Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Second Street Station: A Mary Handley Mystery by Lawrence H. Levy

Book Description:  A historical mystery featuring the witty and wily Mary Handley, the first woman detective in Brooklyn, as she tries to prove herself in a man's world while solving a high profile murder.


Mary Handley is a not your typical late-nineteenth century lady. She's fiery, clever, daring—and she’s not about to conform to the gender norms of the day. Not long after being fired from her job at the hat factory for insubordinate behavior, Mary finds herself at the murder scene of Charles Goodrich, the brother of a prominent alderman and former bookkeeper of Thomas Edison. When Mary proves her acumen as a sleuth, she is hired by the Brooklyn police department—as the city’s first female policewoman—to solve the crime. The top brass of the department expect her to fail, but Mary has other plans. As she delves into the mystery, she finds herself questioning the likes of J. P. Morgan, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla. Mary soon discovers the key to solving the case goes well beyond finding a murderer and depends on her ability to unearth the machinations of the city’s most prominent and respected public figures, men who will go to great lengths to protect their secrets.



My Thoughts:  I love cozy mysteries!  I love that there is no gruesome murders and if there is any romance, it's light, fun love scenes, nothing too mushy or over done.

Second Street Station features Mary Handley one smart not your typical 19th century lady.  Mary is daring and clever!  She takes on a case and she digs and digs until she finds the clues and "meat" she needs to solve the case.  Of course, the men of the Brooklyn police department expect her to fail even though she was hired to solve the crime.

The crime is interesting because it involves the brother of a prominent alderman and former bookkeeper of Thomas Edison.  Yes, this is also a historical mystery.  

I like Mary and her feisty ways of breaking a case.  She is a force to be reckoned with.  

In my opinion, this is a good mystery.  A little slow in parts but that's how most cozy mysteries read.  There's enough action to  make the read interesting and the whodunit part is quite a surprise.  
All in all a good read!



  • Series: Mary Handley
  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Broadway Books 
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0553418920
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553418927

No comments:

Post a Comment