Murder in Chinatown

Written by Victoria Thompson

Narrated by Suzanne Toren

Edgar Award finalist Victoria Thompson colorfully portrays the prejudices and hardships of turn-of-the-century New York City. Called to Chinatown to deliver a baby, midwife Sarah Brandt soon helps search for a missing girl. But nobody seems to know where she is. Has she been sold to a brothel, or has she run off with a secret love? ". vividly recreates the gaslit world of Old New York."-Publishers Weekly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 14, 2008
• ISBN: 9781436117050

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!

Reviews for Murder in Chinatown

[Susan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not my favorite in the series so far but not bad. The big issue I have is the reader. I appreciate the dramatization but unclear why she felt a need to make Malloy sound like Dracula and the murder victim’s father sound like a 1960s stereotype of a Chinese immigrant in a Western movie. Both distracting and offensive.

[newsieq · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After our heroine, nurse/midwife Sarah Brandt, delivers a baby in Chinatown, to a mother who is of Irish heritage and married to a Chinese man, she learns that the new mother’s 15-year-old niece has gone missing. Knowing that most police officers in New York City will not bother to look for the young woman without a bribe, she asks her friend Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy to take on the case.After a little sleuthing of her own, Sarah learns that the girl, Angel, has gone off and married a young Irish lad. His family does not approve and neither does hers. Not much later, Angel is dead, strangled outside her new home. Both families blame the other for the girl’s death. Murder in Chinatown brings readers in the world of 1890s New York, and into the houses of immigrant families – Chinese and Irish – who do what they can to survive on the rough streets. I didn’t find this book to be the page-turner I expect from this series. But with a great hero and heroine -- plus strong secondary characters – it was still a pleasant-enough read.

[books9n9pickles · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not totally sure how to feel about this one. There's a fair bit of racism, but I'm not 100% sure that it's all in the spirit of historical accuracy. It was a decent little mystery and I didn't have trouble following along despite the fact that it was the ninth in a series, but I can't say I'm eager to read the others.

I picked this up somewhere, for free, mostly because it's set in New York City at the turn of the nineteenth century. You get a taste of tenements, the "mixed salad" of American immigrants, ridiculously restrictive immigration laws, and the sleazy underbelly of the criminal justice system--or lack thereof.

Unfortunately, it hits you over the head with these things repeatedly, and most of it is told rather than shown. American historical fiction at its most basic. The book didn't need to be half as long as it is if we didn't have to rehash every development in the case in real time.

All that said, there were definitely interesting details to absorb. So yeah, it was okay, but it wasn't great.

[pmaurer_11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

First time to read this author. The story was about a young Irish/Chinese girl being killed for marrying a boy in opposition to her father's wishes. Main characters are a midwife (Sarah) and a policeman working together. Set in the 1890's.

[olivermagnus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Midwife Sarah Brandt is called to Chinatown to deliver the baby of an Irish mother and Chinese father. This was a common occurrence in turn of the century New York, where the immigration laws prohibited any Chinese women from coming to America. Chinese men would marry Irish women, who wanted to leave the slums they lived in for kinder men and a more affluent way of life. But Chinese-Irish-American children were looked down on and tormented on a daily basis.

When Sarah returns to check on the new baby, she discovers that Angel, the fifteen year old daughter of the family, has been murdered. She had recently run away from home and eloped with a handsome Irish man. Sarah asks New York police detective Frank Malloy to look into the murder. Was it done by Angel's family, by her new Irish in-laws who hated her, or by a complete stranger?

This isn't a gritty mystery so the author brings a sanitized glimpse into the brutality of the times. I think she does brings a turn of the century atmosphere into this series, with interesting characters that an average person can identify with. This is the ninth book in the series but most of the backstory is explained in case this is the first of the series you've read.

[anntstobbs · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sarah is caught up in a mystery in Chinatown. A young half-Chinese girl has disappeared. Sarah helps to locate her only to find out she has been murdered. The prejudice against Chinese immigrants plays a part in the way the murder is investigated. Of course she and Frank Malloy are again working together to find the answers. Excellent book.

[madamejeanie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm always satisfied by spending a bit of time with Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy. The mystery was a bit thin in this episode, I had the killer figured out about two thirds into the book, but it's still a delight to watch these two sidle around their growing feelings for each other. By the time I get this far into a series, I'm reading it for the backstory anyway.

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I seem to be alternating between the West coast of Shirley Tallman and the East coast of Victoria Thompson. Both writers portray the United States during the 1890's. I am amazed to learn tidbits of information from both women. In this novel, Thompson brings up the immigration quota for the Chinese. Supposedly, only Chinese men were allowed into New York, and then the restriction was that only men that had fathers already in the United States could immigrate. This caused many "paper sons" or men that would claim a father-son relationship when none existed. Another interesting fact is that many Irish women married Chinese men. This arrangement provided the Irish women with a better life, as the Chinese were hard working and respectful, and not like the drunk and belligerent Irish husband. An interesting look at the prejudices of that era, and the growing clout of Teddy Roosevelt.

[london_stj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another birth finds Sarah Brandt in a part of New York virtually unknown to "respectable" society, and once again finds her involved in a murder - this time of a young resident. As usual, I enjoyed Thompson's depiction of a challenged culture, and I found her to be sympathetic to the historical inspiration of her own writing. The mystery itself runs in circles with little progress until the end, but the narrative is nonetheless enjoyable.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy once again team up to solve a crime in Victorian era New York City. This time a young girl of Chinese and Irish parentage has been murdered. While I had determined who the murderer was about half-way through the book, there were enough red herrings to keep it interesting. One of the more interesting things that I learned in this book centered on the laws that limited Chinese immigration to the United States during this period, especially those barring women. I have already read a few short non-fiction pieces describing these laws and their impact on Chinese immigration.

[kathy89_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another great story in this series. Sara's called to deliver a baby in Chinatown. The mother is an Irish girl married to a Chinese man from a awell-to-do family. While there the younger sister runs away because she doesn't want to marry in an arranged marriage with an older wealthy Chinese businessman. The mother asks Sarah for help who in turn goes to her friend Sargeant Malloy. Murder happens and the police become involved. Story centers around the prejudices between the white and the Chinese people, the poverty and what people do just to live.