Book Review: Murder in Midtown by Liz Freeland (Louise Faulk Mysteries #2)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong story and characters

Cons: None for me

The Bottom Line:

Office in ashes

With body of boss inside

Strong plot keeps moving

Louise Faces a Hot Second Case

It can get easy for books to slip down my to be read pile.  After enjoying the first Louise Faulk mystery, I bought the second, and left it for two years.  But I recently picked up Murder in Midtown, and I completely enjoyed it.

This is a historical mystery, and it takes us back to 1913 New York City.  Louise is a recent transplant to the city, and she is finding she loves it there.  She’s been working at a publishing company, but after solving a murder earlier in the summer when her roommate’s cousin was killed in their apartment, she has decided to try to join the police.  The department has just opened up to allow a few female cops to join, and Louise is excited to be taking the test.

And that test turns out to be the reason Louise is late to work on the fateful day.  When she arrives, she finds her co-workers standing around outside their burned down building.  Unfortunately, the police find human remain inside the building, that of the younger owner of the company – Guy Van Hooten.

Guy had inherited his part of the business from his father, which meant he wasn’t that interested in it.  It was rare for him to show up before noon.  So what was he doing at work first thing in the morning?  Why didn’t he get out of the fire in time?  With her office burned down, Louise has time on her hands while she awaits the results of her exam to join the police, so she starts to investigate.  Can she find the truth?

Considering the first book in the series had set up Louise working at this publishing company, I was rather surprised when I saw what the premise for book two was going to be.  But it worked and it worked well.  Naturally, most of the suspects had played supporting roles in the first book, which I really enjoyed seeing.  They got more developed since they were no longer background characters, and I had a hard time figuring out what exactly was going on until the end.  There are plenty of other returning characters as well, and I enjoyed spending time with them again.

The mystery is strong, and Louise’s attempts to join the police is equally as strong.  I was surprised by several twists in both storylines, which kept me engaged.  I was always reluctant to set down the book when I had to return to the real world.

There’s yet another fun sub-plot (the book really is packed) involving one of Louise’s friends that brings in a real person.  I got a kick out of that.  It helped bring the world of 1913 to vivid life as I was reading.

I’m sorry that I put off reading Murder in Midtown as long as I did.  There is only one more book in the series, and I hope to get to it sooner rather than later.