Antonio’s new Irish wife is in labor, but she is two months early. Midwife Sarah Brant is called to the Ruocco family for a birth in their home over their Italian restaurant. It’s not too hard to figure out who committed the murder and why – nor is it hard to figure out who is the father – but there are still twists and turns to enjoy as well as the chemistry between Frank and Sarah (and the final performance by CB). Sarah suspects murder, rival gang turf war in stirring in the streets, she calls in Frank, and the fun begins….this book was a little more obvious than some of the others. Sarah returns in the morning, and what do you know? DIL is found dead in her bed. DIL could care less about the baby she has just delivered, who is a terrible inconvenience, and she is happy to let her barren SIL M help out in the meantime. Sarah convinces Mama Ruocco that the DIL only just delivered the baby and that she should at least be able to rest the night and leave in the morning. Mama Ruocco tells the daughter-in-law, in no uncertain terms, that she is to pack up and crawl back home to her mother because she and the baby are not welcome in her house. The quick -tempered Italian Matriarch barely tolerated her daughter-in-law to begin with but now she is hurling insult after insult to the “Irish Mick” whore who ensnared her youngest son – lots of prejudice here between the immigrant classes. What ho? This vastly premature infant is a robust full-term baby and everyone is counting the months back to the time that the couple first met (about five or six months prior to the delivery). She must deliver a vastly premature baby to the fifteen year old wife of the family’s youngest son. Sarah Brandt is called to the Italian immigrant family who live above their successful (and Sarah’s favorite) Italian Restaurant. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can try to pick up where I left off…where was I?.Oh, yes. I have grown so used to her voice that when I read GM#9&10 I wanted to boo Suzanne Toren off the stage (no offense ST, but your reading of Sarah Brandt and Frank Malloy have forever changed the vision of them in my imagination - the former now sounds dowdy and the latter gruff - where's the romance in that?). I was brooding over the fact that this is the last of the GM's read by Callie Beaulieu. It was a melancholy review so maybe it's just as well. This one shines a light on the prejudices against the Irish and Italian immigrant communities, a sad commentary on how little has changed in over a century.ĭid I really just erase my review!?! Aughhh. Every book is an educational experience nestled in between an interesting mystery. The author gets so much right about turn-of-the-century (early 1900s) New York. It took me a little longer to figure out the identity of the killer as the clues were murky and the list of potential suspects was just about everyone in the family! I loved the ease in which Frank and Sarah now operate with each other and there are a couple of really tender moments. I figured out the baby’s paternity rather quickly but it was terribly entertaining to follow Frank Malloy and Sarah as they try and untangle this mess. It’s murder when Sarah determines her death isn’t related to the childbirth. When she returns to check on the mother and child the next morning, she walks into chaos as the mother’s death is discovered. It’s obvious that the gestation date is off by a couple of months, which sets off a firestorm in the Ruocco family as the baby’s paternity is now in question. Sarah Brandt is summoned to attend to the birth of a supposedly premature baby in Little Italy but she’s amazed when she ends up delivering a healthy and robust boy. Victoria Thompson is has also written 20 historical romances. After reading many books about the village, and spending many pleasant hours dining, shopping, and just wandering the streets, I was permanently hooked!" "I became enchanted by New York City, and Greenwich Village in particular, while one of my daughters attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2012, where she has been a mentor and lecturer for 20 years. In her previous life, Victoria Thompson was the bestselling author of twenty historical romances. She also contributed to the award winning writing textbook MANY GENRES/ONE CRAFT and authored a short story for the anthology, SHERLOCK HOLMES IN AMERICA. Six of her Gaslight Mysteries were nominated for an Agatha Award. ![]() She was nominated for an Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America in 2001, and in 2012 she received a Career Achievement Award in Mystery Writing from RT Magazine. Victoria Thompson is the USA Today bestselling author of the Edgar® and Agatha nominated Gaslight Mystery series and the Sue Grafton Memorial Award nominated Counterfeit Lady Series.
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