Bless the Bride, Rhys Bowen’s latest Molly Murphy mystery, finds Molly sewing her trousseau with her future mother-in-law out in peaceful Westchester County. To anyone who knows Molly from the previous books in this excellent series (she’s a ground-breaking private detective in 1903), it comes as no surprise when Molly leaps at the opportunity to leave this bucolic torture and head back to the city where a case will mire her in Chinatown, a world completely new to her. As she sifts through layers of crime and a tough moral dilemma, more than one bride is in danger and sometimes in ways that put the chauvinism of Molly’s fiancé, Daniel Sullivan, in perspective.
With Rhys Bowen’s expertly chosen historical details, we are alive in New York in 1903—the Bowery, Greenwich Village, and especially Chinatown. There’s no romanticizing of the past here. Prejudices and the realities of urban life at the opening of the twentieth century bind the plot and characters into a compelling story. She is particularly adept at depicting the villains in Chinatown without losing sight of the nuanced, complex life that the Exclusion Act forced upon Chinese immigrants of this period—a timely picture given our current national debate on immigration.
Bowen’s mysteries are sometimes categorized as “cozies,” and you will want to curl up with your cup of tea (or glass of wine) and have an uninterrupted read, but she’s too good a writer to be entirely summed up by that label. Bowen succeeds in giving us a page-turning mystery, with all the delight and fun that that implies, while also letting us savor the genuine issues of women’s rights, immigration fears, and what makes a good marriage, to name a few, without a hint of dreary preachiness.
Thank you for the kind and thoughtful review, Judith. It is much appreciated
I enjoyed both the book and having an opportunity to write about it. I'm eager to read the next Royal Spyness when it comes out this fall and introduce that series to my readers also. I look forward to another chance to chat when you are next in Phoenix. As you might have figured out if you wandered to other parts of my website, I love to cook, so let me know and I'll bring the fresh goodies to the next Poisoned Pen launch! The soda bread was yummy.
What a wonderful reviewer you are! I have never heard the term ‘cozies’ – but tea and a page-turning mystery! Can I have a thunderstorm outside to go with that?
Well, we could try a Hittite rain ceremony, but I don't think Tarhunt, the Stormgod, pays much attention to us mortals these days–or perhaps we messed with things too much and that's where all the crazy weather this year came from.
What a wonderful reviewer you are! I had never heard the term 'cozies' — but a cup of tea (or glass of wine), a page turner mystery–can I have a thunderstorm, or even a steady rain (I live in the desert) to go with that? Thanks for introducing me to a new author.
For those of you who have gotten a chance to read Bless the Bride, I'm wondering how you think Daniel and Molly will do as time goes by? Is Molly giving up too much in her relationship with him–giving in overly to the mores of her time that grate on her?
At the moment I have just boarded a ship bound for America in the company of Molly herself. I'm glad to know she made it, and I'll look forward to her next appearance in Bless the Bride.
Thanks for your enticing reviews.
There are actually a number of books in between Murphy's Law and Bless the Bride. When I loaned copies of those two, I didn't mean to mislead you!
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