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| Headline Review May 2015 |
New York, in 1848, was a place of little
charm and scant employment. The Bowery girls who worked in downtown Manhattan eked out a slender living
in the manufacturies of the notorious
Five Points district. Some were employed as seamstresses in appalling
conditions, whilst others were loured into equally dreadful and degrading
roles as prostitutes, and as supplicant servants to unscrupulous individuals who exploited
them to their full extent. Timothy Wilde is one of the original NYPD coppers, who along with with his brother and associate, Valentine, attempt to bring law and order to this swirling hotchpotch of survival.
In Fatal Flame, a series of mysterious building fires threatens one of the city's corrupt political leaders, and it becomes a race against time for Wilde to discover both the perpetrator and the raison d'etre behind these horrific crimes.
In Fatal Flame, a series of mysterious building fires threatens one of the city's corrupt political leaders, and it becomes a race against time for Wilde to discover both the perpetrator and the raison d'etre behind these horrific crimes.
Overall, I thought that the
murder mystery at the heart of the story was nicely done and conveyed the right
amount of gritty realism. Timothy Wilde appears a worthy protagonist and manages
to move the story along with energy and enthusiasm. However, having not read
either of the first two books in the series, I did feel a little lost at times,
and didn’t always appreciate the references to a back story I didn’t fully understand.
That said, I am sure that the followers of this series from the beginning will
find much to enjoy, and will find the story beautifully written with a fine eye
for historical detail.
My thanks to the team at Headline Review for my copy of this book
~***~
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