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Murder on Mulberry Bend
Murder on Mulberry Bend
Murder on Mulberry Bend
Audiobook8 hours

Murder on Mulberry Bend

Written by Victoria Thompson

Narrated by Callie Beaulieu

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

The Prodigal Son Mission on Mulberry Bend stands as a refuge for girls who otherwise would have to live by selling the only thing they have of value-themselves. The work being done there so impresses midwife Sarah Brandt that she volunteers to help out however she can-with clothes, with medical assistance, and with the organization of a benefit dinner. And when one of the girls is found dead and refused burial because of her former life, Sarah's passion for justice is aroused.

Reluctantly, sergeant Frank Malloy agrees to look into the death, if only to keep Sarah from endangering herself by pursuing the matter. But Sarah cannot be kept out of the investigation, and, just as Malloy feared, her attempts to find the cause of the unfortunate girl's death put her in deadly danger-from an unexpected source.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 21, 2016
ISBN9781494584979
Murder on Mulberry Bend
Author

Victoria Thompson

Victoria Thompson is the author of twenty bestselling historical romances. She is also the Edgar nominated author of the bestselling Gaslight Mystery Series, set in turn-of-the-century New York City and featuring midwife Sarah Brandt. She also contributed to the award winning writing textbook Many Genres/One Craft. A popular speaker, Victoria teaches in the Seton Hill University master's program in writing popular fiction. She lives in Central PA with her husband and a very spoiled little dog.Please visit Victoria Thompson’s www.victoriathompson.homestead.com to learn about new releases and discover old favorites!

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Reviews for Murder on Mulberry Bend

Rating: 3.946022659090909 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sarah Brandt becomes a supporter and volunteer at Prodigal Son Mission which helps girls who have been abandoned or walked the streets to learn skills and live a “good” life. Frank has been called to City Park to investigate the body of a woman found by a park bench. The victim is face down. Yet he believes the body to be Sarah Brandt as he recognizes her clothes, hat and hair. But when body is turned over it is a young woman he has never seen before.With these two separate events in Frank Malloy’s and Sarah Brandt’s lives they are once again pulled together to investigate murder …The historical Gaslight Mystery series continues drawing Frank and Sara closer together. Each attracted to the other but their backgrounds are very different. The murder is well constructed and the ending is a surprising turn. Recommended
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sarah Decker Brandt’s mother finds a match for her widowed daughter in Richard Dennis. He’s a widower whose wife died a few years previously. Wanting to understand his late wife more, Richard asks Sarah, a nurse/midwife and a long-time friend, to accompany him to the mission where she volunteered. The Prodigal Son mission is in a seedy area of New York City, and serves homeless girls and prostitutes who want to get out of that life.When they make the excursion, Sarah takes along some old but serviceable clothes to donate for the girls’ use. When one of the girls is found dead, murdered and wearing Sarah’s hat, NYPD’s Frank Malloy asks Sarah to identify the body. Sarah feels somewhat responsible for the girl and begins her amateur sleuthing, much to Frank’s displeasure. Plus, Frank is miffed that Sarah is spending so much time with Richard. These “Gaslight Mysteries” are wonderful stories with great characters – and real page turners. Murder on Mulberry Bend is terrific.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sarah Brandt's mother has been trying her hand at matchmaking for her widowed daughter but Sarah and her date, Richard Dennis agree that they are just friends. Richard has asked Sarah to accompany him to the Prodigal Son Mission where his late wife volunteered so that he can better understand why she went to this area of town. When Richard and Sarah are in the mission, Sarah thinks that she is not doing enough to help the poor and decides to make various donations. Along with her own time that she will use to educate the women on hygiene, she later brings some older clothes that she no longer wears.Several days later Det. Frank Malloy recognizes the clothes and hat on a dead body as belonging to Sarah Brandt. He is devastated until the body is turned over and he sees that it is not Sarah. But how did this person get Sarah's clothes and was Sarah the target?This mystery was very engaging because of the underlying emotions that were continually shifting between Sarah, Malloy and Dennison. Very well-written.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Murder on Mulberry Bend is the fifth book in Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series. Two regular members of the supporting cast will be introduced in this one: Maeve and Catherine (here called 'Agatha,' 'Aggie' for short.The Prodigal Son Mission that heroine Sarah Brandt first heard about in book four, Murder on Washington Square, will be visited for the first time -- but hardly the last for this series -- in this book.Sarah Brandt, widow, midwife, and nurse, has just been to the theater with Richard Dennis, whom she met in the last book because he's the boss of her next-door neighbor, Nelson Ellsworth. Sarah's rich Knickerbocker parents, Felix and Elizabeth Decker, consider Mr. Dennis a very suitable second husband prospect for their surviving daughter. Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy gets to fight feelings of jealousy. So, is Ms. Thompson planning to let Sarah be torn between two good men for books to come? Will Richard turn out to be a fiend in gentleman's clothing? Will a new lady need to be introduced to fall for Richard and vice-versa?The Prodigal Son Mission that Richard's late wife Hazel volunteered at is located on Mulberry Bend, one of the worst places in one of the worst neighborhoods in New York City. It's run by the Mrs. Wells. Her late preacher husband and she founded the place. At least it offers a safe home and classes for girls who no longer have homes and would prefer not to be prostitutes to survive. (More than one of these books mention how older children of poor children are sometimes forced to move out and live on their own because their parents can't afford to feed them anymore.)Mrs. Wells has very high standards for the girls' behavior. She's also prejudiced against Catholics. One of her rescued young women, Emilia, has been converted to Protestantism (no Papists allowed!).
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Boring. Slow. Very little mystery action,story plodded along.The only reason I kept going was to read abt the Italian immigrants.This is the street my ancestors settled on when they came to America.I enjoyed reading abt the lives of the immigrants at that time.
    The best part of the book was the "author's notes"at the end of the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the fifth book of Victoria Thompson's Gaslight series. Once again, it features the two main characters in the series, midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy. Sarah is the daughter of one of the prominent Knickerbocker families of New York City, now a widowed midwife, and Frank is a member of the New York City Police Department.

