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Summary
Summary
For fans of HBO's The Gilded Age , explore the dark side of the alluring world of America's 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries...
In Gilded Age New York, heiress Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter investigate crimes that take them from the slums of Five Points in lower Manhattan to the Fifth Avenue mansions of society's elite. In the late nineteenth century, women are particularly vulnerable . . .
LET THE DEAD KEEP THEIR SECRETS
Childbirth can be dangerous even for the wealthy. So when opera singer Claire Buchanan shows Prudence and Geoffrey a postmortem cabinet photograph of her deceased twin sister and newborn niece, they express sadness but not surprise. The popular black-bordered portraits are the era's way of coping with the devastating losses that plague every family. What makes this death different is that Claire is convinced Catherine and her child were murdered.
Prudence's friend is haunted by a sense of her sister's lingering presence, and by the conviction that her dead twin is demanding justice. Catherine's widower, Aaron Sorensen, is a cold, controlling man who swiftly remarried. Now his second wife is already pregnant and may be in terrible danger. In order to discover the truth and find evidence of Sorensen's guilt, Geoffrey will delve deep into his past while Prudence casts herself as his next victim--putting her own life at grave risk . . .
Author Notes
Rosemary Simpson is the author of two previous historical novels, The Seven Hills of Paradise and Dreams and Shadows , and two previous Gilded Age Mysteries, What the Dead Leave Behind and Lies that Comfort and Betray . She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Historical Novel Society. Educated in France and the United States, she now lives near Tucson, Arizona.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Simpson's suspenseful, atmospheric third Gilded Age mystery (after Lies That Comfort and Betray), New York opera singer Claire Buchanan, whose twin sister, Catherine, died in childbirth eight months earlier, calls on the services of Prudence MacKenzie and her investigative partner, Geoffrey Hunter. Death of both mother and child during birth was not unusual in 1889, but Claire believes that her twin's death was not natural. Catherine's husband, Aaron Sorensen, who inherited her wealth, is an unsuccessful gambler who married another heiress with indecent haste after her death, and his new wife is eight months pregnant. Geoffrey sets out to learn all he can about Aaron's past, while Prudence, fearing that Aaron's second wife and her child are also in danger, formulates a perilous plan to expose the gambler's murder-for-inheritance scheme. Simpson's New York is gritty and dark, and she convincingly portrays the era's fascinating macabre spiritualist beliefs, class and gender stereotypes, and racial prejudices. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary Agency. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
In Simpson's latest Gilded Age mystery, Claire Buchanan, an opera singer performing with the Met, hires Prudence Mackenzie and ex-Pinkerton agent Geoffrey Hunter to investigate the suspicious deaths of her twin sister, Catherine, and Catherine's newborn daughter. Claire is certain that her brother-in-law, Aaron Sorensen, murdered Catherine to obtain her sizable inheritance. Sorensen's behavior is undeniably suspicious; he's remarried scandalously soon, and his new wife, another heiress, is already in the late stages of pregnancy. Prudence and Geoffrey believe that Claire has identified a murderous pattern, especially after they spot alterations to the eyes of Catherine's postmortem portrait (a memento often commissioned by wealthy Gilded Age New Yorkers). Could the photographer have been masking evidence of suffocation? Virtually fearless, Prudence dives undercover as a grieving socialite, a spinster's companion, and a lonely heiress to unravel Sorensen's deadly con. Gritty period details, including the involvement of famed tenement photographer Jacob Riis, draw this thriller closer to Caleb Carr's The Alienist than to Anne Perry's Monk series, but fans of both will enjoy Simpson's unusual historical mystery.--Christine Tran Copyright 2018 Booklist
