Midwife Sarah Brandt, a member of a socially prominent family in turn-of-the-century New York, chooses to work in the tenements. Her new patient is the retarded 17-year-old daughter of the Lintons, an affluent Lenox Hill family. The young woman is never alone, and she denies that any man has ever hurt her, but she is pregnant. As Sarah and her friend, Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, investigate, they uncover a scandal that casts suspicion on members of the Lintons' church, including the minister, Reverend Upchurch. When Upchurch drops dead during a service, the victim of cyanide-laced communion wine, Sarah and Frank must find the murderer before the scandal hurts more innocent people. This is the seventh installment in Thompson's atmosphere-drenched historical series. The developing relationship between Sarah and Frank, who both must overcome parental objections, adds a new dimension to the series. Recommend this to historical-mystery readers. --Barbara Bibel Copyright 2005 Booklist

It isn't enough that turn-of-the-century Manhattan midwife Sarah Brandt's physician husband was murdered; now her career is about to involve her in another crime. Sarah is called in by the Linton family to confirm their fears that their learning-disabled daughter is pregnant. Sarah is caught up in trying to find out who could be responsible for the predicament of Grace, a sweet and lovely girl of 17 who never goes anywhere alone. Sarah calls on her friend Det. Sgt. Frank Malloy, who's still working on the murder of her husband, to help her discover Grace's seducer. Although Sarah works mainly with the poor, she's not above using her parents' social connections to investigate those involved in the church Grace attends. The minister, Oliver Upchurch, seems to be doing fine work with the orphaned boys in his church group. His wife, however, is eccentric and outspoken, a fact her husband blames on her childless state. It's hard to disgorge information from clannish, snobbish Manhattan society, but Sarah, never giving up, discovers some horrifying secrets that lead to a fatality and the official involvement of Malloy (Murder on Marble Row, 2004, etc.) before an ending that isn't quite happily ever after. A convincing tale of depravity and death among the upper classes of old New York. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

New York City midwife Sarah Brandt (Murder on Marble Row) investigates the potentially scandalous, unexplained pregnancy of a high society couple's mentally challenged teenage daughter. Detective friend Frank Malloy is reluctant to assist until one of the suspects, the family's minister, is murdered. A fine turn-of-the-20th-century historical. Thompson lives in Pennsylvania. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

In Victoria Thompson's Murder on Lenox Hill: A Gaslight Mystery, the well-crafted seventh entry in this late Victorian historical series (after 2004's Murder on Marble Row), midwife Sarah Brandt and her detective friend, Frank Malloy, look into the murder of a popular New York minister, the Rev. Oliver Upchurch, who may have impregnated a lovely but mentally deficient 15-year-old girl. Good plot twists and a highly satisfactory wrapup mark this as the work of a master of the period mystery. Agent, Nancy Yost. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved