Gilded Age New York City

Mariah Fredericks: The Wharton Plot

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I am a big fan of Mariah Fredericks’ vivid historical fiction.  I adore her Jane Prescott series, featuring a lady’s maid in 1910 New York, in which Jane ends up investigating crimes with the blessing of the family she works for, often with the help of a friendly investigative reporter.  Mariah’s now moved toward standalone historical novels – in 2022’s The Lindbergh Nanny she followed the kidnapping through the eyes of the nursemaid to the baby.  In The Wharton Plot, Edith Wharton herself takes on the true murder of a well known (at the time) author, David Graham Phillips. read more

Rosemary Simpson: Murder Wears a Hidden Face

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Gilded Age #8

Murder Wears a Hidden Face is the eighth book in Rosemary Simpson’s series set in Gilded Age New York City.  The two protagonists are Prudence MacKenzie and Geoffrey Hunter, partners in an investigative law and detective firm.  Prudence, the daughter of a prominent judge, was raised in New York’s high society, but rebelled against her upbringing and became only the second woman in New York State to pass the bar exam, even though she still cannot argue cases in court.  Geoffrey, who is somewhat older than Prudence, is a former Pinkerton agent and a Southerner who came north around the time of the Civil War because of his antislavery beliefs.  He and Prudence have a slow-burning romance that develops throughout the series.  Geoffrey was quicker to acknowledge his feelings than Prudence was, but now she is beginning to recognize her attraction to Geoffrey as what it is, even though she still doesn’t want to get married and lose her independence. read more