16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kidnapping and Spiritualists, April 2, 2005
When Daniel Sullivan says he has an assignment for her, Molly can hardly believe it. She's to go undercover to Senator Flynn's estate on the Hudson River. Posing as his cousin recently arrived from Ireland, she's to investigate the two spiritualists that the Senator's wife Theresa has hired to help her contact their son, who was killed in a kidnapping gone bad five years ago. When a woman falsely accused by reputation in the crime asks Molly to look into that, too, Molly agrees. But has she really learned enough about being an investigator to solve the two cases?
I made a discovery when I started this book. I truly love Molly and her friends. I hadn't realized how much I'd come to love them before this. Having said that, most of the action takes place outside of New York, so we really get Molly interacting with an entire new set of characters. The plot to this book in multi-layered, with two mysteries and several other sub-plots weaving nicely throughout. I found I had a hard time putting it down. I was disappointed that a couple key plot points on the mysteries seemed to happen by coincidence, but on the whole, it wasn't a major problem.
Ms. Bowen has written yet another engaging mystery that will please her fans. And if you haven't discovered her wonderful books yet, but all means pick one up. Either series will entertain and bring you back for more.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quick enjoyable historical mystery, April 20, 2005
I've enjoyed the Molly Murphy series from the very first book - Murphy's Law.
In this third visit with mischevious Molly, she gets to go undercover to investigate the shaky Sorenson sisters and their seances.
The story moves from turn of the century New York City to the more peaceful atmosphere of upper state New York.
Molly however doesn't find alot of peace and ever true to her Irish spunk & curiosity becomes involved with crimes of a more serious nature: kidnapping and murder.
Molly Murphy is not some plastic perfect PI. She ofter makes mistakes, but she learns from them. Even as the story wraps up we find Molly making a choice that only her next tale may reveal the consequences. Yet my money, as always, is with Molly.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A refreshingly old-fashioned mystery, April 27, 2005
IN LIKE FLYNN is the fourth novel in the Molly Murphy mystery series written by Rhys Bowen. Molly is the gritty young woman who could be the poster girl for women's rights a decade later than her time. She's a fiery red-haired colleen from Ireland who lives in New York City at the turn of the twentieth century. She practices the trade of private investigation as her livelihood. But her gender gets in the way much of the time. A former boyfriend, Captain Daniel Sullivan of the New York City Police Department, gives her a job that takes her out of the city. When she spends time in the Hudson River Valley at the private estate of a U.S. Senator, Barney Flynn, she escapes the ravages of a typhoid fever epidemic in the city.
Her job is to watch two spinster sisters at their trade. They assist persons in grief by contacting the dead through a séance. Daniel authorizes Molly to investigate the two for a reason to prosecute. He thinks they are bogus and play on the tragedies of their victims. The Senator's wife, Theresa, mourns her son who was kidnapped from the estate five years before. Her second child, Eileen, reminds her more of her loss. Theresa remains inconsolable, grasping at remote possibilities to reunite with her dead child.
Molly is shown as spunky, bright, energetic and living on the verge of propriety for a young woman of her day. However, she exhibits a vulnerability to feminine emotion that makes her real. She's moved on romantically but leans on her former lover for support. She's masquerading as a distant cousin from Ireland who visits the Flynns. But shadows from her past life thwart her in the form of a man she's been accused of killing back in her homeland.
Life at the turn of the century is a pallet drawn well in IN LIKE FLYNN. Bowen writes her characters well, especially the female side. Her men are not as easy to like, with the exception of the police detective. The butler, gardener, male secretary, and even the Senator are more predictable characters then their female counterparts. The Senator is a wanderer, chasing all young skirts on the property. At the same time he indulges his wife's whims and dominates her with petty minutia.
The mystery has twists and turns that lead to a pleasing outcome, though not altogether fulfilling. IN LIKE FLYNN isn't a story that yearns for a sequel, but it does leave the details of Molly's future open-ended. Thus, we'll look for the next Molly Murphy mystery at the bookstores.
A majority of modern mysteries deal with murder, mayhem and today's technologies. IN LIKE FLYNN is a pleasant change in the genre, relying on old-fashioned problem solving, without benefit of cell phones, computers and speeding police chases. Bowen's style is deserving of the awards she has received for her suspense-filled stories.
--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
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