MURDER ON UNION SQUARE

4 stars out of 5

It took me a while to get into this book, mostly because I haven't read any others in the series (and since there have been more than 20, clearly I've missed a lot) and also because for whatever reason I didn't realize that it's a turn-of-the-century setting. Once I figured that out, though, the dialog and interactions among the characters made total sense; from then on, reading it was quite an enjoyable experience.

At the beginning, New York married couple Sarah (nee Brandt) and Frank Malloy (she a midwife and he a private detective) are hoping to adopt Catherine, a child Sarah apparently has been raising (how that came to be was, I suppose, the subject of an earlier book). They learn that the man Catherine's mother was married to isn't her birth father; and under the law, only the real father has parental rights and can sign over his daughter to the Malloys. Turns out he's Parnell Vaughn, an actor in a small, independent theater company, and he's more than willing to give up the child he neither knew nor wants anything to do with. His actress fiancee, though, isn't about to let him give something for nothing; ante up, she demands, or she'll put the kabosh on the deal.

Even though the real dad doesn't care about the money and such payments are illegal, Frank agrees; but when he returns to the theater with cash in hand, he finds that Parnell has been brutally murdered. Worse, since Frank gets covered with Parnell's blood when he inspected the body and nobody else seems to be around, Frank becomes the No. 1 suspect. Needless to say, he didn't do it - so he and his partner Gino, with help from Sarah, set out to prove his innocence.

There's no shortage of other suspects, including the aforementioned fiancee, a long-in-the-tooth actress who refuses to give up ingenue roles and act her age, her producer husband who would do anything to keep her happy and an agent who may have motives that are not in his clients' best interests. Helping to sort things out is Serafina, another character from an earlier book or books; as a medium, she just may be able to conjure up insights that will help get to the truth.

The action moves along quickly (although it does get a bit bogged down here and there by too-lengthy "what if" discussions among the characters). The writing is interesting and true to the period, and once in a while there's a touch of humor. The only thing I was never able to figure out, though, is why Frank is referred to by his first name in some instances and his last name in others (for a while, I actually thought they were two different people).

Still, I'm happy to find this series, a delightful combination of historical fiction and murder mystery. For sure, I'll be watching for the next installment. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance review copy.

Murder on Union Square by Victoria Thompson (Penguin Group, May 2018); 336 pp.