Murder on Amsterdam Avenue by Victoria Thompson

Murder on Amsterdam Avenue by Victoria Thompson ISBN-13: 9780425260470 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: May 5, 2015

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Midwife Sarah Brandt and ex-Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy investigate foul play in the secretive high-society world of nineteenth-century New York City…

In the midst of Sarah and Frank’s wedding preparations, Sarah accompanies her mother on a condolence call to the Upper West Side, where Charles Fairfax, the son of family friends, has died unexpectedly after suffering from a mysterious disease. It is a tragic and all too common story—or so it seems.

Charles’s father asks to speak with Sarah privately. He believes his son was poisoned and would like Sarah and Frank to look into the matter with the utmost discretion. Sarah and Frank soon learn that not everyone wants to know more about Charles’s death, particularly if he was murdered. As they unravel secrets that reach back to the War Between the States, they discover that others might also be in danger.


My Review:
Murder on Amsterdam Avenue is a historical mystery set in New York city in 1898. It's the seventeenth book in the series, but you don't need to read the previous novels to understand this one and this story didn't spoil the previous whodunits.

There was a nice level of historical detail regarding the city and social structure. The characters were varied and had realistic reactions to events. Frank and Sarah asked questions and followed up clues in a logic way until they all fit together. There were enough clues that I could guess about and narrow down whodunit. I figured out what the secret from the Civil War was long before Sarah and Frank completely understood it, but they made a reasonable assumption about it before the full truth was uncovered.

There was no bad language or sex scenes. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting historical mystery.


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