Murder in the City of Liberty
(A Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery, #2)
By: Rachel McMillan
To be Published: May 28, 2019
Published by: Thomas Nelson
Format Read: ARC, NetGalley, eBook
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Series
Rating: 3.5/5
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Synopsis
Hamish DeLuca and Regina “Reggie” Van Buren have a new case–and this one brings the war in Europe dangerously close to home.
–Goodreads
Determined to make a life for herself, Regina “Reggie” Van Buren bid goodbye to fine china and the man her parents expected her to marry and escaped to Boston. What she never expected to discover was that an unknown talent for sleuthing would develop into a business partnership with the handsome, yet shy, Hamish DeLuca.
Their latest case arrives when Errol Parker, the leading base stealer in the Boston farm leagues, hires Hamish and Reggie to investigate what the Boston police shove off as a series of harmless pranks. Errol believes these are hate crimes linked to the outbreak of war in Europe, and he’s afraid for his life. Hamish and Reggie quickly find themselves in the midst of an escalating series of crimes that seem to link Boston to Hamish’s hometown of Toronto.
When an act of violence hits too close to home, Hamish is driven to a decision that may sever him from Reggie forever . . . even more than her engagement to wealthy architect Vaughan Vanderlaan.
My Thoughts
Murder in the City of Liberty is set two years after the first book Murder at the Flamingo. Europe and Hamish’s homeland Canada are at war, but the US has yet to join. Although they were not yet in the trenches; racism and anti-Semitism was growing fast.
This second book in the Van Buren and DeLuca series was more exciting than Murder at the Flamingo. It did rely on the past events and characters, so I would definitely recommend reading the series in order.
Even though I wasn’t exactly captured by the mystery itself, there were several aspects that I did enjoy. Those include:
- The baseball storyline, which added to the patriotic theme, that painted a vivid picture of 1940’s America.
- The way McMillan was able to write a murder mystery centered around such atrocities without using a single racial slur, profanity or graphic descriptions of violence.
- And of course; my favourite character Hamish DeLuca, who is the epitome of a gentleman.
Rachel McMillan is a talented writer who I would highly recommend.
Additional Notes
There were so many quotes in Murder in the City of Liberty that I paused to re-read. Here are some of my favourites:
.’..life is too short to spend it with the wrong dance partner’
‘It’s amazing what you can come up with when you know someone is watching you as if you could spread wings and f ly.
“Sometimes,” his father always said, “you need to recognize that life will throw a line drive at you. And you have two choices. You can duck in fear and cower. Or you can hit it straight on . You have the choice to react or to anticipate. Use your power to blast that ball out of the field. Trust me. Anticipate.
”Love meant accepting the lowest of a person . The parts that made you tingle and shrug. Love saw through every fight and stilled every fear and weathered every doubt. Love meant pushing past perceptions and surmounting expectations and accepting that someone would never always live up to the ideals you imparted on them.”
Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery Series
Book 1: Murder at the Flamingo
ML's Red House Reviews 