    Widower Richard Dennis, a family friend, asks Sarah's help in understanding the last days of his wife, Hazel. It seems she found comfort volunteering at a mission house, The Prodigal Son Mission, right before she died. Richard feels immense guilt in not knowing what Hazel was so passionate about those last months. Sarah immediately finds herself drawn to the young, unfortunate women that the mission tends to. After visiting it with Richard and bringing a donation of her old clothes, she decides that she could teach a hygiene class to these women and perhaps keep them from a life of ruin. When Frank Malloy finds a young woman's body wearing Sarah's hat, he panics. Realizing that the dead woman isn't Sarah, he asks for her help in identifying the body.

    Set in turn of the century New York, the book is filled with period details and the actions of the characters are governed by the social formalities and politics of the times. This series seems very well researched even though it's often not that difficult to figure out who the killer is. I'm also enjoying the progress made on the personal relationships of the characters. There are new developments for young Brian Malloy and entertaining internal battles for Frank as he copes with Sarah's continuing relationship with Richard Dennis.

    I continue to read this series as my “go to” books for fun and leisure. They are charming and I'm picking up the sixth book, Murder on Marble Row, soon.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sarah is working at a mission for young girls. When one of the girls is found murdered and is refused a Christian burial because of her previous life, she and Detective Malloy again search for the solution. In this story, Sarah begins to involve her mother in her mystery solving. A good read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really enjoy this Gaslight Series set in New York in the 1890's. In this caper, a young girl is murdered. Richard Dennis, an old friend of Sarah's, begins courting Sarah, much to the disdain of Frank Mallory. Victoria Thompson exposes the horrors of life for the poor, and the corruption of the police department. She also shows the vast distance between the rich and the poor, and the prejudices of the different nationalities. I thought that most Catholics were cordial to one another, but the Irish Catholics were biased against the Italian Catholics. Another interesting aspect of the story rests in the use of a lady's hatpin. I look forward to the next book in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    No one cares for the poor when they're alive, and they certainly don't care when one of them turns up dead unexpectedly. However, an emotional jolt catches the attention of Malloy, and an unexpected link to Sarah Brandt sends Malloy to her door, seeking reassurance. Of course, Thompson's protagonist can't help but work for an underdog, and soon Brandt is on the case, wading through Italian slums and finding herself running between high society and fanatically religious institutions. Murder on Mulberry Bend is consistent for the series, which is just what I'm looking for.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book introduces Sarah to Aggie and Maeve who live at the Mission. Sarah's parents are encouraging her to see the wealthy widow, Richard Dennis whose wife volunteered at the Mission and he asks Sara to go there with him so he can better understand why she found it so fulfilling. Mrs. Decker gives Sarah some of her fashionable clothes for her dates and Sara donates her old clothes to the mission. A girl with blond hair is found dead in the park and at first Det Malloy thinks it's Sara because of the clothes she's wearing. This book has Frank admitting to himself that he's in love with Sarah but he believes that they can never be together because of her wealthy station in life and he's only an Irish Catholic cop. Brian's cast comes off and he's able to walk.