Murder in Morningside Heights

Another in the Gaslight Series by Victoria Thompson that takes place at the turn of the 20th century in NYC. Malloy and Sarah are finally married and he is now a private detective. She is still his trusty sidekick. The mystery/murders not so easy to solve and the characters (some new ones) are an enjoyable addition. If you hadn't read the previous books, you would wonder how these two humble characters came to be married and living the life of the wealthy. But if you can get past that and just enjoy the story, I highly recommend it. If you are a fan of the series, you won't be disappointed.

Really had a hard time with this story. I've had the author highly recommended to me by quite a few people and was very interested in the premise of the series. It looked clean and rather routine.

Spoilers...
I wasn't prepared, first, for how very “routine” it was. I was bored stiff over the procedures, the stilted rehashings of each facet of the case, especially when it seemed clear to me that there were only a couple of decent suspects. Other “suspects” kept getting added, overly obvious red herrings, chased up out of the most unlikely connections. A pet peeve of mine in fiction is when characters repeat obvious statements that have already been retailed to the reader and restate facts through various conversations that don't sound remotely realistic.Next was the Frank/Sarah element. Sarah was the better character of the two, with Frank showing himself incapable of winning my care. I'm told that they have a recent love story and that they are newlyweds, but there's scant showing of that. In 90% of the scenes they are stilted with each other, and in 20% telling each other basic stuff about the case as though the other doesn't have eyes in their head. Granted, I did come into this romance late, but they shouldn't have “cooled off” toward each other that fast after marrying for love.Third, the acceptance of the lesbians in the story. There was no “out” or “closet”—they were all out and no one really cared. The author in fact redefines “Boston marriage” as an acknowledged lesbian partnership and acts as though two women living together was a new thing and speaks as though men are threatened by it. This was not a new phenomenon, that women would room or house together, but even though it was more popular as working women's jobs expanded, it was definitely not known as an accepted and out-of-the-closet lesbian relationship. I found these facets of the plot, which are major hinges of the jealousy in the murder, to be highly unlikely and historically unfounded.

Overall, it was too wooden and too unbelievable, and I won't be continuing with the series. I can read contemporary mystery and not be maddened by historical inaccuracies.