Book Review: In A Gilded Cage

Author: Rhys Bowen
Title: In A Gilded Cage
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publish Date: March 17, 2009
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Irish immigrant Molly Murphy and her New York City P.I. business are in the midst of a sweeping influenza epidemic and a fight for women’s suffrage that lands her in jail. Her betrothed, Police Captain Daniel Sullivan, finds her, but he hardly has time to bail her out, what with Chinese gangs battling for control of a thriving opium trade. The only consolation Molly can take from her vexing afternoon in the clink is that it made her some new friends among the Vassar suffragists---and brought her a pair of new cases.

For the first, Emily Boswell is convinced her miserly uncle stole her inheritance and wants Molly to uncover the truth behind her parents’ lives and deaths. Second, Emily’s college roommate Fanny Poindexter wants Molly to find proof of her husband’s philandering so that she can leave him without one red cent. But when Fanny dies and her husband claims she’s a victim of the epidemic, it’s more than Molly’s conscience can take.

Review: In A Gilded Cage is the 8th book in the Molly Murphy series. I absolutely love Rhy Bowen's writing. I've read several of the Royal Spyness novels, and I found one of the Molly Murphy novels at our library. Unfortunately they don't have all of them, so I'm reading them as I find them

This book is really fast paced and there are a quite a few subplots in both of the cases that really make you think.

I think what made this Molly Murphy book stand out for me, was the fact that the focus stayed on her solving her two cases, Emily's parentage and Fanny's death, after she had taken on Fanny as a client investigating her husband.

The absence for the most part of her beau, Daniel, made this book more enjoyable for me. I know that he's a huge part of her life, especially as the series goes on, but right now, I find him intensely unlikable and I'm glad, we really get to see Molly work her cases without him.

Emily's case is very interesting, as she was told that her parents were missionaries that died in a cholera epidemic in China.  The eventual resolution to her case was a bit obvious once Molly really started investigating.

Fanny's case was more interesting, as she wanted to find out if her husband was cheating and then ended up sick and then dead before her case could be resolved.

Then other friends of Fanny's from her Vassar days started to die mysteriously too.

That's when things start to get interesting.

They all seemed to die of the flu, but they all showed symptoms that weren't consistent with the flu.

The end result was really not what I was expecting, but it was perfect.

I absolutely loved this book, and can't wait to go on to the next.


Rating: 5 flowers

Book Review: Tell Me, Pretty Maiden

Author: Rhys Bowen
Title: Tell Me, Pretty Maiden
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publish Date: March 2008
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: It’s wintertime in New York, and for the first time since Irish immigrant Molly Murphy started her early-twentieth-century detective agency, she is completely snowed in with work. While she’s proving to be quite the entrepreneur and is very much in demand by some of Broadway’s brightest stars and Fifth Avenue’s richest families, she has to grudgingly admit that if she’s going to work more than one case at a time, then she’s going to need some help. Molly’s beau, the recently and wrongly suspended police captain Daniel Sullivan, would make an ideal associate, but before they can agree on the terms of his employment, they stumble upon a young woman lying unconscious in the middle of a snow-covered Central Park. When the woman wakes up she is disorientated and has and lost her ability to speak, the authorities are about to pack her off to an insane asylum when Molly can’t help but step in and take on yet another case.

Review: I am a huge fan of Rhys Bowen's 'Her Royal Spyness' series. My library doesn't have the first books in this series, so I'm starting at book 7.

I can safely say you can read these out of order. There is enough back story given so that you won't feel lost.

There is a lot going on in this story. Molly is a very busy private detective. She has at least three cases going on including the young woman that she finds in the snow drift in Central Park. It is Ms. Bowen's ability to have all these things going one without confusing her reader or let the story suffer, but that never happens here. Even the more insignificant case is important and oddly all of them tie together, and that's really what makes this an excellent read.

If you aren't familiar with the series, Molly Murphy is a young Irish private detective. She's very independent for a young woman in the early 1900s. Daniel is her beau. He's more old fashioned and definitely one that isn't fond of women working. There are times when his attitude is a little hard to take when combined with Molly.

