Second Street Station: A Mary Handley Mystery
By: Lawrence H. Levy
Rating: 3.5 of 5
“Second Street Station” is the first of the Mary Handley mysteries. It is also the debut novel by Lawrence H. Levy. The character, Mary Handley, is loosely based on a real life individual of the same name who was involved in a murder case upon which this story is also based.
Presumably, future novels will be completely fictional as I could not find further evidence that Ms. Handley pursued her work as a detective following the events described in this novel. Certainly, there is nothing to suggest that she was involved with such personages as Thomas Edison, J.P. Morgan, George Westinghouse, etc.
I’m never quite sure how I feel about novels which take historical figures and attribute deeds and words to them that are, at the least, disparaging. I’m sure that both Edison and Morgan were involved in many nefarious dealings and that they certainly did not treat Nikola Tesla well. I just feel that this book may have gone a step too far with their characters.
Apart from that, the book was a fun read. It wasn’t a deep story or one that required me to think to solve it. The ending was kind of sprung on the reader (unlike the actual history where Mary was specifically hired to track down a specific killer.)
There were many characters and subplots in this book. The murder was solve long before the end of the book and the subplots took over. Mary reminds me much more of Molly Murphy than Maisie Dobbs or Sherlock Holmes. Mary is the first born American of Irish immigrants and she decided early on to become a detective rather than to just marry as expected for women at the time.
The author has done an excellent job at researching the Victorian time period in which the book is set. Descriptions of tenement houses, day work, the attitude of the police department towards both women and the rich ring true, too. The escapades of Mary are what seem a little out of place for the time. She seems to have a lot of leeway that I just don’t think would have been true for a woman at that time and in that place.
Once I allowed myself to suspend reality and just enjoy the story for what it was, I did enjoy reading the book. It isn’t great literature but it is a fun way to spend an afternoon reading.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher.
“Second Street Station” is the first of the Mary Handley mysteries. It is also the debut novel by Lawrence H. Levy. The character, Mary Handley, is loosely based on a real life individual of the same name who was involved in a murder case upon which this story is also based.