"excellent locked room mystery"
Ex-Sheriff John Le Brun may be retired but that doesn't
stop him from solving homicides connected to exclusive
men's clubs (see the JEKYL ISLAND CLUB and THE SCEPTERED
ISLE CLUB). In New York during June 1906, another member
murders a member of the ultra-exclusive Metropolitan Club
but the killer has an airtight alibi. John Pierpont
Morgan, the founder and head of the club, doesn't want a
scandal attached to his creation so he hires John Le Brun
to look into the case. When John arrives in Manhattan, he finds facts that have a
bearing on the case. The killer was not a member of the
club but a look alike. The victim was not Edmund Pinckney
but his identical twin brother Miniver who was playing a
practical joke that got him killed. Edmund is afraid he
will be the killer's next target because too many people
know that Miniver was the sibling who died. He is proven
correct in a locked room scenario that makes everyone think
it is suicide. Le Brun is not convinced and sets out to
prove his theory; an action that twice almost gets him
killed. A locked room mystery is always fun to read especially when
it is constructed as well as it is in THE MANHATTAN ISLAND
CLUBS using places and people who actually lived during the
time and setting of this book. Brent Monahan takes his
audience behind the scenes of the so-called Gilded Age and
shows that the period was corrupt and narcissistic.
Readers will adore the brilliant hero who gets heart broken
by a damsel in distress. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted June 16, 2003
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