Death of a New American

February 1, 2019
When ladies' maid Jane Prescott goes with the Benchley family to a Long Island estate to oversee the approaching wedding of daughter Louise Benchley, she expects the usual domestic dramas--but is shocked when a nanny at the estate is murdered.Jane is an astute and shrewd observer, and the news of 1912, especially the sinking of the Titanic, is on everyone's mind. But the press is also filled with news of the so-called Black Hand, the Italian crime syndicate. Leading the fight against this group is Deputy Police Commissioner Charles Tyler, who, with his glamorous wife, Alva, was already a press darling for his glamorous worldwide travels. Now Alva is a mother and oversees life at their Long Island estate, where their nephew, William, is to marry Louise. Once there, Jane befriends the Tylers' young Italian nanny, Sofia, but soon after their meeting, Sofia is found murdered. Was this retribution from the Black Hand? As Jane discusses the case with her journalist friend, Michael Behan, she begins to have doubts as to the killer and the motive behind the murder. Fredericks, who introduced Prescott in A Death of No Importance (2018), has obviously done her research about the period but sometimes seems to create scenes just to prove this. Otherwise, the plot moves along at a dull but leisurely pace to its unsurprising conclusion.Fredericks' heroine has an acerbic wit that occasionally flashes, but it's hard to sustain interest in this effort stocked with mainly stock characters.

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Starred review from March 1, 2019
Fredericks' Gilded Age New York is a maelstrom of clashing fortunes. In the upper echelon are the wealthy Tylers, whose crime-fighting patriarch maintains his family in Long Island luxury, hiding them from the Black Hand (as the book explains, this hysterical moniker was fabricated by the lurid-leaning press of the day). Among the less-gilded is the Tyler's nanny, Sofia, who is discovered murdered, with the Black Hand an easy scapegoat. Visiting servant Jane feels there's more to the killing and undertakes to find out what happened to Sofia, discovering a reality as unexpected as it is memorable. Although it works fine as a stand-alone, this fast-moving, second entry in the series (after A Death of No Importance, 2018) builds an immersive account of life in the early twentieth century; Downton Abbey elements make their appearance, and glimpses of the suffrage debate, Teddy Roosevelt's prospects, and the Titanic horror make the outside world more real. Readers will await more adventures with the plucky, wise Jane. Try this with patrons who enjoyed Jessica Fellowes' The Mitford Murders (2018) and with fans of mysteries that have solid historical-fiction underpinnings.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

Starred review from March 1, 2019

Although the headlines in April 1912 are about the sinking of the Titanic and the women's suffragist movement, ladies' maid Jane Prescott is concerned with the upcoming wedding of Louise Benchley to William Tyler. She accompanies the Benchleys to Long Island, NY, to the estate of Charles Tyler, who is famous for finding a kidnapped child and putting down the Black Hand Italian mafia. Jane's surprised to find the Tyler children have an Italian nanny, Sofia, and befriends young Mabel Tyler, who rushes to Jane when her baby brother is screaming one night. Jane is the one to discover the nanny's body and the window open but doubts that Sofia was in league with the Black Hand. Louise's father seems to doubt it as well, because he asks Jane to once again work with reporter Michael Behan to uncover the truth. VERDICT This follow-up to A Death of No Importance (a 2018 LJ Best Crime Fiction pick) is slow to develop, but with an astute amateur sleuth whose evaluation of the roles and positions of women is a crucial element, and a topical story line that emphasizes the immigrant experience and women's lives, this title comes highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 10/8/18.]--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2019

In this follow-up to the LJ-starred debut A Death of No Importance, ladies maid Jane Prescott sojourns with the Benchleys in 1912 Long Island for the marriage of daughter Louise to William Tyler at his parents' stately mansion. The murder of the Tyler children's nanny is interpreted as the botching of a kidnapping meant as vengeance for Charles Tyler's crusade against the notorious Black Hand, but Jane begins to wonder.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.