Book Review: In Like Flynn by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy #4)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Transports you to 1902 New York with a great plot and fun characters

Cons: Ending not as nice and neat as I normally like

The Bottom Line:

Trip out of city

Molly still finds mystery

And we're entertained

Kidnapping and Spiritualists

In Like Flynn is the fourth book in the Molly Murphy mystery series. Set in 1902 New York, it follows the adventures of Irish immigrant Molly Murphy. She is determined to become a private investigator, and gets involved in some interesting and historic situations along the way.

When police captain Daniel Sullivan says he has an assignment for her, Molly can hardly believe it. She's to go undercover to Senator Flynn's estate on the Hudson River. Posing as his cousin recently arrived from Ireland, she's to investigate the two spiritualists that the Senator's wife Theresa has hired to help her contact their son, who was killed in a kidnapping gone bad five years ago. When a woman falsely accused by reputation in the crime asks Molly to look into that, too, Molly agrees. But has she really learned enough about being an investigator to solve the two cases?

I made a discovery when I started this book. I truly love Molly and her friends. I started this series because of how much I love the author's other series, and I hadn't realized how much I'd come to love this series before this. Having said that, most of the action takes place outside of New York City, so we really get Molly interacting with an entire new set of characters and not the series regulars we've come to know.

The plot to this book in multi-layered, with two mysteries and several other sub-plots weaving nicely throughout. I found I had a hard time putting it down. I was disappointed that a couple key plot points on the mysteries seemed to happen by coincidence, but on the whole, it wasn't a major problem. My biggest problem is the ending, which leaves a few things hanging. The author's note does explain why, but it was a disappointment for me. As always, the historic detail is done very well. We are transported back in time without it slowing down the story a bit. And Molly's personal life has a couple of nice twists I can't wait to see followed up on in the next in the series.

Ms. Bowen has written yet another engaging mystery that will please her fans with In Like Flynn. And if you haven't discovered her wonderful books yet, but all means pick one up. Either series will entertain and bring you back for more.

And if you are interested in Molly, here's a list of the Molly Murphy Mysteries in order.