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A review by tita_noir
Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen
3.0
like books set during the turn of the century from around the late part of the Gilded age on through the 20s. I especially like them set in New York during this time. One of the first books I ever read that spurred my interest in this time period was [b:The Alienist|40024|The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1)|Caleb Carr|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388256626s/40024.jpg|2266643]
It can be challenging to find good genre fiction set during this time, so when I do I tend to try to read it.
I had good luck with [b:The Nell Sweeney Historical Mysteries: A Six-Book Boxed Set|23385423|The Nell Sweeney Historical Mysteries A Six-Book Boxed Set|P.B. Ryan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413516023s/23385423.jpg|16921813] Series so when these came across my radar, I decided to give this one a try.
I wasn't crazy about this book. But I am chalking it up to what I call 'first book in a series' syndrome. Sometimes when you read the first book in a series, it feel like set up or the author hasn't really found the the core of their characters. Or maybe they are still figuring out how they want to tell their story. Whatever it is, this book seemed to suffer from it.
In this book Molly Murphy flees from Ireland to England because she has killed a man. An overzealous landowner's son who tried to have his wicked way with her. Because Molly was educated along with the daughters of the household (the lady of the house liked Molly's sassiness) , she has always been viewed as being a bit uppity. But in the end she is a poor Irish girl who killed a man of property. So she gets the heck out of dodge real quick.
Luckily (and Molly has a LOT of luck throughout this book) she manages in quick succession to meet a young mother in London who needs a HUGE favor. Would Molly take her place on a ship to America? The young mother can't go. And, oh by the way, please deliver her two kids to their dad who sent them the tickets.
This sets off a chain of events where Molly meets memorable people on the passage over starting with the victim of a murder and ending with the poor guy who is arrested for it. But not before Molly herself is a suspect.
This is what precipitates Molly's foray into amateur sleuthing. She first needs to make sure her own name is clear, then she needs to clear the name of her young friend who was arrested.
There are really great parts of the book. These seem to be the parts where the author has dome some research in order to create the setting. I think the book really sings when the author is describing the passage over on the ship with all the poor immigrants in steerage and the relationships they forge due to the enforced closeness. And then the arrival onto Ellis Island, the process the immigrants had to tho through to get entry as well as the sights and sounds of a young New York City as seen through the eyes of someone like Molly. These passages were fun to read and did a lot to create a sense of time and place.
Also, Molly was a good main character to act as a narrator. She was engaging and smart. And I can tell a mile away that Daniel Sullivan, the handsome police captain she meets in New York will probably be a love interest in upcoming books.
But that was not enough to make the book truly work. The weakness was all the stuff dealing with Molly's amateur sleuthing. It was chock full of coincidences, luck and, given some of the stuff Molly did in her 'detecting', an alarming lack of real danger. Molly was frankly homeless and mostly penniless and wandered around New York all hours of the day and night. She asked the most obvious and blundering questions and leaped to conclusions that always seemed to be right or at least lead her onto the right track. And Daniel also seemed to pop up conveniently whenever Molly needed him.
So as a satisfying mystery is didn't quite do it for me. But there is something there and I will probably try the next book to see if this really is a case of 'first book in a series' syndrome. Hopefully the mysteries will get more interesting and Molly will smooth out into more than just a lucky plot catalyst with great hair.
It can be challenging to find good genre fiction set during this time, so when I do I tend to try to read it.
I had good luck with [b:The Nell Sweeney Historical Mysteries: A Six-Book Boxed Set|23385423|The Nell Sweeney Historical Mysteries A Six-Book Boxed Set|P.B. Ryan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413516023s/23385423.jpg|16921813] Series so when these came across my radar, I decided to give this one a try.
I wasn't crazy about this book. But I am chalking it up to what I call 'first book in a series' syndrome. Sometimes when you read the first book in a series, it feel like set up or the author hasn't really found the the core of their characters. Or maybe they are still figuring out how they want to tell their story. Whatever it is, this book seemed to suffer from it.
In this book Molly Murphy flees from Ireland to England because she has killed a man. An overzealous landowner's son who tried to have his wicked way with her. Because Molly was educated along with the daughters of the household (the lady of the house liked Molly's sassiness) , she has always been viewed as being a bit uppity. But in the end she is a poor Irish girl who killed a man of property. So she gets the heck out of dodge real quick.
Luckily (and Molly has a LOT of luck throughout this book) she manages in quick succession to meet a young mother in London who needs a HUGE favor. Would Molly take her place on a ship to America? The young mother can't go. And, oh by the way, please deliver her two kids to their dad who sent them the tickets.
This sets off a chain of events where Molly meets memorable people on the passage over starting with the victim of a murder and ending with the poor guy who is arrested for it. But not before Molly herself is a suspect.
This is what precipitates Molly's foray into amateur sleuthing. She first needs to make sure her own name is clear, then she needs to clear the name of her young friend who was arrested.
There are really great parts of the book. These seem to be the parts where the author has dome some research in order to create the setting. I think the book really sings when the author is describing the passage over on the ship with all the poor immigrants in steerage and the relationships they forge due to the enforced closeness. And then the arrival onto Ellis Island, the process the immigrants had to tho through to get entry as well as the sights and sounds of a young New York City as seen through the eyes of someone like Molly. These passages were fun to read and did a lot to create a sense of time and place.
Also, Molly was a good main character to act as a narrator. She was engaging and smart. And I can tell a mile away that Daniel Sullivan, the handsome police captain she meets in New York will probably be a love interest in upcoming books.
But that was not enough to make the book truly work. The weakness was all the stuff dealing with Molly's amateur sleuthing. It was chock full of coincidences, luck and, given some of the stuff Molly did in her 'detecting', an alarming lack of real danger. Molly was frankly homeless and mostly penniless and wandered around New York all hours of the day and night. She asked the most obvious and blundering questions and leaped to conclusions that always seemed to be right or at least lead her onto the right track. And Daniel also seemed to pop up conveniently whenever Molly needed him.
So as a satisfying mystery is didn't quite do it for me. But there is something there and I will probably try the next book to see if this really is a case of 'first book in a series' syndrome. Hopefully the mysteries will get more interesting and Molly will smooth out into more than just a lucky plot catalyst with great hair.