This is the first in Victoria Thompson's "Gaslight" mystery series set in early 1900's New York. I really was prepared to not like this book as this time period is not my favorite for historical mysteries (I prefer earlier middle ages/medieval times), but I found myself very pleasantly surprised. Sarah Brandt is a widow and midwife who gave up a life of luxury to continue practicing after her physician husband Thomas was brutally killed. She works for pittance--and sometimes not even that--among the city's poor, must to the dismay of her well-born family who are direct Mayflower descendents. In this first book, the young sister of an old school friend of Sarah's is found murdered in a boardinghouse where Sarah has gone to treat the owner of the house. The first mystery--what would a young woman from a wealthy family be doing in a squalid boardinghouse--is part of the mystery of who killed her. Very well done book with a few surprises that made it all the more interesting. An excellent start to a promising series.

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This well-written mystery is set in turn-of-the-century New York City and introduces series protagonists --midwife Sarah Brandt and NYPD Police Detective Frank Malloy. While following up on a newly-delivered mother and child, midwife Sarah Brandt finds herself dragged into investigationg the murder of a young girl who was a roomer in theboarding house run by the new mother. But when Sarah discovers that the murdered girl is an old friend of her family, she wants to find the murderer and bring him to justice. This is the first story in this series, and I enjoyed it very much. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series!

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This was a wonderful book! I haven't read much historical fiction, but Thompson portrays a late 19th century New York in all of its gritty and aristocratic splendor. Sarah Brandt, an independent woman who makes her living as a midwife, finds herself helping a tough New York detective solve a murder involving a young heiress.

The story moves along as a good pace, and the descriptions of the city, both good and bad, and the social classes, the who, what and why of the aristocracy is splendid, and I learned a lot about the customs of the time.

A wonderful mystery and interesting characters have made me want to read more of Victoria Thompson.

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Aside from some grammatical errors ("it's" for "its" twice in one sentence!), and virtually no information about Sarah's midwifery career, which was my interest in the book to begin with, I did enjoy Murder on Astor Place. Sarah, a widowed midwife in New York City around 1900, and Malloy, a police detective trying to do right by his son, band together to solve a scandalous murder case that the family of the murdered girl would rather be hushed up. I'm eager to read the series' remaining books. First in a series; sequels include Murder on St. Mark's Place, Murder on Gramercy Park, Murder on Washington Square, Murder on Mulberry Bend, Murder on Marble Row, and Murder on Lenox Hill.

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This is a good cozy mystery with a historical fiction background of New York City in the 1890s. Sarah Brandt was born to a wealthy family and she could have lived a life of leisure in society. Sarah who is a strong and proud woman has rejected the life of luxury and has (shockingly) chosen to make her own living as a midwife.

Sarah is drawn into solving a murder mystery with a New York City detective because she was delivering a baby on the night the murder took place and recognizes the young girl as a member of a wealthy, influential family. She can move among the wealthy, elite society as well as the poor working class and through her eyes we see the customs of both the privileged society and the impoverished of Manhattan in this time period.

This is an easy, quick read with some historical background. The mystery was good and I didnt guess the murderer before the end.

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Excellent start to a great mystery series that also contains a hint of budding romance between 2 unlikely people at opposite ends of the social scale. I was happy to find this book on PBS, to look back at how the whole series started, and I wasn't disappointed!

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I'm glad to start reading this series. If you like a who-dun-it story then you will like this book. The book does touch on the subject of abortion. There is a great twist at the end thou.

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This is a slow developing novel. It has sexually explicit scenes and really does not develop the plot. It was too futuristic for me;it is more science fiction than thriller.

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Very well done, editing errors, but doesn't take away from the story, IMHO. I just finished a series about Victorian England and if they thought their "toffs" were the elite, then they are sadly mistaken, they don't even hold a candle to the so called "nobs" of NY society. What an ugly bunch they are and Sarah's treatment by her parents is typical. Book very historically sound and much like others I have read over the years about high society at this time. The story also proves that there is nothing new under the sun and depravity has existed throughout the ages. It is a great mystery and moves right along. The characters are great to read about, having their own stories as a background for the primary story. Look forward to the next one am anxious to see how it all works out with these two very strong personalities.

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