Murder on Wall Street: A Gaslight Mystery

Set in 1900, Edgar finalist Thompson’s subpar 24th Gaslight mystery (after 2020’s Murder on Pleasant Avenue) finds midwife Sarah Malloy attending to Jocelyn Robinson, who’s soon to give birth after having been raped by Hayden Norcross, a Wall Street investment banker, nine months earlier. After someone fatally shoots Norcross in his office, Jocelyn’s husband, Jack, an obvious suspect who was plotting a nonviolent revenge aimed at the banker’s reputation, retains Sarah’s PI husband, Frank, to probe the homicide and clear his name. Frank has lots of leads. Norcross was a serial rapist, and his enemies included anarchists and a partner at the bank who felt Norcross got unwarranted preferential treatment because his father was the bank’s owner. Inevitably, Sarah gets drawn into the inquiry, using her profession as a way of accessing Norcross’s widow, who’s in denial about her own pregnancy and who was brutalized by her husband. A superficial portrayal of the period, thin characters, and a less than riveting plot aren’t helped by an improbably melodramatic climax. This one’s strictly for series fans. [em]Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary. (Apr.) [/em]