Book Review: Vanished in the Crowd by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles (Molly Murphy #22)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Molly and the rest of the regulars, historical setting

Cons: Theme becomes lecture, uneven plot

The Bottom Line:

Tons of tourists

But can Molly find just one?

Uneven entry

The Theme Never Vanished - And That’s a Problem

I’ve been a fan of the Molly Murphy series since the beginning. But the recent entries have been a bit uneven. Sadly, Vanished in the Crowd is one of the weaker ones. 

When we first met Molly, she was an immigrant on the run coming through Ellis Island in 1901. Over the previous 21 books, we’ve watched her make her own living as a detective and fall in love with Daniel Sullivan. The two are now married, raising their own two children and a young teen they’ve adopted along the way. While Molly officially gave up being a detective when she married, that hasn’t stopped her from getting involved in some rather mysterious situations in the years since. 

In this book, we join Molly in September of 1909. New York City is bursting at the seams as an estimated two million visitors are in town for a celebration or the three hundredth anniversary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the Hudson River. Some of those visitors are staying with Molly’s dear neighbors Sid and Gus. However, one of those women never arrives. No one seems to know where she is; even her husband doesn’t know. So Molly agreed to try to find her. But in a large city overflowing with people, where can she even start?

There was a good mystery here. Well, a potentially good mystery, anyway. I was caught up in the events early on and was interested in seeing how Molly would succeed and what she’d uncover along the way. But, the end was a bit weaker than I hoped since I figured out things before Molly did. 

Then there’s my usual complaint about Molly’s husband. Each book, he seems to make progress toward accepting how good a detective she is. Then we regress back to his old attitude for the start of the next book. I get it – his attitude is realistic for the time. But I am so tired of seeing this “character development” happen over and over again. It’s time to move on to something else. 

Which brings us to the theme. We are talking about women’s rights in general and the right to vote in particular. Now, hear me carefully. The status women had in society in 1909 was bad. We needed the changes we’ve had in society since then. And, as part of a mystery, I don’t mind that. But we got more than that here. We had characters talking about how it wasn’t right followed by Molly thinking about it in the first-person narration. Then we’d have another scene talking about it. It felt like much more of a lecture than part of a mystery. 

Which is a shame because I still find the characters charming. Yes, even Daniel can be charming. I want to enjoy my time with them. 

And I always enjoy the bits of history we get in these books. 

Having said all of this, I will definitely be picking up the next in the series as soon as possible. And other fans will be joining me. 

I do enjoy my time with Molly even if the stories could be stronger. Long time fans will feel the same when they set down Vanished in the Crowd. 

Enjoy more of Molly’s NYC with the rest of the Molly Murphy Mysteries. 

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.