Brooklyn on Fire by Lawrence H. Levy

Blurb: After closing a case with the Brooklyn Police Department, Mary Handley is determined to become an official detective in her own right. And when Emily Worsham shows up at her new office— convinced her uncle John Worsham was murdered and desperate for answers—Mary’s second assignment begins.

As she investigates the curious circumstances surrounding John’s death, Mary soon finds herself entangled in a high-stakes family scandal, a series of interconnected murders, political corruption, untrustworthy sources, and an unexpected romance with a central member of New York’s elite.

Featuring historic figures like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and the Vanderbilt family, Brooklyn on Fire takes Mary on a wild journey from New York City to North Carolina to uncover not only the truth of one man’s death, but to unravel the mystery in three murders – with links tied perilously close to her own personal world.

4 stars

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.  This book took me a while to get through.  It had so much going on that I confess to not being smart enough to figure out the whodunit till the very end.  This happens so rarely that I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.  There were so many things wrapped up in the plot that I got confused and lost interest for a bit.  The many crimes that happened seemed to be separate but by the end you get a clear picture of how they were connected.

Mary is a feminist in a world before it was cool to be that way.  She is extremely smart and charming and has a knack for making the men in her life see past her gender.  One of the best things I enjoyed about this book is that a lot of the things that occurred in the book also happened in real life.  The notes in the back of the book were very interesting to look through.  And it had a bunch of questions specifically designed for book clubs.

I loved her rational approach and her ambition to want more than her gender normally had at that time.  I also was quite impressed with her selfless approach to her love life and how she didn’t care what most people thought.  She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, but she wasn’t reckless and knew when to remain silent as well.

Her family life is the opposite of her professional life giving her character a nice contrast that I enjoyed. Even though this is the second book in the series, you can read it as a stand alone.  I would recommend this book to mystery lovers.  I really dig the cover too.