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DEATH OF A NEW AMERICAN
by Mariah Fredericks
Minotaur, April 2019
304 pages
$26.99
ISBN: 1250152992


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

In the second book in her series, Mariah Fredericks looks at issues of immigrants and women's rights through a historical lens. It is 1912 and ladies' maid Jane Prescott has traveled to Long Island, New York, with her employer, the Benchley family. Daughter Louise Benchley is to marry William Tyler—what will undoubtedly be a New York society wedding—at the mansion of William's uncle, Charles Tyler.

But wedding plans are upended when Sofia Bernardi, the young Italian nanny to the Tylers, is found murdered. The Tylers believe the death was either a thwarted kidnapping of their baby son or perhaps a warning to Charles Tyler, a deputy police commissioner who crusaded against the Italian mafia. But Jane wonders if it had something to do with the groom, who was clearly besotted with the nanny. Jane is able to move effortlessly between two worlds, the working-class and the upper class, positioning her perfectly as she investigates with journalist Michael Behan.

The novel is rich in historical detail. The story takes place around the time of the sinking of the Titanic, which affected many families in New York, and the suffragette movement is in full swing. Jane herself is independent and level-headed, proving herself more than equal to the men around her. You don't need to have read the first book to follow this story, although it may well whet your appetite for more of Jane Prescott.

§ Lourdes Venard is an independent editor who divides her time between New York and Maui.

Reviewed by Lourdes Venard, March 2019

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