Reviews

Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson

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leavingsealevel's review

1.0

Just FYI, gratuitous use of racial slurs isn't the only way you can make your book authentic to the time period in which it's set.

exuberant_crow's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Another excellent story about the team of Sarah Brandt, midwife, and Frank Malloy, cop. This story is set in Chinatown in New York City. Many Irish immigrant women married Chinese men because most of the Chinese who came here were men, not women. The Irish women often preferred marrying the Chinese because it gave them a higher standard of living. All those Chinese laundries we see in movies were actually very lucrative businesses. Such marriages were win/win for both parties: the Chinese men tended to be good husbands, the women had stable living conditions, the men weren't deported because they were married. The downside was the rest of the Irish community pretty much disowned family members who married the Chinese, and the Chinese looked down on their own who married the Irish. But within the community of the Irish-Chinese families life was pretty good.

When a 15 y.o. Chinese/Irish girl turns up murdered after running away because her father was going to marry her off to a very wealthy 40 y.o. Chinese man there is no shortage of suspects among both the Irish and Chinese.

This was the first time I became aware of the alliance between the Irish and Chinese in the turn of the 19th century time. I'd like to learn more.

roshk99's review

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3.0

The Chinese/Irish angle made this book unique and the characters are very relatable and likable. Good fast-paced book.

alise410's review against another edition

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4.0

Catherine spoke for the first time and I was shocked and so happy. Sarah called Malloy Frank for the first time and I died

kelseyreadingstuff's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

4.0

readbooks_eatapples's review

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3.0

TW: statutory rape. Yikes. A little unnecessary, having the 15-year-old child act as some sort of seductress of a nearly 40yo man. Gross. Interesting mystery, at least, if a little frantic and with a somewhat repetitive dynamic to the last book.

henrismum's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Audiobook (All of my entries on The Story Graph are audiobooks.)
#9 in series (I started reading this series on 2/6/22 and I have been committed to this series since 6/17/22.)
Will I read other installments? ~~Probably Not~~ ~~Maybe~~ Definitely Of course. I'll listen to there is no more to listen to.
Comparison to others in series: ~~Not as good~~ About the same ~~Better~~ I am a little disappointed that there was no advancement in Sara and Frank's relationship.
The narrator was Suzanne Toren. I know, right? How many times did I praise Callie Beaulieu? Now she is gone and Ms. Toren has taken over narration. The change was not as horrendous as I expected. I liked most of Toren's reading, but the NYC Irish-girl accent was weird.

Content Warnings