Murder on Lexington Avenue

A Gaslight Mystery

By: Victoria Thompson

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

With her Gaslight Mysteries, Edgar Award finalist Victoria Thompson colorfully evokes the crowded, lamp-lit world of turn-of-the century New York City. In this 12th entry, philosophical conflicts within the deaf community reap a tragic harvest.

After Nehemiah Wooten, a polarizing figure among the hearing impaired, turns up dead, NYPD Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy begins to investigate. While interviewing Nehemiah’s wife Valora, he’s surprised when the not-so-grieving widow—hiding a secret pregnancy—goes into labor. Summoning his midwife friend Sarah Brandt, Frank learns from her of the eugenics views that kept Nehemiah from Valora’s bed ever since the birth of their deaf daughter Electra—now suspiciously joyful at her dad’s death. As more information comes to light, Frank and Sarah must ferret out the killer from a growing list of suspects. In this revealing portrait of a bygone day, Suzanne Toren’s splendid narration brilliantly distinguishes each character and helps build tension through the novel’s stunning conclusion.

©2010 Victoria Thompson (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Thompson always delivers

Suzanne Toren is an excellent reader. I look forward to hearing more of her work.

Great

Another interesting murder mystery. I am ready for Sarah and Frank to get together! Lol. Love these stories!

Bottle Episode

I read Book 11 & 12 back to back and while I enjoyed the stories and continue to delight in the series, these 2 installments felt like “bottle episodes” and disappointed me because there was no forward momentum in the Frank and Sarah thread. I am looking forward to that aspect piking up.

Narrator has improved Franks voic

What a twist. I didn’t see that one coming. The mysteries in this series are very interesting, so I’m sure I’ll finish listening to all of them. Am so happy to have found a really good series. Frank still has a gravelly, slow-drawn voice, but thankfully, he is not yelling like he was in the previous two installments. Just a funny note about lack of editing: Three times in this story (and always at least once in all the others), Frank gives a look that “would scare even the hardest criminal.” There are a couple other areas of distinct repetition like this (such as who is knocking at Sara’s door) that should have been found by an editor and rewritten to add variety in how something is expressed. Things like that are more interesting if repeated less often. And other than a few minor anachronisms, this was a good read, as are all the others.

Good story, narration fell a little short

I like this series about Sarah Brandt, who is a midwife in early 1900's New York City, and her friend, detective Frank Malloy. It is well written, usually historically informative and always has a good mystery.

This time, Victoria Thompson took on a controversial issue at the time, whether it was more helpful to teach deaf children to sign or read lips and speak. I do not know very much about it, except to say it evokes a great deal of compassion in me, trying to think through what I would want for my own child or family member. Thompson has handled this topic in a way that provided a lot of information about the issues concerned, or at least how it might have been viewed then, and combined it with some insight into the very ugly topic of of eugenics. The story and mystery are good, as usual, but I was fascinated by the topic. It really left me with a lot of things to think about.

Sadly, I felt the narration detracted from the otherwise very good story. Often reading too slowly, sometimes just the voice quality was off-putting. Since I liked the book so much, I would tell others to get it and listen to it. It is worth the credit despite the less than stellar narration.

Murder on Lexington Avenue

As always Ms. Thompson gives us an excellent mystery while evolving these characters that we love to keep an eye on like a daytime soap opera. My only problem is with the new narrator, every time she takes a breath it sounds like a gasp. Very annoying, I will read the rest of chapters two through sixteen because of this narration.

Flat

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator was god-awful. Half the time, she sounded like she was doing Munchkin impressions. Frank talked painfully slow and came off as sleazy. And the vocal fries!!!!! Terrible.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

About as impressed as the beginning.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Suzanne Toren?

Most any other professional voice talent would probably suffice.

Could you see Murder on Lexington Avenue being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not without heavy rewrite. Most of the book takes place in a couple of rooms. The stars should be actors trying to branch out from sitcoms.

Any additional comments?

A man who faints upon learning that his mother had an affair. A detective who speculates to a family member who the culprit might be. A midwife and a mother who abandons her practice and her child to spend days with a pampered rich woman. What's not to like?

Twists and turns with disappointing ending

The narrator is slowly improving. Almost consistent characterization of man characters. Supporting characters only annoyingly cartoonish half the time, found the story ending too pat and not particularly believable. Author still telegraphs the ending through last quarter of the book.