Murder, Murder, Murder in Gilded Central Park

One of the things I love most about Cecelia Tichi’s work is her attention to detail while still weaving a good story! This definitely had more character development, as the first, “A Gilded Death,” laid down the mores and intricacies of the Gilded Age; this novel opens us up to the people she has created. Of course, the reader is constantly trying to guess the outcome…after all…it IS a mystery–but there are surprises scattered throughout. Delve in and enjoy! Thank you, Cecelia for another fun adventure! Cannot wait until “A Fatal Gilded High Note” comes out!!

I really enjoyed this Victorian mystery set in New York City in the late 1800s. I think it was well written and the characters very well developed, I felt like I knew them. I liked Val a bunch, her down-to-earth, practical, country,unrefined attitude amongst all the gilt, glamour and money of New York’s elite was refreshing. This was a quick, entertaining mystery that kept me interested and guessing until the very end. I would definitely read more from Cecelia Tichi and I recommend this book for all readers of Victorian mysteries/cozy mysteries.

Thank you to author Cecelia Tichi and to Book Sirens for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

The Gilded Age arises again in Murder, Murder in Gilded Central Park, and once again a Westerners comes East. Pistol packing (a Colt Peacemaker) Valentine de Vere and her husband Roderick lie near Central spark where a series of assault have occurred. They become involved in trying to resolve the situation, taking it head on and Valentine shows spunk. The historical context is well described and turn of the century New York City is a great setting. The tale is finely paced and an excellent read. Drags you on and continues reasonably. I received an advanced review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The incomparable Valentine and Roderick DeVere are back in New York from Newport and their first appearance as a crime-solving duo in A GILDED DEATH, Cecelia Tichi’s inspired mystery combining high society and social protests against the backdrop of summer cottages and their monied occupants. In MURDER, MURDER, MURDER IN GILDED CENTRAL PARK, friends and family once again inspire Val and Roddy to “investigate” murders coming close to their fashionable doorsteps and the mansions dotting “their” Central Park. Nudged by a nautical minded, enigmatic police detective, the DeVeres use her fresh Western smarts and his cosmopolitan Eastern polish to unravel the puzzling crimes bringing together glitz, glamour, grit, and grime in a heady, urban historical mixture of entitled elites of private stables and men’s clubs, striving chorus girls in Broadway shows, activist reformers from settlement houses, and muckraking journalists at newspapers, shadowy denizens of underworld corruption, and displaced Uptowners in Lower East Side tenements.

Val and Roddy slip easily and elegantly into their roles as sleuths looking into a wide swath of society for answers to untangle the knotty interconnections. But in relaxing together with creative cocktails to reflect on their leads (and provide drink recipes for the reader), they quietly subvert the gender restrictive norms for women in their select circle and provide a fascinating insider view of gilded age marriage norms and mores. Inventive, surprising, and graphic, the detection and resolution come in an accurate, but smooth historical packaging replete with great writing and innovative plotlines holding their secrets brilliantly right up to the very last pages. Central Park will never look the same after Cecelia Tichi’s provocative historical expose.