefit of the doubt & continued reading. Many, many bland & only mildly interesting pages later, it's finally revealed that her sister/mother killed her. No, it's not a spelling error, you read that right, I said her sister/mother. Yep dear old daddy fathered the dead girl on his daughter. Making the dead girl his daughter/granddaughter. Oh wait, it gets even more vile.

Remember I told you the dead girl was six months pregnant? Guess who the father is? No!? You say, aghast! But YES! dear readers, yes, it's true. It's dear old daddy-granddaddy-daddy-great-granddaddy. Yetch, gimme a break. Disgusting.

To make up for the mundane tripe of this lazily created book, the author decided to leave out all the pizzaz until the end & then, having no decent imagination in writing the story thus far, tried to make things scandalous (she thinks. but it was vile & nothing more) with a little two generational (going on three, what with another baby on the way & a 50/50% chance of another girl) incest. Oh and not just incest but pedophilia incest. (I'm sure this sickness has a title but I don't want to Google this crap) Yep, incest wasn't quite shocking enough, daddy boy has to be a pedophile too. His wife lets fly with how he'd stand over the crib with his hand in his pants. Dear heaven above. Really? This is the disturbing level some stoop to in order to sell their mediocre work? Shameful.animals

Oh, but justice does prevail, dear reader. Or so our author thinks, as she gives us double death by lightning strike. Daughter, driven psycho (as the author choses to prove not only by her ravings, but by her penchant for dressing as a man & patronizing prostitutes) by daddy dearest's twisted affections & then, once she got too old for his tastes, his rejections (which is why she killed her daughter/sister; jealousy) high tails it to the roof in a thunderstorm. She grabs a pole to steady herself, daddy grabs her as lightning strikes & wham! Both perverts/killers dead.

It slogged on for several more pages in which the mother, having been portrayed to many as being an invalid who's mind was gone (but who let fly with the disgusting info of the crib & hands in pants), invents a story that daughter was distraught over her sister's death & daddy tried to quash her suicide attempt when lightning zapped em. Thereby keeping the secret from going public. There's more but it's highly anticlimactic & idiotic so I'm not gonna bother.

*SIGH* To sum up: I loathed this book. It's annoying that I wasted two days on it but, at least the store.com let me return the waste of time & gave me my money back. Needless to say, I'll NOT be reading more from this...author.

Although the premise was decent, the book read like a young adult novel. The prose was overly simplistic and relied on a lot of descriptions about what the characters "felt" or "knew" rather than letting the events and actions speak for themselves. The characters seemed to have been written to have some dark aspects to them, but the possibility for drama there was subverted by breezy explanations along the lines of "oh, the tragedy!" rather than allowing any subtle drama to build. Everything was just too superficial for me to enjoy the book.

I understand the bad reviews for this one amongst many who enjoy cozy mysteries. The author pulls somewhat of a bait and switch on the reader. It starts out with the trappings of a cozy: likable female amateur crime solver aided by a man; little or no onscreen violence, the hint of romance and promise of a relationship, and neighborhood based. Most of all, the voice of the author is light and breezy despite the grim happenings. The tone is very discordant, and encourages the reader to persevere through the urban poverty, sad, hopeless lives, and brutal (off-screen) murders. But then only to be confronted with the horrifying reveal at the end. This book bears a lot of resemblances to Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series. A lot. Because I’ve been reading Anne Perry’s dark and dense mysteries for over 2 decades, I saw the squalid key to the puzzle coming very early in the book. Also, there was a big clue. Thompson did throw in a few extra wrinkles at the end, which were a little over the top.
I liked the heroine and enjoyed the historical setting, driven to Wikipedia, as I was, to see how successful Teddy Roosevelt was in cleaning up the sickening corruption of the New York Police Departent. Not Very. The male protagonist was a major problem for me in this book, as he was just as corrupt as his colleagues and seemingly not too bothered by it. In fact, he resented Teddy’s efforts. Frank Malloy is no Thomas Pitt. Despite my problems with some of the aspects of this first book, I am going to give the series another try because, reading a few random reviews and previews ahead, I like the arc the series will be taking. There was a lot of ground laid in this first book for many interesting and promising journeys ahead. Also, I noted that that this first book’s reviews were not as strong as the follow-ups, and she had won or been nominated for a few prestigious awards.

Although I knew whodunnit quite early on (at least, for one of the mysteries), I very much liked the writing and the period detail and will read more of the series. Even knowing who the baby's father was and the reason for the murder, there were twists and turns that I didn't get until the big reveal at the end, so the mystery still held up. Unlike most amateur sleuths, this one's involvement made sense. And thankfully, there wasn't any blundering around, getting in the way of the official investigation; in fact, the amateur was soon unofficially partnered with the professional. Neither the opulence of the world of the rich, nor the squalor of the world of the poor--or the corruption at both ends of the social spectrum--evoked an emotional response, so I'd have to say the writing was good but not great. But this is a mystery, not a social expose, so that's fine. The mystery kept me turning (virtual) pages, so did what it should. It's not a gut-clenching, sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat page-turner, but a solid, interesting mystery.

