The Family Way
A Molly Murphy Mystery
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The Family Way, the twelfth entry in Rhys Bowen's bestselling Molly Murphy series, will delight fans and win over newcomers with its elegantly plotted mystery, atmospheric historical detail, and vivid characters.
Molly Murphy—now Molly Sullivan—is a year into her marriage, expecting her first child, and confined to the life of a housewife. She's restless and irritable in the enforced idleness of pregnancy and the heat of a New York summer in 1905. So when a trip to the post office brings a letter addressed to her old detective agency asking her to locate a missing Irish serving maid, Molly figures it couldn't hurt to at least ask around, despite her promise to Daniel to give up her old career as a detective. On the same day, Molly learns that five babies have been kidnapped in the past month.
Refusing to let Molly help with the kidnapping investigation, Daniel sends her away to spend the summer with his mother. But even in the quiet, leafy suburbs, Molly's own pending motherhood makes her unable to ignore these missing children. What she uncovers will lead her on a terrifying journey through all levels of society, putting her life—and that of her baby—in danger.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1904, Bowen's well-paced 12th mystery featuring feisty and endearing Molly Murphy (after 2012's Hush Now, Don't You Cry) finds Molly unable to resist taking on a missing persons case, despite her promise to her new husband, NYPD Capt. Daniel Sullivan, to give up detecting now that their first baby is on the way. Molly receives a letter from a woman in Ireland seeking news of her orphaned niece, Maureen O'Byrne, who wrote on arriving in New York City a year earlier that she had secured a job as an under parlor maid with a Mrs. Mainwaring. The aunt has heard nothing from Maureen since. With the last name of Maureen's employer her only lead, Molly plunges into a thorough investigation of the maid's fate. The usual full-blooded characters will keep readers engaged, but series fans may wonder how Molly will juggle sleuthing with increased domestic demands in future installments.