Murder on Fifth Avenue by Victoria Thompson

Murder on Fifth Avenue by Victoria Thompson ISBN-13: 9780425255377 Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: May 7, 2013

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
From the tenements to the town houses of nineteenth-century New York, midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy never waiver in their mission to aid the innocent and apprehend the guilty.

Sarah’s father, Felix Decker, asks Malloy to discreetly solve a crime when a member of Decker's private club--the exclusive Knickerbocker--is murdered.

Malloy discovers that the deceased, Chilton Devries, was no gentleman. As Malloy and Sarah sort through the suspects, it becomes clear that many people despised Chilton and yet none of them seems to have murdered him....


My Review:
Murder on Fifth Avenue is a historical mystery set in New York city in the late 1890's. This is the fourteenth book in the series, but you don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this one didn't spoil the previous mysteries.

There was a nice level of historical detail about the setting, social structures, etc. The characters were complex and reacted realistically to the situations, yet we didn't really get much character development with the main characters. The suspense was mainly from wondering whodunit.

The mystery was a clue-based puzzle mystery. I was certain I knew whodunit, why, and how from early on in the book. I guessed right about all the sordid details, but I was wrong about whodunit! We did have hints about the correct whodunit, though, and it did make sense.

There was a minor amount of explicit bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting historical mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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