Last Stop in Brooklyn: A Mary Handley Mystery

Levy stumbles in his unfocused third mystery featuring New York consulting detective Mary Handley (after 2016’s Brooklyn on Fire). In 1894, Basem Ben Ali asks Mary to prove the innocence of his brother, Ameer, who was convicted three years earlier of murdering a prostitute in a style akin to Jack the Ripper’s. Mary soon suspects that Ameer, an Algerian immigrant, was framed by real-life police inspector Thomas Byrnes, who had promised to put the Ripper away in 36 hours should he come to the States. Mary’s policeman brother, Sean, helps her identify an intricate pattern of murders that mirror the Ripper’s as part of their effort to exonerate Ameer. Meanwhile, Byrnes and his corrupt circle get caught up in an elaborate mystery involving a bomb and a Vanderbilt-style robber baron. Excepting her sometimes charming banter with her journalist suitor, Mary is self-righteous and rude, spouting unsolicited lectures and crude vulgarities that would offend even in today’s relaxed society. Levy builds on fascinating 19th-century facts and figures, but anachronisms and unconvincing characterizations weaken the story’s appeal. Agent: Paul Fedorko, N.S. Bienstock. (Jan.)