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.

Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley

Title: Death Below Stairs
Author: Jennifer Ashley
Series: #1 in the Kat Holloway series
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher:  Berkley (January 2, 2018)
Source: Library Find
Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Victorian class lines are crossed when cook Kat Holloway is drawn into a murder that reaches all the way to the throne.

Highly sought-after young cook Kat Holloway takes a position in a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of Lord Rankin. Kat is unbothered by the family’s eccentricities as long as they stay away from her kitchen, but trouble finds its way below stairs when her young Irish assistant is murdered.

Intent on discovering who killed the helpless kitchen maid, Kat turns to the ever-capable Daniel McAdam, who is certainly much more than the charming delivery man he pretends to be. Along with the assistance of Lord Rankin’s unconventional sister-in-law and a mathematical genius, Kat and Daniel discover that the household murder was the barest tip of a plot rife with danger and treason—one that’s a threat to Queen Victoria herself.

My Thoughts: While  much of this book is actually very well written I just wasn't as engaged as I could have been.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything In Between: A mystery set in Victorian times told from a servant's perspective was so great. Jennifer Ashley does a great job of researching her books. The details of Kat's cooking was so amazing I wanted to join the family eating it. Everything Kat prepared was well detailed I was a little surprised I had a hard time connecting with the characters. This is the first book in the series but it reads like book 2. I later found out there was a novella prequel but my library doesn't have it and $2.99 is just too much to pay for a novella, IMHO. I'm not a huge fan of novellas in general but dislike "having" to read one just so I don't feel lost while reading a a first in series? Thumbs down.

The mystery aspect happened about 1/3 into the book and even though Kat was determined to figure out who killed the kitchen maid (who had 3 different names just an FYI) nothing really came about it until the very end. A second mystery cropped up during the course of the book and all investigation ceased on the poor kitchen maid's demise.

The main characters remained a mystery to me even after finishing the book and I'm not even sure I liked any of them. As the book progressed we did get to know some of Kat's background but Daniel is an absolute enigma. Where did he come from? How did they meet and what caused them to be so enamored with each other? What is his real job? Some of these things could have been explained enough for me to determine if Daniel is even a worthy man. Worthy of Kat. Worthy of becoming a book boyfriend...yes this is an important thing. As of now, he isn't. I don't even know if he is a good man except Jennifer Ashley said he was.

In a Nutshell: The good, unfortunately, just didn't outweigh the bad for me in this one. I just don't see myself picking up the second book in this series but will definitely read more from this author.