Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson

After a routine delivery, midwife Sarah Brandt visits her patient in a rooming house and discovers that another boarder, a young girl, has been killed. At the request of Sergeant Frank Malloy, she searches the girl's room, and discovers that the victim is from one of the most prominent families in New York and the sister of an old friend. The powerful family, fearful of scandal, refuses to permit an investigation. But with Malloy's help, Sarah begins a dangerous quest to bring the killer to justice before death claims another victim.

This story was very interesting but the ending caught me off guard. I really enjoyed reading about how the unlikely pair of police detective and midwife were able to work together and how they uncovered the clues to this murder of a young 16 year old girl. I did feel the ending was a bit over the top but this is the first book I've read by this author so I wasn't sure what to expect. Now I'm very curious what will happen in the next book.

Full disclosure: This book was won in a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

When it comes to mysteries, I won't pretend to be well versed in the subject. In fact, I have not read very many of them, mostly because I find it difficult to keep track of who said what, and who did what and at what time. But when I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, I was excited because this book was a short length, so it made me think that this was more manageable than most other mysteries. Now, after reading it, I can say that it is a fun experience and I am excited to read into the series.

The best aspect of this book is how the two leads, Sarah Brandt and Frank Mallory, play off each other. With Sarah being a midwife, she can get in with the right people that the police can never consider, meanwhile Frank, as a police Detective, can use his resources and his authority to go places it would be impractical for Sarah to be. I liked how these two played off each other, and we got to see the motivations behind each of them wanting to solve the murder. Their dialogue was well done, and it was well played in terms of making them believable.

The setting was also nicely done. With someone like me, who is a history buff, I liked all the little touches that made the setting come alive, such as how people lived in various different areas of the city, and the mentions of Teddy Roosevelt was also a nice touch. The setting was an especially nice change of pace, compared to it being in Victorian-era England, which has been done to death, in my opinion.

This makes me enjoy the book, and I am excited to see where it goes. Even if I did find the ending to be a little cliched, in terms of how the murderer was defeated, I still enjoyed this book. I give it a four out of five.