The Edge of Dreams

The extremely tricky plot of Bowen’s 14th Molly Murphy mystery (after 2014’s City of Darkness and Light) will keep even veteran whodunit readers guessing. It’s 1905, and Molly has ostensibly retired from private-detective work since marrying NYPD Capt. Daniel Sullivan, but she can’t help using her intuition and intelligence to solve crimes, even after motherhood. Daniel is under pressure to solve a series of murders that appear to be connected only through taunting notes that are addressed to him at Mulberry Street police headquarters. When Molly and their nearly year-old son, Liam, survive an elevated-railway accident in which others perish, Daniel fears that the killer engineered the derailment to target his wife and child. Despite being seriously injured, Molly presses ahead with aiding her husband in his investigation. Bowen makes Molly’s continued sleuthing plausible, even under her changed personal circumstances, and deftly plants clues so that the surprising final revelation makes perfect sense. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Mar.)