Last Stop in Brooklyn by Lawrence H. Levy

Last Stop in Brooklyn (Mary Handley, #3)

by Lawrence H. Levy

The third book in the Mary Handley Mystery series features Mary's most dangerous and personal case yet. 

It's the summer of 1894, and an infidelity case has brought PI Mary Handley to a far corner of Brooklyn: Coney Island. In the midst of her investigation, Mary is contacted by a convicted man's brother to reopen a murder case. A prostitute was killed by a Jack the Ripper copycat years ago in her New York hotel room, but her true killer was never found. Once again it's up to Mary to make right the city's wrongs.

New York City's untouchable head of detectives, Thomas Byrnes, swears he put the right man behond bars, but as Mary digs deeper, she finds corruption at the heart of New York's justice system, involving not only the police, but the most powerful of stock titans. Disturbing evidence of other murders begins to surface, each one mimicking Jack the Ripper's style, each one covered up by Thomas Byrnes.

As Mary pieces together the extent of the damage, she crosses paths with Harper Lloyd, an investigative reporter. Their relationship grows into a partnership, and perhaps more, and together they must catch a killer who's still out there, and reverse the ruthless workings of New York's elite. It's Mary's most dangerous, most personal case yet.

Don’t miss any of Lawrence H. Levy’s enchanting Mary Handley mysteries:
SECOND STREET STATION • BROOKLYN ON FIRE • LAST STOP IN BROOKLYN • NEAR PROSPECT PARK (Coming Soon!)

Reviewed by annieb123 on

3 of 5 stars

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Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Last Stop in Brooklyn is the third of the Mary Handley Mysteries by Lawrence Levy. Due out 9th January, 2018, this entry pits Brooklyn's first female consulting detective against anarchists, corrupt business tycoons, crooked politicians, a serial killer, and her overbearing mother.

I love period mysteries, especially with feisty female sleuths. I'm used to allowing a fair bit of latitude for anachronism and style to make books more readable for modern audiences.

The book is thoroughly readable, but had too much superficial snark (for snark's sake) which made it seem very modern when read. It didn't seem like a period mystery at all, except for references to famous local attractions (like the Elephantine Colossus on Coney Island). The language was anachronistic as well. Though the word 'f*ck' was probably in use at the end of the 19th century (1894), it wasn't all that common (according to Wikipedia) until the mid 20th century and having the female protagonist use the word several times felt somewhat jarring to me.

The dialogue and plotting were well paced with several interwoven plot-lines which resolve into a (mostly) tidy denouement. There is a problem with the serial killer plotline (why are the records sealed for those murders??). It's certainly an entertaining ride, even though the constant (but sadly not historically inaccurate) racism and sexism in the book are wearying. There are multiple racist and unflattering pejoratives used for black, Jewish, Irish and female persons in the book as well as a surprising (to me) amount of cursing for a period cozy mystery. I wasn't offended (in context, obviously) but it did yank me out of the story, to some degree.

There's always some risk involved in writing narrative fiction which includes historical characters and verifiable dates and events. I found no obvious errors with dates, but wasn't thorough in checking. The characterizations of some of the robber barons was a little two dimensional (again, to my taste).

All in all, an entertaining and well written period cozy mystery with some caveats. I finished it in two sittings and enjoyed reading it.

Three stars


Stats: Last Stop in Brooklyn
Author: Lawrence H. Levy
Publisher: Crown Publishing
320 pages, Kindle and Paperback formats
Anticipated release: 09 Jan, 2018

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

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