What the Dead Leave Behind

by Rosemary Simpson

Overview

Set amidst the opulent mansions and cobblestone streets of Old New York, this enthralling historical mystery by Rosemary Simpson brings the Gilded Age to life-in a tantalizing tale of old money, new love, and grave suspicion . . .

As the Great Blizzard of 1888 cripples New York City, heiress Prudence MacKenzie sits anxiously within her palatial Fifth Avenue home waiting for her fiancé's safe return. But the fearsome storm rages through the night. With daylight, more than two hundred people are found to have perished in the icy winds and treacherous snowdrifts. Among them is Prudence's fiancé-his body frozen, his head crushed by a heavy branch, his fingers clutching a single playing card, the ace of spades . . .

Close on the heels of her father's untimely demise, Prudence is convinced Charles's death was no accident. The ace of spades was a code he shared with his school friend, Geoffrey Hunter, a former Pinkerton agent and attorney from the South. Wary of sinister forces closing in on her, Prudence turns to Geoffrey as her only hope in solving a murder not all believe in-and to help protect her inheritance from a stepmother who seems more interested in the family fortune than Prudence's wellbeing . . .

"Simpson vividly recreates the world of nineteenth-century New York City in this exciting debut mystery."
-Victoria Thompson, bestselling author of Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496709097
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	12/26/2017
Series:	Gilded Age Mystery Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	333,069
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Rosemary Simpson is the author of two previous historical novels The Seven Hills of Paradise and Dreams and Shadows. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Historical Novel Society. Educated in France and the United States, she now lives near Tucson, Arizona.

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2017
The Great Blizzard of March 1888 provides the backdrop for Simpson’s richly plotted series launch set in Gilded Age Manhattan. Wealthy 19-year-old Prudence MacKenzie is stunned by the death of her father, judge Thomas MacKenzie, who trained her in logic and deduction after her mother’s early demise. Three months after her father’s funeral, she anxiously scans Fifth Avenue for signs of her fiancé, Charles Linwood, amid the massive snowstorm paralyzing the city. Instead, he’s counted among those who perished in the blizzard, despite an unlikely wound and the playing card clutched in his hand. Under her father’s will, Charles’s death puts Prudence and her inheritance under the control of her malicious young stepmother, Victoria. With Charles’s friend, former Pinkerton agent Geoffrey Hunter, Prudence investigates Victoria’s checkered past, seeking information she hopes will free her from her stepmother. Simpson (Dreams and Shadows) anchors an appealing detective duo in a colorful and well-researched depiction of period settings and personalities. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"I really did like everything about [Sarah Zimmerman's] narration. Good and kept me on the edge of my seat." ---Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2017
The blizzard that hit New York City in March 1888 killed 200 people. Lawyer Charles Linwood is found frozen to death with a playing card, the ace of spades, clutched in his hand, and his head crushed by a branch. He and heiress Prudence MacKenzie were to marry in less than a month. With Charles dead, Prudence's stepmother, Victoria, becomes the trustee of Prudence's inheritance. After discovering Victoria trying to slip her laudanum, the intrepid Prudence pairs up with ex-Pinkerton agent Geoffrey Hunter, Charles's old school friend, to investigate the woman's past and find a way to escape her clutches. In their search for answers, they join forces with unusual allies: a hansom driver, a legal secretary, a former police officer with ties to the underworld and the old Confederacy, and a blind code breaker. VERDICT Launching an atmospheric new series set in Gilded Age New York, Simpson (The Seven Hills of Paradise) incorporates historical events and figures to add verisimilitude to this tension-filled story. Suggest for mystery readers who appreciate period detail, including fans of Anne Perry's "Thomas and Charlotte Pitt" mysteries.--LH

Library Journal

2017-02-05
A daring daughter of the Gilded Age must fight her stepmother for her very survival.The death of Judge Thomas MacKenzie leaves his daughter, Prudence, a wealthy heiress. Between his own talents and those of his friend, attorney and former senator Roscoe Conkling, the judge died certain that he'd left his daughter well provided for despite the rapacious machinations of his second wife, Victoria. Prudence, who's never understood why the judge remarried, loathes Victoria and her slimy brother, Donald Morley, who lives with them. A few short weeks before Prudence is to marry and come into her inheritance, her fiance, Charles Linwood, dies in an apparent accident during a monster snowstorm that nearly claims Conkling too, leaving Prudence a minor under the thumb of her stepmother, who doses her with laudanum to keep her pliable. Realizing that she has only herself to count on in her battle with Victoria, strong-willed Prudence exchanges the laudanum for tea and quietly searches the house for evidence that might free her from Victoria. She gets help from Conkling and Southerner Geoffrey Hunter, a former Pinkerton agent and Charles' best friend since college days. The more closely they investigate, the more it seems likely that both Charles and the judge were murdered. Have Victoria and her brother plotted their way to riches, or does someone else have a grudge against the judge and his family? In an unwilling game of cat and mouse, Prudence struggles to keep herself alive and find the proof that will set her free. Simpson's debut, first in a planned series, features complex characters, a vivid look at old New York in the late 1800s, and a mystery with a twist.

Kirkus Reviews