Near Prospect Park
A Mary Handley Mystery
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Daring Brooklyn detective Mary Handley teams up with Teddy Roosevelt to solve her husband’s murder, only to run afoul of nineteenth-century New York’s elite when she uncovers a dangerous conspiracy.
It’s December 1896, and after marrying a muckraking reporter, detective Mary Handley turns her focus from pursuing new cases to raising her newborn daughter. But when her husband turns up dead, Mary knows her next case must be solving his death. Harper was working on a big story—did it get him killed? She sets out to solve his murder, soon discovering that the investigation goes all the way to the top of the New York food chain.
Realizing she’s outgunned, Mary turns to the one person who might be able to help: Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt. As the two dig deep into the underbelly of New York’s social scene, they uncover a sinister plot exploiting the city’s most vulnerable citizens.
Don’t miss any of Lawrence H. Levy’s enchanting Mary Handley mysteries:
SECOND STREET STATION • BROOKLYN ON FIRE • LAST STOP IN BROOKLYN • NEAR PROSPECT PARK
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1896, Levy's fraught fourth whodunit featuring intrepid New York PI Mary Handley (after 2018's Last Stop in Brooklyn) throws series fans a curve. After someone steals a play script from W.S. Gilbert, the famed librettist receives an unsigned ransom note offering to return it in Brooklyn's Prospect Park in exchange for $4,000. Gilbert hires Mary to meet the thief in the park, where the exchange goes awry, and she loses consciousness after being shot. Mary wakes up to the sight of her investigative reporter husband, Harper Lloyd, who's been fatally shot, lying nearby. Mary, who left the ransom note at home, feels guilty that her forgetful act apparently led Harper to follow her to his doom. Teddy Roosevelt, a member of the board of police commissioners, aids Mary in her search for Harper's killer. Levy does a better job of making a female gumshoe in this era plausible than many of her contemporaries prowling the same turf. Readers will be curious to see what turn Mary's career takes next.
