Reviews

Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson

leavingsealevel's review against another edition

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

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

nursenell's review against another edition

5.0

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 against another edition

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

4.0

Spoiler

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

mysterious medium-paced

4.0

readbooks_eatapples's review against another edition

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

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.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Racism, Murder, Drug use, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Hate crime

renee_mathe's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

mizwhatsit's review against another edition

4.0

I love Victoria Thompson, she has a wonderful grasp of early 20th century New York city.