For the Love of Mike

For the Love of Mike
3.5 Stars

Hired to investigate a case of industrial espionage, Molly Murphy soon finds herself ensconced in a sweatshop facing the tyranny of the overseers, the threats of street gangs and the workings of union organizers. When a friend is murdered, Molly must sort out who amongst her enemies and allies is the killer.

The mystery in this installment is relatively minor and takes a back seat to the focus on the plight of the garment workers in turn of the century New York. The historical details are interesting and Bowen's research is excellent, particularly the descriptions of the awful working conditions in the sweatshops as well as the inclusion of a fire, which is obviously based on factual events.

Molly is an show more endearing heroine and her detecting skills are improving. Nevertheless, she does not always think about the consequences of her actions, which often land her in serious trouble.

Molly's relationship with Daniel Sullivan had such potential at the start of this series, but has taken an awkward turn with the revelation of his fiancee, whom he is reluctant to leave. This does not reflect well on him at all as a love interest and it will take a great deal for him to redeem himself. That said, it is good to see Molly stand up for herself in this regard.

All in all, a good addition to the series and I look forward to more of Molly's cases. show less

Molly Murphy, a brave and spunky immigrant from Ireland has started up her PI business in NYC, taking over from Paddy Riley, who was murdered in The Death of Riley. Molly is feeling good after solving her first mystery, Paddy's murder and takes on a new case. Mr Mostel, runs a sweatshop in the garment district and his designs are being stolen and sold to Mr Lowenstein's shop. He hires Molly to go undercover to find out who is stealing his designs.

Molly also takes out an ad in an Irish newspaper, offering to find relatives in NYC of those back in Ireland. She receives a request from an Englishman to locate his daughter who has runaway to America with a local troublemaker.

As Molly goes undercover in the garment district, she is appalled show more at the working conditions and ends up helping the girls as they try to form a union and get better working conditions.

While looking for Katherine, the runaway, Molly brushes up with the Eastsiders, a local violent gang and finds herself in danger several times over.

On the romantic front, Molly is not waiting around for police Captain Daniel Sullivan to end his engagement with his rich fiance, and she meets and becomes involved with Jacob Singer, a union leader.

review: I enjoyed this third in the Molly Murphy series very much. Bowen again does a fantastic job of creating memorable characters and painting a realistic portrait of New York in 1901, which is a wonderful backdrop for her excellent mystery stories.

rating: 4.5/5
reread- someday after I finish the series
recommend- definitely show less

This is book 3 in the Molly Murphy series. Molly is a recent immigrant to New York from Ireland. She wants to be a private investigator and has (due to circumstances in book 2) taken over the PI company where she was initially hired at a very low level. But in the early 20th century in New York City – when gangs are rampant – trying to do this alone, as a woman, is very very difficult. Even so, she gets two jobs at the same time.

One is via a man who runs a clothes-making factory (a la Triangle Shirtwaist Factory), who knows someone is stealing designs from him and giving them to a rival, who then comes out with the designs first. So, he hires Molly to first work for him for a while, then go get a job with the rival to see if she can show more figure out who is stealing the designs. At the same time, Molly receives a letter from Ireland from a father looking for his daughter who ran off to New York with her boyfriend, who was staff of the family; the relationship was frowned upon.

The two cases do intersect, and I was interested in both of them. I have read a few books about the Triangle factory fire, so I already had an idea of the conditions those girls’ worked in. I also enjoy Molly’s backstory and the majority of the secondary characters, especially Sid and Gus. show less

Molly Murphy is forging her way into becoming a private detective. An unheard of life choice for a woman in 1901 New York, especially when she’s a fairly new arrival from Ireland.

She is finishing up a case of a possible philandering husband. It is not a favourite job, but it does help pay the bills. As a way to generate more cases, she advertises her service for reuniting families living on opposite sides of the Atlantic. He ad in the Dublin Times newspaper brings her a letter from a family in Ireland hoping to find their daughter who ran away with one of the estate workers, to get married in America. It is the type of case she has was wanting.