Do you enjoy dramatic tension? Delving into the mystery of human behavior? A gripping plot? There are many other books you can read that will actually have those things. What does this one have? Exposition. Exposition! EXPOSITION. A solid wall of belabored, awkwardly shoehorned, overly explicit, repetitive exposition that you need a sledgehammer to get through. The author seems to be attempting to create the effect of a Vulcan mind meld, piling on details of, for example, the main character's family history, class background, education, marriage, bereavement, and career, all within the first 8 pages. If that isn't bad enough, for everything action the characters do, or line of dialogue they speak, the then spends a full paragraph narrating what they think and feel. Nothing is left for the reader to question or explore. There is no tension. And there's no complexity to these thoughts, either. Each character has one emotional note that gets repeated ad nauseam. Ditto for the themes. Cops in fds NY were corrupt. We get it. You don't need to have both main characters think that thought twice on every page. The premise of the book is interesting, but the writing is just so bad, I can't keep reading.

Coming from a very wealthy family and turning her back on them Sarah has lost her husband and now delivers babies as a midwife. While delivering a baby at a boarding home, she sees a young girl who is eerily familiar to a classmate. Realizing the next day when a murder occurs she knows the girl, Sarah begins a long, dangerous journey to bring the killer to justice.

Some very disturbing actions take place in this book and really are quite depressing. Though Sarah and Malloy, the detective on the case, bring entertainment and conclusions, the dark themes make it hard to sometimes comprehend.

Sarah is an unexpected crime solver, a strong female lead with tenacity and courage. There are many red herrings, but if you pay attention you can figure out the majority of the mystery.

This is the first Gaslight Mystery by Victoria Thompson, and it's storyline is rather grim. Sarah Brandt is introduced to the reader as a late 19th century midwife who has denied herself the wealthy privileges of her past. She has alienated herself from her parents due to the tragic death of her sister. A routine summons to the birthing of a landlady inadvertently involves her in the murder investigation of a girl secretly boarding in the house. It also forces her to face her past life since the girl is the sister of Sarah's former friend. The case is assigned to Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, a man trying to make Captain in order to provide for his crippled son. When Sarah and Frank meet, sparks fly but not because they have high regard for each other. They come from polar opposite backgrounds - Knickerbocker wealthy woman and a poor Irish Detective living in the tenements with his Ma and son. I believe it is this premise and the well-written mysteries that has drawn readers for the last 15 years.

Sarah and Frank work well together in this debut novel. Although they are initially hostile to each other, they eventually find that they have the same moral ethics- seeking justice for the victim no matter the social standing. This story does take a dark turn (warning to those seeking gentle mysteries).

I have read the subsequent installments, and I never get tired of these mysteries. What I love about these stories is that Frank and Sarah are constantly searching for clues or suspects. A few dead bodies turning up here and there also helps to move the story along. I really enjoyed reading this book!

This is the first book in Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series, and it's quite good. In it, we meet midwife Sarah Brandt. She's from the well-to-do Decker family, but has been estranged from her family after her sister passed away during childbirth. Upon her sister's death, Sarah left her wealth and married a doctor. When her husband was murdered, Sarah chose to continue with her life in the middle class and become a midwife.

When a young woman from a prominent family gives birth and then is found murdered, Sarah cannot help recalling her own past. Knowing the police department is corrupt, she takes it upon herself to investigate the murder, eventually meeting Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy.

The detective is initially annoyed with Sarah's interefence, but when the wealthy family has him thrown off the case - for fear of scandal - he grudgingly allows Sarah to help him.

As they work together, the two uncover a horrible truth that could cost Sarah her life.

I started reading this series during a winter snowstorm when I was stranded in my apartment and couldn't drive. I had the first three books at my place. After I blazed through them, I ended up bundling up and trudging down the hill to the bookstore on the corner, simply so I could continue reading the series.

Sarah and Frank are two, well-developed characters, that engage each other in a believable fashion. Although Thompson hints at an attraction between the two, she writes it in a real-world manner, with the two cautiously dancing around the attraction and not ending up with each other by the end of the book.

The mystery is solid - clues are given, but not so much as to immediately ascertain the killer's identity.

This is one of my favorite series!

Sarah Brandt, a widow, ex-socialite and midwife, was drawn into a murder-mystery when she glimpsed a young lady she thought she knew in the wrong place at the wrong time. She went head-to-head with the commoner Sergeant Detective Frank Mallory when he arrived at the scene of the crime. Over a period of weeks these two morph into a most unusual 'friendship' if I can use that word loosely. He doesn't appreciate her interference and she does not care for his bossiness; yet they help each other.

I enjoyed the darker, seamier side of New York City in the late 1890's. It was such a refreshing change of pace from most stories that I have read recently. I really loved Sarah's strength and honesty and her byplay with Frank. He wasn't the easiest person to get along with.

The author did a first-rate job of showing the disturbing and squalid side of NYC during this era. It was nothing to be proud of. Regarding the mystery, I thought I had everything figured out midway but Ms. Thompson threw in some twists. This was NOT what I would consider a cozy mystery and it may turn off some readers. The crux of the puzzle was very somber and caused much anguish. But I am still giving it five stars because it was intriguing. It served the purpose of what a good mystery should be: it pulled me in from the beginning and didn't let me go until I finished the book. Just be sure and have the second story, MURDER ON ST. MARK's PLACE, ready to read.