16: The Molly Murphy Books

I successfully leant this book to my mother using Kindle’s newish lending option! Of course, it was one of only a teenie number of my Kindle books available for lending, but such is life 0_~

Mom likes to get things a year or so after I do, when they’ve been improved. So she bought her Kindle at the beginning of December and now she’s in love with the thing. Can’t say as I blame her! If anyone out there has sight problems and it’s come between you and your reading, take it from my one-eyed mother than the Kindle is a blessing (or any e-reader). You have so much more control over the size of the text that I think it’s really excellent for those whose eyes might tire or strain reading standard text size in paper books.

Murphy’s Law
Rhys Bowen
Published: 2001

Why?: Bowen is an author would a good sense of humor, and she also writes engagingly spunky female characters who invariably get themselves into trouble! This is the first book in her Molly Murphy series, and she does an excellent job both in making a likable character and immersing the reader into the world of New York around 1910. It’s the details that make this book so real: prices, ways of living, and the Irish society of NYC in this time period are woven neatly into the narrative.

(On a purely biased level, it's a little disappointing that the romance of the series had to be introduced first thing, and it gets a bit annoying around book three, but it smooths out later).

Molly is also a lot of fun, polite and yet sassy, outgoing but uncertain. Her natural curiosity gets her into plenty of trouble, but she has the brains to get herself out of it most of the time. The mystery is deft enough for interest, written in the classic style that is more about snooping around than the gore and science of death and murder. The story is quite reminiscent of British mysteries along the lines of Agatha Christie, but the American location gives it its own flavor and feel.

Gist: Molly Murphy has made a mistake: defending herself from a nobleman. She finds herself on the run, and circumstances bring her to America. While at Ellis Island, she becomes the inadvertent witness to a murder that will change her life as much as immigrating did.

Perfect For: Ages 13+

Genres: Fiction, Novel
Keywords: Mystery, Drama, History