New in Paperback- The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

Published by Berkley ISBN 9780425268421

Trade paperback, $16, 368 pages

The timing for Suzanne Rindell's The Other Typist couldn't be better. Set in the 1920's in Prohibition New York City, it it the perfect companion for those who enjoyed Baz Lurhmann's spectacular film of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby.

As the title character in The Other Typist, Odalie Lazare is the female equivalent of Jay Gatsby. She  mysteriously shows up one day to apply as a typist at a police precinct. It is a job that men reluctantly allow women to fill, as they are not as good as typists as the women.

The other main character in the novel is Rose Baker, as unassuming and plain as Odalie is vivacious and beautiful. She grew up in an orphanage and had a boring, lonely life until Odalie walked into her life.

"On that particular day, she entered very calmly and quietly, but I knew; it was like the eye of a hurricane. She was the dark epicenter of something we didn't quite understand yet, the place where hot and cold mixed dangerously, and around her everything would change."

Rose becomes enchanted by Odalie and is thrilled when Odalie befriends her. Odalie takes Rose to wild parties in hidden speakeasies, lends her gorgeous clothes and even invites Rose to move into her fancy Park Avenue apartment with her.

Soon a spider's web encompasses Rose. Seduced by the fanciful lifestyle and believing that Odalie thinks of her as a sister, Rose nevertheless has nagging suspicions about Odalie. She catches Odalie telling different stories about her past, and when they run into a man who claims to know Odalie by a different name, things start to unravel.

The story is told by Rose, who is writing this from some sort of institution. Something bad has clearly happened, and Rose is unspooling the turn of events from her point of view. The mystery of what has occurred is not immediately evident, we must wait (im)patiently for Rose to complete her story.

The Other Typist seduces the reader just as surely as Odalie seduces Rose. Rindell weaves her story, keeping us turning the pages with her fascinating characters and cat-and-mouse plot. The setting of a 1920s NYC police precinct feels fresh, and who knew that women worked as typists there back then?

I found it interesting that when one of the women became pregnant, she continued to work well into her pregnancy, even when she was clearly showing. It never occurred to me that women were allowed to be seen outside of their home obviously pregnant, let alone continue to work back then. But I guess if a family depends on a women's income, she'd have to work.

The end of the story is literally jaw-dropping. I read the last few pages several times, and I'm still not sure that I completely know what happened. It has been called a mashup of The Great Gatsby and The Talented Mr. Ripley, but I also think that the many people who liked Gone Girl will like this book, although I think The Other Typist is much better. It is the best literary mystery of the year, and it didn't surprise me to find that it is an Amy Einhorn imprint. No one finds better debut novelists that Amy Einhorn.

rating 5 of 5

Suzanne Rindell's website is here.

New in Paperback- The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye
Published by Berkley Trade ISBN 9780425261255
Trade paperback, $16, 480 pages

If you were a fan of TV's NYPD Blue, and you like historical fiction then Lyndsay Faye's novel The Gods of Gotham is for you. Set in 1945, it tells the story of the origins of the NYPD through the story of Timothy Wilde. (If Andy Sipowicz were around in 1845, he'd fit right in.)

Tim is genial bartender who knows everyone in the neighborhood.  He is seriously injured in a fire, and after recuperating, his brother Val gets him a job in the newly formed New York Police Department, called "the copper stars" after the copper badges they carry. Hence, the slang "copper" for police.

Tim is none too pleased with his job. Cops are looked upon with suspicion by the general public, and he is assigned to the worse section of the city, the slums in Five Points. Not to mention that he is in great pain from his burns.

One night he runs into a small girl covered in blood. She is too traumatized to tell him what happened, so he takes her to his apartment where his landlady helps to care for the girl. She tells Tim that there are several bodies of young children buried in the woods; a serial killer is on the loose.

Gods of Gotham drops the reader right smack into the middle of 1845 New York City, with interesting characters trying to solve a crackling good murder mystery. We meet a doctor who uses early forensic methods to determine how and who killed these children,  a priest whose church is the site of a horrible murder and a young female charity worker named Mercy who is a romantic interest for Tim.

The writing evokes sensory reactions in the reader. We can smell the rot of the slums and feel the shame of the daily taunts and slights that the Irish immigrants are subjected to as they try to assimilate and make lives for themselves and their families.

The Irish became 'coppers' because it was not thought to be a respectable job, and therefore no decent man would want to do it. Through the NYPD, the Irish gained a foothold politically, and the corruption that follows is a theme in this fascinating novel.

I liked the character development; Tim and his brother Val's relationship is particularly well done. The plot is well-paced and although I do not like blood and gore, what is here is essential to the story and not overdone. One particularly memorable scene involves a mother and her baby that is so very sad, it made my heart ache.

The attention to historical detail is impeccable. I could study the map of 1845 New York City on the inside cover for hours, and the quotes at the beginning of each chapter are interesting as well.

Fans of historical literary murder mysteries, like Caleb Carr's The Alienist, will love Gods of Gotham. I'm not the only one who feels this way; Faye was nominated for a 2012 Edgar Award for this enthralling mystery. And I was not surprised to find that this book was originally published by Amy Einhorn; she always finds the good ones.


rating 4 of 5

A Worthy Companion to Maisie Dobbs- Victoria Thompson's Sarah Brandt

Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson
Published by The Berkeley Publishing Group ISBN 978-0-425-22972-9
Trade paperback $15
Source: purchased at Barnes & Noble

I am a big fan of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, about a female private investigator/psychologist in post WWI London, having read all of the books.  Chelsea Clinton is also a fan, posting on Facebook about her memories of reading the books with her grandmother. Chelsea asked if anyone had recommendations for books like Maisie, and someone posted about Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series, about Sarah Brandt, a midwife living in New York City around the turn of the 20th century.

I kept that in mind, and when I was waiting for a book signing at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store in NYC recently, I found myself in the Mystery section, and remembered the books. I found the first one, Murder on Astor Place, and picked it to read while waiting.

Once I started it, I knew I had found a companion for Maisie across the pond. Sarah was a widow who lost her husband, a doctor, to a violent crime. She served her community as a midwife, and one night while helping a boardinghouse owner deliver her baby, she sees a teenage girl who looks very much like a woman she knew as a teen. The girl looks frightened, but Sarah had other duties at hand.

The next day she discovers that the scared teen had died, and Sarah met Sergeant Frank Malloy of the NYPD, who was investigating the case. Sarah gives Malloy some help with the case, and they discover that the girl was pregnant when she died.

Sarah becomes curious, and finds out that the girl, Mina, was the younger sister of the woman she knew. She entangles herself in the police case, at first to the consternation, then at the request of Sgt. Malloy. Sarah came from a prominent New York society family, although she has been estranged from her family since her younger sister died tragically.

She uses her connections to insinuate herself in the middle of the case. Mina's family does not want to help the police find their daughter's killer, which only makes Malloy and Sarah more suspicious.

The mystery of who killed Mina is a puzzler, and there a few red herrings to throw the reader off the track. This is a fine mystery series, and I especially liked the setting of NYC at the turn of the century. You get a real sense of time and place in this book, and others in the series include Murder on Lenox Hill and Murder in Gramercy Park, so I imagine that working your way through the series would be a real snapshot of New York at that time.

If you are a history buff, you would enjoy learning about Teddy Roosevelt and the NYPD reforms he put in place, and the medical aspects and the society angle of the book fascinated me as well. And for those going through Downton Abbey withdrawal, there is a bit in here about "the merits of marrying off wealthy American girls to poverty-stricken English noblemen just to have a titled lady in the family- a practice that had become so widespread it had a name: Anglomania."

The author has a sturdy, honorable heroine in Sarah Brandt, and her budding relationship with Sgt. Malloy is one I look forward to discovering in future books.  If you are a Maisie Dobbs fan looking for a new series, give Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries a try.

rating 4 of 5