April 6, 2015
Set in late 19th-century Brooklyn, TV writer Levy’s bland first novel launches a series starring Mary Handley, a bright young woman who wants more out of life than the usual job in a sweatshop followed by marriage and children. Everyone, including her mother, disparages her ambitions. Then the suspicious death of bookkeeper Charles Goodrich, who once worked for Thomas Edison, gives her a chance to use her brains. Mary is soon interviewing such notables as Edison, financier J.P. Morgan, and scientist Nikola Tesla. Although her knowledge of murder and corpses is entirely academic, she runs rings around the clodhopper police, whose ranks include her own unsupportive brother. Levy does a good job presenting the period background, but all the characters are tissue-paper thin. From the beginning, there’s never any doubt that Mary will succeed, nor is there any good reason to care whether she does. Agent: Paul Fedorko, N.S. Bienstock.
April 1, 2015
A tough Brooklyn girl battles some titans of industry in late-19th-century New York. Bright, curious Mary Handley has been reduced to working in a sweat shop by her lack of family support. Her mother wants her to make a good marriage; her policeman brother has always been jealous of her; only her father supports her dreams. Her discovery at age 12 of a murdered man on a train fueled her impossible desire to be a detective. When Charles Goodrich, the fiance of Mary's friend Kate Stoddard, is murdered, Mary gets her chance at last. The police department, treating her as a pawn in a departmental power struggle, hires her with no expectation of success. Mary, who learned jujitsu from a friend's father, is tougher than she appears, but she prefers to use her quick wit to save her from trouble. The answers to the riddle of Charles' murder may lie in a journal he kept while he was working for Thomas Edison. Mary has a scientific bent and reveres Edison, but she's forced to acknowledge that he's not above stealing other people's inventions and trying to ruin the reputations of rival inventors like Nikola Tesla while doing deals with J.P. Morgan, a man who can never be wealthy enough and who may be willing to hire killers to advance his agenda. Although everyone tells Mary she has no chance to prove anything against the ruthless industrialists she's investigating, she's too stubborn to leave the case alone. Her sleuthing reveals many a dirty deal. Which of them got Charles killed? A promising series kickoff that presents a morally strong heroine with a mystery that cleverly intertwines fact and fiction.
Starred review from May 1, 2015
At age 12, Mary Handley observes a tall man leaving the railroad compartment of a murdered Frenchman. Although the conductor rules the death a suicide, Mary decides to become a detective, much to her mother's bewilderment. Never mind it was 1876, and careers for women were few. Twelve years later, while visiting her policeman brother at Brooklyn's Second Street station, Mary saves another cop from a knifing; her acumen in spotting the weapon is observed by police chief Patrick Campbell, who also admires her spirit, humor, and intelligence. After Charles Goodrich, the brother of a prominent Brooklyn alderman, is murdered, Campbell hires Mary as the city's first policewoman. Goodrich had left Thomas Edison's employment the day before, and J.P. Morgan, Edison, and Nikola Tesla want to know who killed him. VERDICT Based on an actual incident and featuring real people involved in the case, this stunning debut by Levy, an award-winning TV writer (Seinfeld; Family Ties; Roseanne), offers a thought-provoking look at life for women in the late 19th century as well as a perplexing murder investigation. Mary is an unconventional, unforgettable protagonist who will appeal to readers who enjoy Jacqueline Winspear (Maisie Dobbs), Sarah R. Shaber (Louise's War), or Susan Elia MacNeal (Mr. Churchill's Secretary).
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 1, 2015
Some of the icons of American history suffer embarrassing exposure in this debut mystery by screenwriter Levy. Relying heavily on the historical record to move the plot, Levy presents Mary Handley, an unconventional nineteenth-century female sleuth whom readers are sure to love, even as they forgive the author's occasional anachronistic outbursts ( I'm a lefty, you crazy bitch ) and sometimes banal phrasing ( A passion erupted inside of her, a passion she had never felt before ). Determined to become a detective, Handley successfully pokes her nose into a police murder investigation when Charles Goodrich, her friend's fiance, is found dead. Boldly marching into danger and sparring with famous power brokers like J. P. Morgan and Thomas Edison, both of whom she deems lacking in moral fiber, Mary overcomes trained killersusing her jujitsu skills and quick witsand even finds time to take a lover, in defiance of social propriety. Readers won't expect the surprise denouement as Handley steals the show and guarantees readership for a sequel. For fans of Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)