Listening is more fun. Find the podcast link: HERE.
I’m the firstborn in my family. My sister is 9 years younger
than me. So I pretty much grew up as a single child in my formative years. That
meant I was a teeny bit spoilt but it also meant, I learnt to keep myself
busy. And one of the ways that I did that, was pouring over books. I was lucky
that growing up I had access to all sorts of books. One of my aunts ran a
private library... and I devoured everything that came through its doors. From
comic books to weekly magazines, to novels. And I quickly realised that I loved
reading mysteries specifically detective stories. Of course, in time, I met the
world’s most favourite detective, Sherlock Holmes. But even before Holmes, I
knew I liked solving puzzles. Sifting through clues, trying out scenarios in my
head and trying to find the killer before the novel's end. Over the
years, I’ve read a lot of detective stories. Some good, some bad, some
really great. Police and murder mysteries, set in all sort of settings. Modern,
futuristic, sci-fi, old school. In the same quest to find some interesting
murder mysteries, I came across a historical fiction novel, with the title
“Murder on Astor Place” by Victoria Thompson.
It's a story set in late 1800. And it begins with Sarah
Brandt. She’s a midwife. Who has lost her husband, and now is managing to earn
her own living. We meet her when she’s being summoned to a rooming house in
city of New York, in 1896, I believe. As she’s working, she chance encounters a
young girl. Another tenant of the rooming house. Sarah is sure that she knows
the girl but can’t find out how. When Sarah sets to visit her patient after the
delivery, she learns that the other girl is dead. She gets really upset about
the death and wants to know how it happened. Sarah discovers that the dead girl
is from one of the prominent families of New York and is sister to one of her
old friends. Sarah, high strung with her need to see justice done, sets out to
find out who murdered the girl. And then pairs up with Detective Sergent Frank
Malloy of the New York Police Dpt to solve the mystery. There are obvious
hiccups. The family of the dead girl don’t want scandal. And hence are not
inclined to help or cooperate. Turn of the century wasn’t a very bright time to
be a police officer. The world was a VERY different place back then. Which
makes the investigation harder.
Overcoming multiple problems, Sarah and Frank manage to
solve the mystery. Albeit, justice isn’t always easy to dispense.
Victoria Thompson builds a world set in simpler times, yet
it’s very engaging. New York in the 1800s was a very different place, vastly
different from the city you see in the current police dramas. The world was
different. People had different mindsets. Technology was primitive, and even
the police force was in its infancy. As a reader, you see some fine detective
work despite all these things.
I loved reading the novel. I binge listened the rest of the
series… some 22 odd books. With each book the characters of Sarah and Frank
grew more familiar. Mrs. Malloy, Mrs. Ellsworth, Gino, and Maeve, Cathrine and
Brian, Even Mr. and Mrs. Decker… they all grow up on you. You start wanting to
hear about them more and more with every new story. There’s no fancy gadgetry,
no CSI or police procedures, no science stuff… no legal shenanigans… basically,
all things that make the modern crime thriller… its absent. And even with that,
what gaslight mystery series brings you is pure joy. Similar to Sherlock
Holmes. Of course, Holmes was a genius and devoid of human emotional
entanglement… Sarah n Frank, both are very personable characters. They have
their flaws. And those flaws make them lovable. The character arcs for all
major recurring characters in the series are wonderfully woven through the
fabric of the main plot points. So much so that you can read them out of
sequence and you will still be able to bond with the characters on their own
turn.
In gaslight mystery series, I found a genre of fiction that
I never thought I would enjoy reading. It’s similar feeling I had felt when I
first discovered Satyajit Ray’s Feluda. We will talk about Feluda in some other
episode in details, but if you are not familiar with him, let me give you a
brief intro. Feluda was character that Satyajit Ray wrote. He wrote Feluda
stories, mainly for children. And since they were written and published in
1960’s, the premise of all their stories were very plain. Basically no crimes
of passion. So no love triangle, no betrayal of the sexual nature etc. But even
with those constraints, Feluda stories were captivating. I binge-read them when
I discovered them back in the 90’s. and found them super engaging. Gaslight
mysteries are not written for children, so they are filled with crimes of
passion. And society rules and betrayals. However, they also have this sense of
simplicity in their execution. There’s no tricky science to wrap your head
around. Life was simpler in 1800’s but crimes were still colorful and
mysterious.
I’m eagerly waiting to pick up the next instalment in the
series. Get immersed in a world that is long past gone. Live the simpler life
through the pages of this historical mystery series. Would you like to join in
with me? Come on… let’s live the simple life 😊
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