October 1913 and Louise Faulk has just sat the civil examination to become a Police Constable. Only to discover that her place of employment, publishers Van Hooten and McChesney, has gone up in flames. While friend Detective Frank Muldroon officially investigates the fire and the killer of the body discovered inside, Louise is employed to do her own investigation.
Easily read as a standalone story this was an enjoyable well-written cosy mystery with a varied cast of mainly likeable characters, obviously there are always villains.
A NetGalley Book ( )

As much as I want to enjoy this series, which centers around a plucky young amateur detective and novice policewoman Louise Falk, this series has an extremely problematic understanding of white privilege and gender. This book is the second in the new Louise Falk series of mysteries. Like the first book in the series, Murder in Midtown unfolds at a good clip and delightfully makes use of iconic and ordinary locations in Manhattan, such as Delancey Street and the Woolworth Building.

Bur back to its problematic understanding of race—Al Jolson, is held up as a hero despite what we know today about his blackface performances. Simply creating a fictional broadway star would have fixed that problem. This novel awkwardly and repeatedly “others” characters of color and characters of Jewish decent. In more than one scene, Louise mistakes a colleague’s wife for a domestic. While that misconception is tied into the plot and is eventually corrected, the character of Miriam, a woman of color, doesn’t ever take on any more depth and seems more like a plot device than a real person. The thing about writing fiction is that even if a story is rooted in a particular period of history, you don’t have to CHOOSE to refer to refer to people as “Negros” and “Jewesses”, to only have white protagonists, etc. You’re driving the bus, author.

The series seems to have an equally problematic grasp on gender despite all of the language around suffragettes. The heroine, while determined, curious, and focused enough to successfully take and pass the police entrance exam, and to weather various difficulties in achieving her dream such as having to fend for herself to find a police uniform and having to work with a lot of men who believe that she can’t adequately do her job, often seems to be pushed into adventures by her Aunt, rather than be truly empowered or intrinsically motivated to follow up on leads or solve murders. It strikes me, looking both at the first novel and the second, that the heroine rarely seems to feel any anger about having been the victim of assault and harassment. She is saved, in many cases, by male police officers.

I gave this series a second chance but can’t in good conscience continue reading beyond this point even if the story is enjoyable. ( )

Start with: I Loved It!
In 1913 New York City things were different, but not people.
Louise was lucky that she skipped work that morning or she would have been the one to find the body of her boss in the fire ravaged building. Although her job no longer exists, her novelist aunt wants a typist and the other owner of the business wants her to find out who caused the fire and death. She is naturally motivated to do both, but things rapidly become very complicated. Just when things couldn't seem to get more muddled, she finds out that she passed the Civil Service exam and is now a fledgling policewoman assigned to the night shift at the jail! A decidedly convoluted tale with an abundance of red herrings and plot twists as well as some fascinating characters. This one is a winner!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )

I thought that Liz Freeland's first Louise Faulk mystery, Murder in Greenwich Village, was one of the best debut mysteries I'd read in years, and, to my amazement, this second installment in the series is even better. It started a tad slowly but, once it got going, it was outstanding.

I like how the author has created a terrific cast of characters, including "our sleuth" Louise Faulk, and the other supporting/recurring characters. Even better, she changes things up and doesn't let things go stale. I also love how the author manages to bring the New York City of 1913 to life.

I am very eager to see what happens next with Louise Faulk and hope that this top-notch series has a long life. Highly recommended!!

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.) ( )