During the summer of 1894 Mary Handley is asked to investigate the conviction of a man of a prostitute. Detective Thomas Byrnes is convinced that the right man has been convicted. But Mary discovers many disturbing facts.
An interesting mystery which just about kept my interest.
A NetGalley Book ( )

Mary is a case when she feels like someone is following her. But she cannot tell who at the moment. Once she sees her friend's husband talking to Colleen. She thinks the worse of her best friend's husband.

On her way out, she confronts a man see that is following her. When she does, he wants her to look into his brother case that is that Ben Ali is not a killer.

There seems to be some corruption going on in the NYPD in the year of 1894. Who does all the cover-up? Who the Killer of more than a dozen woman.

Looks like Mary get pulled into an investigation that has to do with Sage Bombing and as she gets more into the case of Ben Ali she finds more clues and finding the killer. Who is Jack the Ripper, the killer?

You will be turning the page to find out. Have you read the book you learn about that time period in NY? We even meet Teddy Roosevelt before he becomes President of United States and the reason why or at least partly.

If you are a historical Fiction fan you will enjoy this book. It a Mystery and part historical so you will get both if you are a fan of both or one or the other. ( )

This is the third book in the Mary Handley Mystery series, but it works very well as a stand-alone.

Mary is a very independent woman for the 1890's and a talented private investigator, who usually doesn't mess with infidelity cases. But for her friends, she'll do almost anything. While following her target, she bursts into a surprising situation and soon finds herself involved, not only in a much larger case, but one with much deadlier roots. The stakes are very high, and the case is much more complex than she would have ever expected.

I have not read the other books in this series but had absolutely no trouble diving into Mary's tale. The story is written in third person and switches points of view with the intricacy of a carefully woven web. There are many players in the field, most with their own agendas and not so ethical means. While they appear, at first, to have little to do with each other, the author draws them closer together in unexpected ways and with varying ties, making it hard to deduct who the true criminal is, or what exactly the various situations have to do with each other. It's well laid out, and well played.

Mary, herself, is a prickly character and not always easy to like. She's arrogant, defensive and snippy to a fault. It was difficult to fall in with her, but after a while, some of her exchanges and remarks did make her endearing. She simply stays at an arm's length away. But then, most of the characters carry this layer of arrogance like a second skin. While the dialogue was extremely entertaining to follow, most of the characters spoke with the exact same hauntiness and attitude, numbing natural individuality. Like Mary, many of them never feel familiar enough to gain much sympathy, but stay on the pages. Still, the villains are easy to dislike, and some characters are sympathetic.

While masterfully layering the mystery, the author also throws in a multitude of historical information, characters and tidbits. Most of this was very interesting and enriched the world. As an extra treat, the author notes at the end give a little more background concerning the historical figures involved in the mystery. The modern day ideas of equality, while nice to see, are pressed hard, which does, however, also flow along with Mary's own very stubborn and distinct personality.

Summed up, it's a well laid mystery with a very strong female investigator, tons of clever exchanges, and offers gems of small historical facts along the way.

I received a complimentary copy through Blogging for Books and found this mystery so interesting that I wanted to leave my honest thoughts. ( )

What is eerie about Last Stop in Brooklyn by Lawrence H. Levy is how current it sounds. An investigation of adultery leads to a case about a string of murders to a story of corruption. The setting is Brooklyn in the 1890s, but so many of the conversations could be and are taking place today. Political corruption. Prejudice. Women's equality. The names and the faces have changed, but sadly, many of the conversations remain.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/02/last-stop-in-brooklyn.html

Reviewed for Penguin First to Read program. ( )

: Mary Handley has her hands full trying to prove that her client’s brother Ameer Ben Ali is innocent in the murder of Carrie Brown. In the search for the truth Mary runs into real trouble all the while dealing with “Masculine Patronization” in an era where women were trying to get men to understand that they were stronger than men gave them credit for.

Author, Lawrence H Levy’s writing of a strong, brave woman is refreshing. Mary is a spitfire and humorous to boot! Some might find her annoyingly blunt, however I didn’t. I thought she was tough when she needed to be tough and sensitive and soft when she needed to be. I loved seeing both sides of her character. Her investigative prowess is straight on, her steps always ahead of the police. There is a relationship that builds from a step in her first investigation in the book that might be not what it appears to be, only you can decide by reading the book.

This book is the 3rd and final episode in the trilogy of The Mary Handley Mysteries. I didn’t read the first 2 books and I thought It held its own when it came to not having to know the back stories. I enjoyed the depth of the characters, her father, his boss Leo, Mary’s landlord, book proprietor Lazlo and the others encountered along the way. I appreciated the real people characterized in the book too, Andrew Carnegie, Russell Sage and other tycoon moguls and the realism that their voices came out as dealing with the fictional characters.

Mary Handley never once cringes when she is dealing with the harsh realities of murder and takes the task in hand aptly. I felt as if she could have been a real person in modern day fighting for women’s rights and the rights of the lowest of the low as she does in the story.

The only thing that I didn’t like about this book is that it ended too soon. The location of Brooklyn is part of my heritage it drew me in wanting to experience the ugly corners, like Coney Island was back in the Victorian Age and compare it to it’s modern day atmosphere. I hope that everyone wants to take that last stop in Brooklynn as I do now.

Mr. Levy even has a map of Brooklyn during Mary's time that you can find Here.
I think I need to go back and read the first two books and also, follow along on the map for Last Stop in Brooklyn.

Please go and buy this book and the 2 proceeding books at your favorite Indie Store. For convenience you can buy at Amazon and B&N. I prefer the Indie route.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 for a not so obvious mystery, the swell writing and the historical aspect of the book.
I thank Crown Publishing for allowing me to read Last Stop in Brooklyn via Net Galley in lieu of my honest review. It was a fun and mysterious read. ( )