Murder In Chinatown (Gaslight Mystery) [Hardcover]

Victoria Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Gaslight Mystery | Publication Date: June 5, 2007

The ninth in the Edgar(r) Award-nominated series featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Malloy in turn-of-the-century New York City.

Sarah Brandt has made her uneasy way to Chinatown to deliver a baby. There she meets a group of Irish women who, completely alone at Ellis Island, married Chinese men in the same predicament. But even as a new century dawns, New Yorkers still cling to their own kind, scorning children of mixed races.

When the new mother's half-Chinese, half-Irish niece goes missing, Sarah knows that alerting the police will accomplish nothing, and seeks the one person she can turn to-Detective Sergeant Malloy.

And when the missing girl is found dead in a Chinatown alley, Sarah and Malloy have ample suspects in her murder-from both sides of Canal Street.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edgar-finalist Thompson's eye-opening ninth Gaslight mystery (after 2006's Murder in Little Italy) examines the culture clash in early 20th-century New York City between Chinese and Irish immigrants, whose poverty prompted many of them to intermarry. While midwife Sarah Brandt is attending pregnant Cora Lee, a strapping Irish girl whose husband is a successful Chinese merchant, Cora's teenage half-Chinese niece, Angel, bursts into Cora's Chinatown flat and asks Cora to save her from an arranged marriage to Mr. Wong, an elderly Chinese restaurant owner. When Angel later disappears, Sarah investigates and learns the missing girl had a secret lover, a young Irishman. After Angel winds up dead in an alley, Sarah turns to her detective friend, Frank Malloy, for help. The action of this thought-provoking novel with its vivid portrait of the miseries of tenement life builds to an unexpected climax.
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From Booklist

Midwife Sarah Brandt's patient, Cora Lee, is an Irish woman with a Chinese husband. In New York at the beginning of the twentieth century, impoverished immigrants often married one another, but cultural differences led to conflict. As Sarah attends the birth of Cora's son, Cora's young, half-Chinese niece, Angel, runs into the room to ask for help. Her father has arranged her marriage to an elderly Chinese man. Angel later disappears, and Sarah helps the family investigate. When Angel turns up dead in an alley, Sarah asks her friend, Frank Malloy, a New York City police detective, for help. It seems that Angel had a secret lover, a young Irish boy. As the plot unfolds, readers will learn about the miseries of tenement life, the discrimination against Chinese and Irish immigrants, and the hardships and dangers facing young women. They will also be drawn to Sarah, a strong, caring female protagonist who is not afraid to help those in need. The unexpected climax adds to the impact of this first-class historical mystery. Bibel, Barbara

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover (June 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425215318
• ISBN-13: 978-0425215319
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #819,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Latest entry in Gaslight Mystery another thrillride, June 9, 2007

By 

Christina Lockstein "Christy's Book Blog" (Oconto Falls, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Murder In Chinatown (Gaslight Mystery) (Hardcover)

Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson is the latest entry in the Gaslight mystery series. I've fallen in love with Thompson's tales of Knickerbocker turned midwife Sarah Brandt and her ally Detective Frank Malloy, and while this tale doesn't satisfy on every point, it's definitely a good read. Sarah is summoned to Chinatown to attend the birth of Cora Lee, a Irish girl who's married a Chinese businessman. Sarah soon meets the rest of the Lee family with both its Irish and Chinese roots and sees the effects of American xenophobia. Chinese women are not allowed in the US, so Chinese men marry Irish girls who are hoping for something more than life in a tenement and aren't afraid to face the racism they will face with their mixed marriage. When Cora's biracial niece, Angel, disappears, Sarah does her best to investigate without infuriating Malloy who wants her to stay out of trouble. Sarah's newly acquired daughter Catherine encourages her to watch her own safety as well. Maybe that's why this story has a little less teeth than previous entries. Soon, Angel turns up dead, and Malloy is on the case, both to make sure it is solved in New York's climate of ignoring crimes against minorities and to ensure that Sarah stays out of it. Thompson has created considerable heat between her lead characters in previous books, but in this one, only a few glances are exchanged. Perhaps because Sarah and Malloy are thinking so much about each other, they miss the obvious clues to the real killer, or maybe Thompson is making a statement about how judging purely on appearance can lead to tragic consequences. The climax is powerful as both Malloy and Sarah realize what they have missed. The denouement promises interesting things to come for the Gaslight series. I can only hope for a little more romance and a little more excitement.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder in New York, February 8, 2008

By 

S. Feicht "seefeicht" (Rensselaer, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder In Chinatown (Gaslight Mystery) (Hardcover)

Midwife Sarah Brandt is thrust into yet another mystery while delivering a baby. The daughter of a Chinese businessman and his Irish wife goes missing. Sarah asks Detective Sergeant Mulloy for insight into how to find the girl. What she finds is murder and it takes both Sarah and Mulloy to solve the mystery. The fascinating backdrop of New York's Chinatown as the twentieth century looms, is the main character of the book. Thompson steeps her series in history but you never know there is a history and sociological lesson within the pages. The only reason five stars wasn't given, is that the murderer is apparent with still 100 pages to go.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder in New York's Victorian Era Chinatown, November 5, 2007

By 

L. Kelly (Lakewood, CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder In Chinatown (Gaslight Mystery) (Hardcover)

This is the ninth (and most recent )entry in the Gaslight Mystery series by Victoria Thompson. These mysteries are set in turn-of-the-century New York City and feature the crime-solving team of widowed midwife Sarah Brandt and NYPD Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy. In this story, the two investigate the murder of Angle Lee, a young Chinese/Irish girl who was promised in marriage to an older Chinese man. To avoid the marraige arranged by her father, Angel runs off and marries an Irish boy, and then is discovered murdered outside of her new home. This story focuses a lot on the prejudices which the Chinese immigrants living in New York City faced at this time. I enjoyed learning the details about New York's turn-of-the-century Chinatown which author Thompson gives in this story.

However, I was a little disappointed in the lack of development of the series' main characters, the midwife Sarah Brandt and the NYPD Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy. I hope the next book in this series will move along the relationship between these two. Nonetheless, "Murder in Chinatown" is another enjoyable read in this great series of histrical mysteries.