Death On The Ladies Mile: A "Gaslight And Shadows" Mystery

by Diana Haviland

In 1880's New York City, the ballrooms of the wealthy are warm and fragrant with the mingled scents of hothouse flowers and expensive perfumes and filled with bejeweled ladies in silks and velvets. But there is another side to the city. Here the poor are crowded into filthy tenements. Crime flourishes in the brothels, "concert saloons" and alleys of the Five Points and the Bowery. When Amanda Whitney, well-born, independent society reporter for the Ladies Gazette, is given her first important assignment, covering the wedding of the daughter of one of New York's wealthiest families, she is determined to succeed. The bride-to-be disappears. Her body, clad in her bridal gown and strangled with her own wreath, is found in an alley next to one of the most expensive brothels on the Ladies Mile. Bent on avoiding a scandal, her father hires Ross Buchanan, a private detective, to find the murderer before the police do. Buchanan and Amanda clash when she insists on helping him with the investigation. Then, two more strangled women in bridal attire are found and panic grips the city. Demands for the capture of the "Ladies Mile Maniac" reach a fever pitch. As Ross and Amanda move toward the solution of the case, she does not know that she has been targeted as the murderer's next victim.

Diana Haviland is the author of fifteen best-selling historical sagas. She lives in New York City with her husband, who is also a writer, and two cats. Among the awards Ms. Haviland has received are: Romantic Times "Best Historical Saga" and the West Coast Review of Books "Porgie."

363 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2006

About the author

Florence Hershman
aka
Diana Haviland & Diana Browning

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, quick murder mystery set in 1880’s….with adorable characters and a little page turning suspense.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this, and read it in two sittings. The research was good, and though the characters weren't "deep", I liked them. I particularly liked the private detective who had come from the streets, and felt torn between his hard-knocks childhood, which had bred cynicism, and his natural compassion. I do have to say the outcome was not hard to guess (though there were some twists I wasn't anticipating) and some unanswered questions lingered at the end. I'm sorry there are no more coming from this series, I think it might just have needed a bit of publicizing to bring up to speed.

[Susan in NC · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was recommended to me on Amazon and I found it at the library, so gave it a try. It starts kind of slow and really doesn't pick up until the last third or so, but that seems typical of hist. mysteries set in "Old New York" - Molly Murphy, Victoria Thompson, etc., carriages are slow and telephones aren't always available, so you don't expect a "CSI" pace!

Having said that, this felt very similar to those two series, and others I've read; I think it could be an interesting series, but this was publ. in 2006 and Amazon doesn't have any new titles, so this may be a standalone book. It was okay, but not as good as those two other series, and I got the definite feeling this was the author's first foray into the genre; the author blurb said she was a writer of "historical sagas" which I take to mean bodice-rippers! Anyway, a pretty good first attempt, and I'd read a second installment if she ever writes one, but not a great read!

[Katie Boggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than average Victorian mystery...