Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson

Title: Murder in Chinatown
Author: Victoria Thompson
Series: #9 in the Gasllight Mystery series
Genre: Historical Mystery (cozy mystery)
Publisher: Berkley(June 5, 2007 )
Source: Gift
Rating: ☕☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Sarah Brandt has made her uneasy way to Chinatown to deliver a baby. There she meets a group of Irish women who, completely alone at Ellis Island, married Chinese men in the same predicament. But even as a new century dawns, New Yorkers still cling to their own kind, scorning children of mixed races.

When the new mother's half-Chinese, half-Irish niece goes missing, Sarah knows that alerting the police will accomplish nothing, and seeks the one person she can turn to-Detective Sergeant Malloy.

And when the missing girl is found dead in a Chinatown alley, Sarah and Malloy have ample suspects in her murder-from both sides of Canal Street.

My Thoughts: I typically love this series but this wasn't one of my favorite books in the series. It took me forever to read which is also an indication that I didn't enjoy it as much.

The Good, The Bad, And The Stuff in the Middle:  In this book, similar to Murder in Little Italy, the topic of racial prejudice was a major topic. As these are set in the late 1800's it wasn't a surprise but for me it was tiresome. People hated the Irish. People hated the Italians. And in this one, people hated the Chinese. Considering every single person in New York in this book is either a foreigner or can easily trace their family tree to show their roots are also foreign....the hatred was almost too much for me. Thankfully Sarah does not fall into this way of thinking so her attitude was one of the only aspects that prevented me from chucking this book. When Thompson went out of her way to mention the Chinese way of talking was different and their "L's" came out as "R's" with an example....well folks...that was almost the chucking point. I couldn't help but start to mentally read the dialogue that way. Up until that point I was happily reading everything in my own voice.

The mystery felt like it took too long to resolve (of course that was probably due to me taking forever to read this book) and Sarah and Frank's relationship did not progress even a little bit. This made me sad as I view the budding relationship between the two important in my enjoyment of the series. The solving of Sarah's husband's murder moved barely half an inch but now has a timeline where Frank only has a few weeks to find his killer. So the next few books might have closure on that underlying link.

What did I like about this book? Agnes/Catherine and Maeve. I love those girls and they are just blooming under Sarah's guidance. I love the family unit she has created and the addition of the nosy but lovable elderly woman next door is even more of a plus.

In a Nutshell: I'm hoping this was just a one off and the next book will be better for me because I am not ready to give it up.

Undead and Unfinished by MaryJanice Davidson

Synopsis: Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor is having a tough time getting through the Book of the Dead -- until the Devil strikes a bargain. She offers Betsy a chance to finish the cursed (literally!) thing, and finally discover all its mysteries. There's just one catch... — Betsy and her half-sister Laura have to go to Hell long enough for Laura to embrace her dark heritage (after a rebellious youth of charity work) and finally make nice with her mother, aka Lucifer. That means interacting with their family's past. In doing so, they're impacting the future in ways they never anticipated. Of course that's what Mother wanted all along. Damn her.

My Thoughts:In this book Betsy goes to Hell. Literally. She agrees to go there so her sister can ask her mother, The Devil, some questions. What then happens is Betsy and Laura (who is now being referred through most of the book as Antichrist) goes on a romp through time (which apparently is now one of Laura's hellish talents). I thought much of the hell part seemed to drag. I felt as if I were being dumped upon with a crap load of information which is just silly considering this is not the first book in the series but the 9th.

Betsy's trip through time was interesting though. I thought her jump into the past was helpful not only to learn more about her husband and first in command Tina but it was an eye opener for Betsy. She is really starting to notice how shallow and self centered she really is. I found that by learning more about Sink Lair I like him a whole lot more too. Tina too for that matter.

As far as the book as a whole, I felt that the situations at the beginning of the book, which actually set up the last part of the book, was obvious in it's attempt to manipulate the storyline. I know that all writers do "manipulate" their story lines to produce the outcome they want but it should not be so obvious in my opinion. I also absolutely hated...no, I detested (is that worse than hate?) the epilogue. I was just complaining about the fact that Betsy just isn't maturing as quickly as I would like but Davidson may have gone a little overboard with the learning maturity part. After visiting the past Betsy then visits the future. She meets the future her who is now 1000 years old. What happens, especially in the epilogue, is just ridiculous. Not in a self centered Betsy way but in a MaryJanice Davidson kicked my puppy way. I know she has introduced a new story arc, hence the new covers and several acknowledgement pages telling us readers that there is a new story arc happening. But honestly she took a series that was silly and fun to someplace dark and depressing. It was happening before the epilogue but really it's the epilogue that is the puppy kicker.

So, do I love that Betsy has learned something on her trips to hell, the past, and the future? Yep. But I also hate what is in Betsy's future with a passion. Which may be the point MaryJanice was making. Her next book comes out in July and I am really torn on if I want to read it. I may have to see where Davidson is going with this new arc so I probably will.