When her caseload gets to be a bit much, Daniel takes on watching over a young gentleman to see if he is worthy of the young woman that desires to marry him, that way she's free to work for Blanche Lovejoy and her haunted theater. This case reminds me a bit of "Phantom of the Opera" or at least Phantom of the Musical.  It is through this case that she gets information on the young man she was investigating.

Then she's looking to clear the name of a young Yale student who is accused of stealing from a friend and killing the butler.

I loved how the piecing together of this mystery helps uncover the identity of the girl from the snow drift.

I really liked Molly. Her beau, Daniel not so much.

I'm looking forward to continuing this series to see how their relationship progresses.

Rating: 4 flowers

Book Review: Her Royal Spyness

Author: Rhys Bowen
Title: Her Royal Spyness
Publisher: Berkley
Publish Date: 2007
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Her ridiculously long name is Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch. And she is flat broke. As the thirty-fourth in line for the throne, she has been taught only a few things, among them, the perfect curtsey. But when her brother cuts off her allowance, she leaves Scotland, and her fiancŽ Fish-Face, for London, where she has:

a) worked behind a cosmetics counter-and gotten sacked after five hours
b) started to fall for a quite unsuitable minor royal
c) made some money housekeeping (incognita, of course), and
d) been summoned by the Queen to spy on her playboy son.

Then an arrogant Frenchman, who wants her family's 800-year-old estate for himself, winds up dead in her bathtub. Now her most important job is to clear her very long family name.

Review: This is book one of the Royal Spyness series. I highly recommend this series if you are a lover of cozy mysteries and historical fiction.

Lady Georgiana is our spy. She's a member of the royal family; 34th in line to the throne. The story takes place in the 30s, when Edward was the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson was still married to her second husband.

I absolutely love this book. I read Naughty in Nice for a book tour last autumn and I knew I had to go back and read the books from start to finish. It was great fun to meet Georgiana, Binky, Fig and Queen Mary. I really liked the attention to detail in this book.

The mystery, doesn't really revolve around Georgie spying, so much as finding the person that killed the man in the bathtub of her family's London home. What it does do, is set up the rest of the series, by letting us see her relationship with Queen Mary as well as all the characters that will be showing up in books to come.

The mystery in this one is a bit light, but it kept me guessing until the end. I also love Darcy, Georgie's kinda sorta love interest.

I highly recommend this series. They are quick, fun reads and they take you back in time to a period that isn't super popular, so that is rather unique. Very enjoyable!

Rating 4 flowers

Crazy Book Tours Book Review: Naughty In Nice

Author: Rhys Bowen
Title: Naughty In Nice
Publisher: Berkley
Publish Date: Sept 6, 2011
Review Copy Provided By: Crazy Book Tours & the publisher
Book Blurb: Lady Georgiana Rannoch has once again been called into service by Her Majesty the Queen. This time she's sent to Nice on a secret assignment that's nothing to sneeze at-recover the Queen's stolen snuff box.
As much of an honor as it is to be trusted by Her Majesty, an even greater honor awaits Georgie in Nice-as Coco Chanel herself asks Georgie to model her latest fashion. But when a necklace belonging to the Queen is stolen on the catwalk, Georgie has to find two priceless items-and solve a murder. How's a girl to find any time to go to the casino?

Review: Cozy mysteries are such fun, and this one is really different from most of the series I read. There are no recipes or pets helping solve the crime or little old ladies...

I really found this book to be refreshing.  Spying, theft and a murder! All taking place in the 1930s and involving the aristocracy! The closest series that this comes to are the Lady Jane Grey mysteries, but this is much lighter fare and a more fun read.

Georgie is a fabulous heroine and her family make up a great supporting cast of characters. I particularly loved the ever annoying Fig, Georgie's sister-in-law, who wishes the family didn't have to support the unmarried sister.

This book is part of a series, but like most cozy mysteries in this same genre, you really don't need to have read the others to enjoy this one. It is definitely a stand alone book.

Rating:  4 flowers