In Sunshine or in Shadow: A Molly Murphy Mystery

The mother-daughter team of Bowen and Broyles paint by numbers in their ho-hum third Molly Murphy historical mystery (after All That Is Hidden). In 1908 New York City, a pregnant Molly has shuttered her private detective agency at the urging of her husband, Daniel Sullivan, the NYPD’s head of homicide. Fearing a summer typhus outbreak in Manhattan, Molly takes the couple’s children to stay with Daniel’s mother in Westchester. Quickly bored, she decides to visit her friends Sid and Gus at an artists’ colony in the Catskills. Though it’s meant to be a relaxing break from family, the trip swerves in another direction when Molly accidentally makes good on Sid’s tongue-in-cheek wish to keep her intellectually stimulated by “drum[ming] up a murder” for her to solve. On a walk in the woods, the retired PI discovers a bullet-riddled corpse and launches an inquiry. Her initial investigation leads her to a land dispute involving a real estate developer with plans to build a resort catering to Jewish patrons. Fearing the police will settle on a Jewish suspect out of prejudice, rather than following the trail of evidence, Molly races to find the culprit before they make an arrest. Bowen and Broyles execute predictable story beats with little flourish or verve. Even dedicated series fans won’t be able to get over the feeling they’ve seen this all before. (Mar.)