Tell Me, Pretty Maiden

I really struggled to get into this one. There are several story lines going on at once and it seemed weird and very coincidental for them all to converge at the end. This one features Molly and Daniel teaming up---which actually took some fun out of it for me. Mostly because I am SO SICK of Daniel constantly running her down for wanting to follow her passion for detecting. He's really an idiot. Hope he shapes up soon.

Lovely, simply lovely.

I had/continue to have issues related to the societal restrictions placed upon women and the backward notions of some men (well, in this series its more than a few) with regard to the capabilities of women.

And actually of the people who hire Molly in this novel, they are all WOMEN (and okay, one man*):

1) the actress
2) the heiress
3) the lost soul
4) the potential fiancee's family *mother and father actually do the hiring

Yes, you read that correctly, there are 4 overapping and time consuming issues Molly has to figure out in this one- so busily fun!

And I love the hesistations that Molly has with regard to getting married... especially because there really wasn't a choice in the matter- you just got married, and show more that's that. show less

It is December, 1902 and Molly Murphy, female private detective is becoming very busy juggling three cases at once. We learn that the first case is trying to find the son of a very wealthy Jewish family whose automobile is discovered wreaked against a tree. Then she is approached by a Broadway musical star to find out whether her new play is being harassed by a ghost. Lastly, when Molly stumbles over the almost frozen body of a young woman buried in a snow bank in Central Park, she feels she must take on the care of this mysterious woman just to keep her out of the local asylum.

She has many friends and an admirer whose job as a New York police detective provides assistance and protection when things get dangerous. An enjoyable read show more which also provides information on what life may have been like in turn of the century New York City. show less

Molly & her friend NYPD Daniel Sullivan are strolling through Central Park on a cold winter's day when they stumble across a young woman unconscious in the snow..... Fearing the young woman's permanent incarceration in an insane asylum, Molly brings the young woman home...while she works on another case of a fading actress's near brush with a murderous ghost.

To complicate matters there is the case of burglary by a young college man & his subsequent disappearance.

Well written, it held my interest (even if I was able to figure things out) and I finished it in one night.

As time goes on, the previous Molly Murphy books fade into the mysterious and the unknown, forget that I do about them. The series of books, is in essence, something unique in its making. I've never seen a disparity and an unevenness in the writing prowess of the author. The result is a jagged writing style, as if the meaning of the prose is being written during an earthquake.

Rhys Bowen probably needs to keep adding ingredients to the mixture. She wants to overload us with information. She might be fearful of losing her reader's attention. For such an upbeat style, there are surprisingly lots of deaths in this series. There are victims, there are people whom you want to die yet they come back from the dead. Just ask Harry Potter.

The show more author's bane has always been a confusing finale. Here the trials of Jessie are the key to solving a couple of mysteries that are interrelated somehow. You forget or buy it nevertheless because the readers care about the stakes and the sympathetic characters. The villains do not - most times - appear before the heroine. Some of the original characters are absent, while new ones appear without being overbearing. There's a nice balance to the story and I can't put my finger on what made this book more successful(IMHO of course) than the others. Not a bad book to burn the midnight oil with. show less

If you like mysteries and you like historical fiction, here’s the book for you. It is set in New York City during the time of the renowned Sarah Bernhardt, before the women’s liberation movement, and when the Mafia was just becoming an issue for the police. Molly Murphy, a young, single woman who needs to earn a living, has a very inquiring mind which makes detecting the perfect job for her. She revels in the independence of having her own agency and chafes at the fashion of the day, which definitely hampers her physically, and by the fact that men don’t take her seriously. To her dismay, she often needs to resort to letting her gentleman friend, a policeman currently on suspension, ask the questions.

Molly’s friends worry that show more she is working too hard, so she determines to slow down. However, she finds herself unable to say no to prospective clients. While investigating the credentials of an intended bridegroom, she and Dan are summoned to the house of his former fiancé’s aunt who wants them to clear her nephew’s name. He has disappeared and is accused of theft and murder. Then one cold afternoon, they are walking in the park when they discover the body of a young woman lying in the snow. They get her to the hospital, where she begins to heal physically but can’t (or won’t) speak. One day Molly visits her just as hospital orderlies are preparing to take her to the mental hospital. Fearing that once the girl is lost in the quagmire of officious bureaucracy she’ll never again see the light of day, Molly has no recourse but to kidnap her and take her home with her. Meanwhile, a previous client summons her to the theater to exorcise a ghost.

Is there a connection between any of these cases? Has she stretched her desire to help beyond her abilities? Will Molly and Dan be able to work together to solve them? Will they be able to overcome her desire to be independent and his need to be the protector and wage earner? We can only hope so, because I’m sure you’ll want to read more about these two crime fighters. Definitely add Tell Me Pretty Maiden by Rhys Bowen to your summer reading list.
Reviewed by Sherry, Three Rivers Public Library show less

Good golly Miss Molly!! Another Molly Murphy story set in 1903 New York.

Molly a young woman from Ireland, becomes a private detective in this series of books by Rhys Bowen. Women in this day and age did not do such things and our Molly, once again, gets herself into some pretty interesting situations.

Murders and kidnappings rule the day. A good read!!