Cleopatra's Dagger

A good read. I like historical premises and this book fit the bill. Story wise not too strong, but good narration

I really liked the way Carole Lawrence evoked the Manhattan world of the late 19th century. Within this milieu she has placed a plot that requires little effort from the reader as it follows a linear path towards a quick conclusion.

It was oK. Great descriptions of NY City in that period.

Our heroine is a young woman born into society who could do nothing more than marry well but she wanted more. So she pursued a career in journalism but was constantly sent to cover the lunches and soirees of the people in her set – just what she wanted to get away from. But fate has so much more in store for her.

What follows is a fast paced, fun (if you can call a murder mystery fun) to read book that takes the reader through both the slums and high society of late 19th century New York. It is well written and very well researched.

Elizabeth is a young woman of privilege but she wants to do more with her life than just attend teas and marry well. As she follows the trail of the murderer she learns more about the other side of society than she ever wanted to know and the reader is shown the dark side of turn of the century New York.

At times not easy to read but definitely well worth reading and it rather leaves the feeling that perhaps more books will follow. I sure hope so as Elizabeth is the kind of character that you root for and definitely would like to follow again in another adventure.

This was my Amazon First Reads choice for March 2022.

I made it about 20% of the way through this book before I had to DNF. There simply wasn't anything that kept my interest enough to actually finish, and what little there was within those first pages was eye-roll inducing enough to let me know that this won't be a DNF I'll be going back to for another shot.

Elizabeth, the protagonist, simultaneously is a "modern woman" and yet clings to the propriety of the time; while this contrast could be something interesting for Lawrence to explore, it instead comes off as juvenile and Mary Sue-esque. Rather than making choices for herself, things simply seem to happen to Elizabeth: if she is such an independent woman, why is she not making her own choices? Everything she does rails against what Lawrence plainly tells us about her - and there is a lot of telling rather than showing. As a result, Elizabeth comes off as entitled, whiny, and unlikable in a way that made me uninterested in her story and whatever she had to say.

I won't comment much on the plot, because to be frank, not a whole lot happened in the fraction of the book I read; Lawrence instead spent a lot of time with clunky descriptions that really didn't do much for me in the way of putting me in the moment. The mystery itself certainly doesn't get started in the section I read, which makes me wonder why the story starts where it does.

I wouldn't recommend this book, which is unfortunate because I'd like to think there was something redeemable about it. But with a boring protagonist and a plot that feels meaningless, why would a reader continue trudging on past a certain point?

This historical thriller set in New York City in 1880 introduces socialite and reporter Elizabeth van den Broek. After college at Vassar, she was hired as a social reporter at the New York Herald. One day on her way to work, she sees a woman being assaulted by a man in a third-floor window as her train passes by.

When she and a new friend from her apartment building are taking a morning walk, they discover the body of a young woman wrapped as a mummy and left in the pit where the new Cleopatra's Needle will be placed. Elizabeth begs her editor to let her pursue the story since she has recently made a connection with Detective Sargeant William O'Grady who came to investigate the crime.

Given permission by her editor and with an introduction by OGrady, Elizabeth and a photographer visit the morgue and get a chance to see and photograph the body. There, Elizabeth learns that the young woman had been strangled and had all her blood drained through an incision that looks like an Egyptian symbol of some kind.

As Elizabeth pursues her leads and writes stories that make her a celebrity, the villain who believes he is the reincarnated Osiris is planning and executing more murders all with an Egyptian theme. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is facing prejudice and assault at work, dealing with the mental illness of her older sister Laura, and trying to understand her mother.

Elizabeth also meets a handsome young doctor who has some new ideas to treat her sister. She also makes friends with Carlotta Ackerman who is an artist with a studio in her apartment building and her brother Jonah who is flirting with socialism and a great admirer of Karl Marx.

The great strength of this story was the historical setting which was filled with intriguing details and characters. What Elizabeth was allowed to do and the attitudes of the men around her seemed realistic. Her desire to be a reformer and pathfinder for women coming along behind her made Elizabeth interesting. Details about the corruption of the police added to the story. The mystery was somewhat weaker as it all seemed to be summed up rather abruptly.

Fans of historical mysteries will enjoy getting to know Elizabeth.