Gather A Death Of No Importance (Jane Prescott, #1) Documented By Mariah Fredericks Accessible In Document

definite.! Looking forward to the next entry in this news NYC mystery series, It was good until the torture of the elephant why put that memory in the story! That just dropped the story fromtofor me.
. . Well, that was one of the most unsatisfying endings Ive read this year, Its also odd that a heroine who narrates the entire book doesnt come across as having much personality.
I loved the time period and the family dynamics, That was so interesting! The secondary characters were engaging as well,

I think Ill tend to my TBR list instead of reading the next in the series.
Jane is cool :. This is a full.star and for my own enjoyment it was almost astar, I only down rated it because of the length it's overlong, Jane Prescott's introduction as a character is quite more repetition than would be needed using a sharper focus on her personality quirks instead of just her long winded past and continuing "circumstances", IMHO.
Without that quality to verbose redundancy throughout the book, and the addition of two multi page segments near the ending of the book to bide copy count Without those, it would have been a full.
She used those rather strangely placed social warrior issues circus elephant treatment was oneto increase the feel to the exact period But they didn't belong and broke the plot tension.
She has only written YA before this book, IMHO, the social crusades exactly as would be inserted into a YA book in just such a simple manner than you are not supposed to notice muddied the sharp focus of the house of her job, and all of the guilty questions.
Apart from those negatives all which added length, this could have been more than a full four, I enjoyed it to a, The Triangle Shirt. Fire is far too important and pivotal horrific event to stick into an aside ofpages like that.
Not in the way she did the placements or the inclusions,

But regardless, in fact, I think I could become a Mariah Fredericks fan, She just doesn't have the knack yet of leaving the YA elements of effusion and drama for kiddish "eyes" behind her yet.
But her writing skill is considerable, Her era feel fine and strong and the facts of everyday applications are correct in great majority too.
And her plotting lines, in this book they were above average, Especially for a first entry into a whodunit female in earlyth century, It's prior to WWI and all the shake ups are beginning for a break out feminist ambiance all the ''s breaks with long standing female tradition.
That she is a highly intelligent servant, instead of a master/mistress elite role is a double down too on the "below stairs" eyes.
And did she do a good job on that! Bravo, Mariah Fredericks!

So don't take mystar as an avoid.
Try this one out for sure, She had me on the "baddie" perp and also sent me up a long flight of stairs to a dead end on one of the other characters who I thought was a dip and mentally ill there are actually two characters like this in the book, so that isn't even a spoiler but absolutely wasn't before it was all over.


This is a era when upper class females and their expression within the words/ conversations fields not looks, style, physical manners etc.
but just the language and wit of words and depth of context of words was not a recognized skill advantage, except possibly in the occasional mistress or salon diva.
So the dichotomy between the sisters and in other relationships here are fairly interesting to what is deemed important to them, important to society, important to possible husband material etc.
Not all just dirt and gossip conversations for the red herrings to be plied in this book, Instead we actually have some pretty acute varying cause/ effect in these examples,

I'll be readingabout Jean for sure, I only had to subtract a star for going on about animals and the Triangle fire etc, when it was not needed and hurt the "case" progressions, And for the fact that she gave so much out of the future as tells and reader knowledge near the ending.
Another juvenile writing habit she's going to have to leave behind if she wants to make Jean a long series.
It has immense possibility for being an excellent female p, i. Especially if Jean doesn't remain as insular as she is, And loses her attraction to anarchists, The role of her Uncle has some strong possibilities too,

If you like last minute "to be continued" tied on the railroad tracks type of hyjinx, you might like this much more than I.
Young lady types like Pauline Peril wringing her hands and waiting to be rescued or sad sack hand wringer same movementfemale victims are not so much my cup of tea.
But Jane here, she is the opposite, I am a huge fan of historical fiction, mystery, and suspense, You have no idea how happy I was to come upon this gem!

This story takes place ins New York City.
An elderly employee of Jane Prescott passed away and our charming lady's maid is on a lookout for a new job.
And she lands great employment with Benchley "new money" family that recently relocated to New York City, Jane is being appointed as a lady's maid to Benchley's two young daughters: glamorous and spoiled Charlotte and shy and obedient Louise.


One fine fall morning, Charlotte announces her engagement to a wealthy playboy Norrie Newsome, New York's society and Benchley family are taken aback by this shocking statement, as everyone expected for young Newsome to propose to his childhood sweetheart.
The engagement is set to be officially announced at midnight on Christmas Eve, . . but Norrie is found dead at the family library minutes before midnight, Newsome family shocks New York's society once again, Will this be the last time Hmmm, . .

A very handsome and determined reporter, Michael Behan, takes an interest in our charming Jane, He makes a deal, one of his "unprinted" discoveries for one of her stories about the Benchley family.
While everyone suspects rising anarchists in Norrie's death, Jane and Michael team up to find the real murderer of the young Newsome.
And what a discovery our adamant Ms, Prescott will make!

A sensational pageturner, I hope this is the first of many books that include marvelous Jane Prescott, Excellent historical mystery debut thanks for the recommendation, Barb! Jane is a wonderful protagonist, and the author creates fascinating characters around her, in this tale of a gruesome murder among New Yorks social elite in.


Jane was very interesting, because as a ladys maid, particularly one who has worked for a member of the social elite in that most rigid of societies Gilded Age New York she has observed so many of the wealthy denizens without really being noticed.
Good servants are supposed to be invisible until they are wanted!