In the meantime, she has also taken on a case for the owner of a garment factory. It seems show more there is a thief in his company. His original dress designs show up in stores a week before they have been sent to the buyers, sporting his competitor’s label.
These three cases keep Molly very busy and also take her to the seamier parts of town; Tammany Hall gangs, factory sweatshops, the docks and fish market. Places a lady shouldn’t be.

Reading of this era re-enforces how difficult life was for women and immigrants. Mem felt women were the ‘weaker’ sex, even though it was the women who did the heavier work. Immigrants had no rights, so the jobs available would be low in pay and status. Life was not easy.

Molly’s determinedness to see things through and help those who need it carries the plot. Also her rashness in actions that can get her into some tight spots. show less

Third in the Molly Murphy historical mystery series featuring a young Irish immigrant in early 1900’s New York. Molly is struggling to make it as a private investigator, having appropriated her former boss’s business—since he’s dead, he really can’t complain about it, and no family has stepped forward to claim the business or his money. She’s finding it difficult, since women don’t have the same freedoms men do, and she’s dragged off to jail several times by constables who are often bribed off and just as corrupt as the criminals they’re supposed to be arresting. Molly takes a job as a garment worker to try to ferret out for the boss of the company who’s stealing designs from him and selling them to another company, show more and the horrible working conditions she experiences sparks a desire to help organize the workers. She also takes on a missing persons case, a young English woman who ran off with her father’s stable worker, a charming Irish fellow, and sailed to America. The two cases soon intersect, and Molly finds herself in the middle of the fray, getting noticed by the Eastman gang, being rescued from jail by Captain Daniel Sullivan, the policeman she’s fallen in love with but cannot have as he’s betrothed to a young lady of ‘good birth’ and will not break the engagement for fear of hurting his chances of promotion in his job. Molly also meets another interesting young man, a photographer who is working on the side of organizing trade unions. Jacob, a young Jewish man, seems interested in her, and she is caught between the two trying to decide what to do. (Typical! This ‘torn between two lovers’ thing better not carry on book after book or I’m going to be steamed. LOL) I do enjoy this series, though Molly seems to do some awfully stupid things at times, ‘fiercely independent woman’ or no. I enjoy her supporting characters as well, and the settings and mysteries are also interesting. Looking forward to the next in series. show less

Molly's back for a third entry, and early 1900's New York continues to embrace a fierce and bright young spirit. Struggling to make her way as a PI, Molly's taken over Paddy Riley's investigative business following his murder ("Death of Riley"), although the old man might well have said such a thing wouldn't happen except over his dead body.

She continues to find the difficulties of detective work for a woman, being dragged off to jail several times under mistaken pretenses, where her sometimes-beau Capt. Daniel Sullivan definitely comes in handy. The issue of corruption in the police force in Tammany days is brought up and makes an interesting thread.

Molly and Daniel continue their romantic struggles thanks to his hemming and hawing show more over his loveless but very proper engagement to a Society girl, and Molly now brings the affections of Jacob Singer, a Jewish photographer, into the mix.

Tangling with the gangs of New York, widespread Tammany corruption, and a good, hard look at the brutal conditions of the garment industry of the time which produced the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire tragedy a decade later, give this book a proper feel for a bygone time and place. show less

Ok for a quick, mindless read but much too coincidental and surface to be called "good reading". One thing that's super bugging me about this series is that Molly finds herself in jail multiple times in the expanse of just a week or two. I highly doubt this is historically accurate---especially for a woman who looks of a better-than-rabble sort of class. In every case, of course, she struggles with whether or not to get Sullivan involved. ...and when he shows up, he gives her the same stretched out speech about losing another of her cat lives. This, coupled with the extremely fickle "romantic" heart of an otherwise intelligent Molly, made this one quite the yawner.