The Family Way

Set in 1904, Bowen’s well-paced 12th mystery featuring feisty and endearing Molly Murphy (after 2012’s Hush Now, Don’t You Cry) finds Molly unable to resist taking on a missing persons case, despite her promise to her new husband, NYPD Capt. Daniel Sullivan, to give up detecting now that their first baby is on the way. Molly receives a letter from a woman in Ireland seeking news of her orphaned niece, Maureen O’Byrne, who wrote on arriving in New York City a year earlier that she had secured a job as an under–parlor maid with a Mrs. Mainwaring. The aunt has heard nothing from Maureen since. With the last name of Maureen’s employer her only lead, Molly plunges into a thorough investigation of the maid’s fate. The usual full-blooded characters will keep readers engaged, but series fans may wonder how Molly will juggle sleuthing with increased domestic demands in future installments. Agent: Meg Ruley, the Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Mar.)