Also, a ladys maid, like midwife Sarah Brandt in Victoria Thompsons excellent longrunning, but slightly cozier Gaslight series set a little earlier started in the lates ors, I believe, is accepted into, and privy to, the intimate lives of women of all backgrounds.


This debut, with its backdrop of the extremely wealthy dealing with the perceived threats from anarchists protesting the abuse of poor workers, reminds me of the grittier early Gaslight Mysteries high praise, indeed! I can see myself reading further in what I hope will become another excellent historical mystery series.
Through her exquisite prose, sharp observation and deft plotting, Mariah Fredericks invites us into the heart of a changing New York in her remarkable debut adult novel.


New York City,, Invisible until shes needed, Jane Prescott has perfected the art of serving as a ladies maid to the citys upper echelons.
When she takes up a position with the Benchley family, dismissed by the citys elite as “new money”, Jane realizes that while she may not have financial privilege, she has a power they do notshe understands the rules of high society.
The Benchleys cause further outrage when their daughter Charlotte becomes engaged to notorious playboy Norrie, the son of the eminent Newsome family.


But when Norrie is found murdered at a party, Jane discovers she is uniquely positionedshes a woman no one sees, but who witnesses everything who possesses no social

power, but that of fierce intellectand therefore has the tools to solve his murder.
There are many with grudges to bear: from the family Norrie was supposed to marry into, to the survivors of a tragic accident in a mine owned by the Newsomes, to the rising anarchists who are sick of those born into wealth getting away with anything they want.
Jane also knows that in both high society and the citys underbelly, morals can become cheap in the wrong hands: scandal and violence simmer just beneath the surfaceand can break out at any time.
I really enjoyed this historical mystery set in earlys New York, and I hope it's the beginning of a series, because I'd love to read more like this.
I love historical mysteries, which are usually about the upper classes, While it's fun to get lost in the glitz and glamor of another era, I do wonder about the lives of people who are rarely depicted in those books, or who are only there to prop up the plot, like the servants.
So I was excited to read a mystery starring ladies' maid Jane Prescott, Jane is sensible and observant, and going about solving a mystery is very different for her than for upper class heroines, as her access to society is so different.
She does have some connections to anarchists, who are suspected of the murder at the center of this book, but she suspects a different motive.
Besides a satisfying mystery, this book sheds light on a variety of social issues and injustices of the day.
Recommended for all lovers of historical mysteries!

I received a free prerelease copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Can't wait to read the second book On Nov,,, the collapse of the Cherry Mine in Cherry, Illinois, killedboys and men, Mariah Fredericks builds her suspenseful mystery tale, A Death of No Importance, around a fictionalized version of this lateGilded Age disaster.
The novel is both social history and a murder story, Its reminiscent of Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey, The Newsomes and Bentleys of Fredericks imagination personify the new, moneyed American aristocracy that rose to prominence in the decades following the Civil War.
And she interlaces her Gilded Age mystery with reminders of the pivotal events of the era, including suffragist campaigns, the bombing of the Los Angeles Times building, and the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
But the narrative drive remains strong throughout, And surprise piles on surprise in the books final chapters,

THE AMATEUR SLEUTH IS A LADIES MAID
In the novel, the first in a series of three books to date, the protagonist is ladies maid Jane Prescott.
In her introduction, Fredericks writes that “Ive always been fascinated by what servants see and hear, And as I thought about Janes story, I very much liked the idea that one of these little people from the past would know the truth about a famous crime, precisely because nobody noticed them.
” Jane relates her growing understanding of this headlinegrabbing event from late in life, Writing in the first person throughout, she tells how she came to be employed by the nouveau riche Bentley family as the maid to their two teenage daughters, Charlotte and Louise.


THE BACKSTORY TO MURDER IN THIS GILDED AGE MYSTERY
The two Bentley daughters could hardly be different.
Charlotte is glamorous, selfcentered, and seemingly devoid of compassion, By contrast, Louise is bookish, plain, and socially aware, And it is Charlotte whose romantic fantasies ultimately involve her family in what the tabloid press, in a stunning lack of originality, terms “the Crime of the Century.
” Charlotte has become infatuated with one of New Yorks most “eligible bachelors,” Robert Norris Newsome Jr, who is known as Norrie, Hes a spendthrift, a gambler, and a notorious womanizer, Hes also engaged to marry a daughter of the Bentley familys friends, the Tylers, But Charlotte will have her way,

“A RALLYING CRY FOR SUBVERSIVE ELEMENTS”
Norries father, Robert Sr, is a millionaire businessman who owns large mining interests, among other companies, At one of the familys coal mines in Pennsylvania, the Shickshinny Mine, a tunnel collapsed, When the company refused to send a rescue party,miners died of suffocation, including eight children, Newsome angrily refused to accept responsibility, His response To fire the manager, “The incident has become a rallying cry for subversive elements,” writes the New York Herald, The newspaper coverage, and Jane Prescotts growing understanding of the events surrounding a murder in the Newsome family, gradually lead her to understand the character of the oftenviolent class struggle underway in the Gilded Age.
After all, which is “The Crime of the Century” The murder of one rich person, . . or a mine disaster that kills eight children and more than a hundred men

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mariah Fredericks is the author of the three books in the Jane Prescott series and nine other novels as well as one book of nonfiction.
Wikipedia tells us that “She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history and was the head copywriter for BookoftheMonth Club for many years.
” Her own website reveals that she was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives today with her family.
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