Daring Brooklyn detective Mary Handley teams up with Teddy Roosevelt to solve her husband’s murder, only to run afoul of nineteenth-century New York’s elite when she uncovers a dangerous conspiracy. It’s December 1896, and after marrying a muckraking reporter, detective Mary Handley turns her focus from pursuing new cases to raising her newborn daughter. But when her husband turns up dead, Mary … turns up dead, Mary knows her next case must be solving his death. Harper was working on a big story—did it get him killed? She sets out to solve his murder, soon discovering that the investigation goes all the way to the top of the New York food chain.
Realizing she’s outgunned, Mary turns to the one person who might be able to help: Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt. As the two dig deep into the underbelly of New York’s social scene, they uncover a sinister plot exploiting the city’s most vulnerable citizens.
Don’t miss any of Lawrence H. Levy’s enchanting Mary Handley mysteries:
SECOND STREET STATION • BROOKLYN ON FIRE • LAST STOP IN BROOKLYN • NEAR PROSPECT PARK
more
Somehow I have missed reading this series but I had no trouble enjoying it. Historical mysteries, especially ones involving famous historical people like Teddy Roosevelt, are on my list of favorites. Add a strong female protagonist – I found this a very good read and I will now add the previous three books of the series to my must read list.
Mary Handley is a detective in New York 1895, married to a newspaper reporter and raising their nine month old daughter. Tragedy strikes her world when her husband is murdered while investigating a story. Emily knows that she must track down the killer and she enlists the help of the New York police commissioner, Teddy Roosevelt. He is just one of the real life characters populating this well written mystery.
Given the subject matter and the time period, this is a bit dark but that is one of the reasons I enjoy historical mysteries. The character of Mary is well developed – she is smart, clever, strong in both mind and body and very determined. The mystery itself kept me engaged to the last page, full of the twists, turns and red herrings that I want in my mysteries. I’m looking forward to catching up with the previous three titles in the series. I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.
Near Prospect Park by Lawrence H. Levy is the fourth book in the Mary Handley historical mystery series. It worked as a standalone novel with a strong female protagonist and is set in the late 1890’s in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York.
Mary Handley works as a detective in a time when most women did not work outside of the home. Her character shows decent character depth during the course of the story. She is married to reporter Harper Lloyd and has a nine month old daughter Josephine. Unfortunately, Harper is murdered during the pursuit of a story and Mary sets to work finding the killer.
While this is a historical mystery novel, it pulls in elements of real history and people including Theodore Roosevelt when he was the president of the board of police commissioners, W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan, actress Lillian Russell and many more. The book does a great job of bringing the reader into late 19th century New York and explores several themes including murder, poverty, the treatment of and crimes against women, corruption and the elite social scene. Unfortunately, these same conditions still exist in the 21st century.
I recommend this well-written historical mystery to those that enjoy the genre.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books and Lawrence H. Levy for a digital ARC of this novel via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, private-investigators, murder-investigation, NYC
How could I not want to read this book? It has Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and Teddy Roosevelt! It is also populated with the glitterati of the musical stage and the high fliers of New York society with sense of entitlement and their dirty secrets. Mary is a private investigator with a distasteful mother, a goodhearted brother, and some good friends both ordinary people and high profile ones. The murder she is investigating is that of her husband who was shot to death while she was on a case. Pretty well done and filled with history.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine via NetGalley.
I love this era of storytelling so I was immediately drawn in and having recognizable historic figures like Roosevelt was a huge bonus of fascination. Mary Handley was a strong character although on the outset it was hard for me to believe she had an infant and maintained a career. I love the idea based on my own ideals and life but it is completely unrealistic for the time and place of this novel. So on that opening, I struggled to buy into the character’s premise. However, it did become the classic twisty mystery we love from that Gilded Age when detectives lurked in the shadows… but this time she wears a dress. I continued turning the pages, faster as the crimes continued to mount, and found myself drawn into the story based on my need to know how it ended.
Sprinkled with notorious people like W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan and famous actresses like Lillian Russell, Mary investigates a wealthy society filled with dark deeds that include the rape and murder while dealing with her own terrible loss. Aside from the exaggerated independence of the main character I was all-in for her adventurous ride to solve these crimes.