Murder on Madison Square

March 15, 2022
Thompson's twenty-fifth Gaslight Mystery (following Murder on Wall Street, 2021) is every bit as satisfying as its many predecessors in this consistently entertaining series. Frank Malloy is consulted by Ethel Bing, who wants him to set her husband up for adultery. She appears to be desperate but refuses to tell him why. Frank declines. After Frank and his wife, Sarah, meet the woman's husband, who is promoting electric motorcars at the inaugural car show in Madison Square Garden, Bing is found crushed beneath his own car. Ethel hires Frank to investigate. Once all the characters are introduced, readers may immediately guess what is going on. It might have been more difficult for Frank and Sarah to comprehend in 1900, but it is something that gives them all a motive to kill the man. As always, Thompson manages to reflect the social climate of the time, especially where Frank's assistant Gino Donatelli is concerned, and provide interesting historic details. The first wave of motorcars was electric because "internal explosion" engines were a hard sell. For sure.

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April 4, 2022
It’s 1900 in Thompson’s solid 25th Gaslight mystery (after 2021’s Murder on Wall Street), and Ethel Bing, who wants to divorce her husband, Alvin, part-owner of an electric automobile manufacturer, asks New York City private eye Frank Malloy to get evidence of her spouse’s infidelity by luring him into a compromising situation to be photographed. Frank declines the unethical request. A few days later, Frank runs into Ethel and Alvin at an auto show at Madison Square Garden, where Alvin touts one of his vehicles as easy for anyone to drive. That observation takes on added relevance after someone fatally runs him over, making Ethel the prime suspect. She again turns to the detective for help, and this time Frank agrees. He and his wife and investigative partner, Sarah, have several possibilities to consider, including possible murder motives of Alvin’s business partner and Alvin’s first wife, previously thought dead. Thompson does a good job showing how the automobile had begun to change people’s lives in the service of a nicely surprising plot. This is one of the series’ better entries. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary.