Murder in Manhattan
Verity Bright
290 pages
Bookouture
published June 30, 2023
About the book
Glitzy parties, sightseeing at the Statue of Liberty and strolls through Central Park with Gladstone the bulldog… Lady Eleanor Swift is loving her first trip to the city that never sleeps, until she witnesses a murder!
After crossing from England on the SS Celestiana, Lady Eleanor Swift sets up her home-away-from-home in a lavish apartment in New York City. She is soon the toast of the town, with no high-class soirée complete without her presence. Of course, she drags her butler Clifford and Gladstone the bulldog along to every party too.
But when she witnesses the charming doorman of her building, Marty, knocked down and killed in a hit-and-run, she finds fashionable society suddenly closes rank. The only local detective interested in helping her find the culprit is street-smart beat cop, Officer Balowski.
Resolved to get justice for Marty and his family, Eleanor searches Marty’s tiny apartment and is shocked to find five rolls of banknotes tucked under the floorboards. Money talks, but Marty was struggling to make ends meet, so where did the cash come from?
The next day, wealthy entrepreneur and flashy philanderer Ogden P. Dellaney – a man Marty used to work for – is found dead downtown, miles away from his swanky Upper East Side mansion. Eleanor and Balowski are sure the deaths are connected, but not even Dellaney’s wife is willing to answer their questions.
Then Eleanor is served with an eviction notice and Balowski is fired from the NYPD. It becomes clear that something is rotten in the Big Apple and Eleanor is determined to get to the core of the mystery before the murderer strikes again…
Murder in Manhattan is a fun, fast-paced and twisty Golden Age cozy mystery set in New York. Fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss will be glued to the pages.
My Review
How have I not known about this series? So fun and entertaining all wrapped up in a historical cozy. And it takes place during one of my favorite eras, the 1920s (OK I just had to go back and add the 19 – Yikes). While I am sure the series is more enjoyable being read in its entirety, this book can be read as a standalone. This is the only one I have read and i had no trouble following it and really enjoyed it.
Lady Eleanor is in New York with her court and has witnessed another murder. My only gripe with cozy mysteries is how do these people have any friends left? When the New York police and the elite company Eleanor is keeping all don’t want to investigate, our amateur sleuth is hot on the case. She along with one NYC cop start poking around and this just brings trouble to them both.
New York City with all it has to offer is a great setting and I really felt it as I read. I like the supporting cast and their quirky personalities. This was a quick, easy read that captivated me from the start. I’m not sure murder has ever been this fun. I even laughed out a few times.
Author Bio:
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s. Follow Verity Bright on Twitter here.
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