A GILDED DEATH

A murder mystery focuses on the elites of the Gilded Age.

In this series opener, a silver mine heiress from Nevada and her New York Four Hundred husband team up to investigate the deaths of several members of the city’s high society. Valentine Mackle left the freedom of her Western upbringing behind to follow the strict rules of society when she married Roderick DeVere, a cocktail enthusiast and member of New York’s elite. Val, who is still sorting out which fork to use—while spending the summer in Newport, Rhode Island, as most of the Four Hundred do—relies on her friend Cassie Forster for both emotional and practical support. But as the book opens, Cassie is the one who needs help, having just discovered that her great-aunt’s recent death may have been murder. When Cassie’s cousin dies under similar circumstances and she seems to be under threat as well, Val and Roddy hire bodyguards, investigate clues, and chase down a killer. The variety of plausible suspects will keep readers wondering who did it until the novel’s final chapters, which provide a satisfying resolution. Tichi is the author of a nonfiction book about the Gilded Age elite, What Would Mrs. Astor Do? (2018). Although it can occasionally feel as if her research makes itself a bit too obvious as she re-creates the world of Newport cottages and private train cars in this story, she does an excellent job of bringing the setting to life with vivid language (Cassie’s “arched brow was a signal shot across the damask tablecloth and bone china plates with our host’s newly minted coat-of-arms”). Readers who prefer their historical fiction draped in satin, governed by strict rules of behavior, and blessed with fabulous wealth will enjoy the period-piece accuracy of the tale, while cocktail enthusiasts will appreciate Roddy’s recipes, which appear throughout the work. The mystery itself is a fresh twist on a genre trope, and the story as a whole is solid despite some uneven pacing.

A richly detailed, engaging whodunit set amid the glitter of 19th-century Newport.