Last Stop in Brooklyn

October 15, 2017
A female detective must be mentally, physically, and morally tough to solve crimes involving corruption at the highest level. The Brooklyn of 1894 includes many fine people, along with its share of bigots and more than its share of corrupt cops. Mary Handley is a private detective whose brother is a police officer and whose mother just wants her to get married. She's following Colleen, a woman whose husband thinks she's cheating on him. At a Coney Island hotel, Mary is horrified to see Colleen meeting attorney Walter Cooper, the husband of Mary's best friend. When Mary confronts a man who's been following her, he identifies himself as Basem Ben Ali and asks her to prove that his brother, Ameer Ben Ali, didn't murder the prostitute he was convicted of killing. In truth, Mary would much rather try to prove the brother innocent than find out whether Cooper's cheating. She finally discovers that Cooper's working on the case of a man severely injured when financier Russell Sage, a stock manipulator and friend of Gould, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller, was almost blown up by a bomber demanding money. Sage would rather spend his last penny on lawsuits then pay the injured man, and Colleen is a witness to what happened. Thankful that Cooper isn't cheating on his wife, she concentrates on Ameer's dilemma and discovers that his case is just one of many that feature a Ripper-like killer whose misdeeds have been systematically covered up by corrupt police brass. Mary has developed a professional and romantic relationship with reporter Harper Lloyd, who's helping Cooper with his case and is happy to join Mary in the hunt for the real killer. Her search pits her against titans of industry, white supremacists, and crooked cops, none of whom make her back down. The heroine (Brooklyn on Fire, 2016, etc.) finally unmasks a clever killer, but there's little to celebrate in this fact-based study of the corrupting power of money.

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October 30, 2017
Levy stumbles in his unfocused third mystery featuring New York consulting detective Mary Handley (after 2016’s Brooklyn on Fire). In 1894, Basem Ben Ali asks Mary to prove the innocence of his brother, Ameer, who was convicted three years earlier of murdering a prostitute in a style akin to Jack the Ripper’s. Mary soon suspects that Ameer, an Algerian immigrant, was framed by real-life police inspector Thomas Byrnes, who had promised to put the Ripper away in 36 hours should he come to the States. Mary’s policeman brother, Sean, helps her identify an intricate pattern of murders that mirror the Ripper’s as part of their effort to exonerate Ameer. Meanwhile, Byrnes and his corrupt circle get caught up in an elaborate mystery involving a bomb and a Vanderbilt-style robber baron. Excepting her sometimes charming banter with her journalist suitor, Mary is self-righteous and rude, spouting unsolicited lectures and crude vulgarities that would offend even in today’s relaxed society. Levy builds on fascinating 19th-century facts and figures, but anachronisms and unconvincing characterizations weaken the story’s appeal. Agent: Paul Fedorko, N.S. Bienstock.

December 1, 2017

When Mary Handley, Brooklyn's first female PI, is asked by a convicted man's brother to reopen a murder case, she uncovers evidence that similar Jack the Ripper-style killings have been covered up by the police. Fans of Alyssa Maxwell and Rhys Bowen will be drawn to this compelling, atmospheric historical that follows Brooklyn on Fire.--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2017
An adultery case brings consulting detective Mary Handley to Coney Island in the late nineteenth century, and she leaves with a high-stakes murder investigation on her hands after the brother of Ameer Ben Ali, currently imprisoned for the Ripper-like murder of a prostitute, requests her help in proving him innocent. Mary's investigations quickly show evidence of his innocence, but to clear Ben Ali's name, she must take on the corrupt head of detectives, his high-powered cronies, and their shady ties to the stock market. Jiujitsu skills and quick wits serve Mary well in this series' third episode and will win additional fans for the tough Irish American PI. Levy's talent for bringing history to life, both the everyday details and the roles of well-known figuresTeddy Roosevelt and Jacob Riis, for instanceshine in this well-plotted and fast-paced historical mystery. Readers unfamiliar with the series will want to grab the first two installments, Second Street Station (2015) and Brooklyn on Fire (2016). Fans of Charles Todd's Bess Crawford and Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy will enjoy Mary's bulldog tenacity, humor, and down-to-earth manner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)