Hush Now, Don't You Cry

January 16, 2012
Agatha-winner Bowen’s suspenseful 11th Molly Murphy mystery (after 2011’s Bless the Bride) takes Molly and her new husband, NYPD captain Daniel Sullivan, to Newport, R.I., for their honeymoon in the fall of 1903. Late one night, in the midst of a torrential downpour, the couple arrive at their ocean-front lodgings, a “cottage” offered to them by New York City alderman Brian Hannan, only to discover the gates locked. Just before they decide to seek shelter elsewhere, Molly spots the face of a maniacally laughing child in a window. Hannan apparently never told anyone in his family of his invitation to the Sullivans, which puts them in an awkward position after Hannan turns up dead under circumstances that suggest murder. Since their host isn’t alive to confirm their story, the pair fall under suspicion, and Molly must once again do some sleuthing. An unusually tricky solution makes this one of the better entries in the series.