brooklyn_on_fire

Brooklyn on Fire by Lawrence Levy

I enjoy mysteries, but I find that I rarely choose a mystery on my own.  My reading project has resulted in a nice selection of mysteries that I will be reading.  I was interested in this book because I really enjoyed reading The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye and learning about Brooklyn in the 1800s.  Brooklyn on Fireis set a few years after The Gods of Gotham.  There is no comparison.

This is the second book in Levy’s series centered on the sleuthing ability of Mary Handley. In Brooklyn on Fire, Mary is hoping to start her own detective agency following a successful free-lance case with the New York City Police. When she is hired by a woman to find out if the death of her uncle 20 years before was murder, she enters into the world of high society. The case takes her into the world of the Carnegie’s, Rockefellers, and Vanderbilts and from Brooklyn to North Carolina. Mary negotiates the male-dominated world of detective work well, and seems to be respected by those who were impressed by her first case, the Goodrich murder (see Levy’s Second Street Station). I did enjoy reading this book and “meeting” the historical characters in the context of a murder-mystery; however, I’m not sure that the story is very believable. Even if I can believe that a woman detective working in Brooklyn in the late 1800s could negotiate the male-dominated world of detective-work, I find it very hard to believe that she could enter into high society so easily. The only believable part of the story was when the Vanderbilts rejected her relationship with George Vanderbilt. Overall, I found the book enjoyable, but for those who are looking for a truly realistic historical fiction there may be a few frustrations.

This book was recommended (and provided) by Blogging for Books