Murder in the City of Liberty (Rachel McMillan) – Review + Giveaway

Posted 13 June 2019 by Katie in Christian Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Review, Romance / 7 Comments


Title: 
Murder in the City of Liberty
Author: 
Rachel McMillan
Genre: 
Historical Mystery
Series: 
#2 Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery
Publisher: 
Thomas Nelson
Release date: 
28 May 2019
Pages: 
336

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Murder in the City of Liberty (A Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery #2)


About the Book

Hamish DeLuca and Regina “Reggie” Van Buren have a new case—and this one brings the war in Europe dangerously close to home.

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.

Excerpt

Boston
April 1940

There really never was a good time to drown. But this particular April had been unseasonably cold and promised spring long in coming. The slosh of the Charles River warmed by ribbons of June sun would have been preferable to the crusted sludge of leftover ice rimming the harbor, or so thought Reggie Van Buren as she bobbed up and down like a buoy.
    A New Haven Van Buren ought to have perished an old, wealthy woman, tendrils of snow-white hair falling around a satin pillow, comforted in the knowledge that she would be interred in the family plot, her soul destined for paradise—not with water up to her nose, choking as it lapped in and out like a tide over her chattering teeth. But a New Haven Van Buren also might have had the propriety to insist upon the use of her given name and not the “Reggie” she so preferred. The Reggie she was just hearing now in a rather frantic yet familiar voice.
    “Reggie!” Hamish DeLuca’s panicked voice reached into the hollow dome of her cement cave. “Reggie!”
    “I was st-stupid. I s-slipped.”
    She treaded poorly, her arms feeling like gelatin, her form rather lacking the swimming skills she had learned informally alongside her family’s schooner on Regatta Day. Reggie strained to rise above the lapping water. She took turns treading and raising herself as high up on her toes as she could. Rotating and wondering why she failed to complete the ballet classes her parents enrolled her in as a child. Standing on tiptoe might have added inches to her height and allowed her to clear her mouth of the water. As it was, her calf muscles strained. She said something that came out in a series of bubbles before glugging, rising upward, and noticing for the first time how the fog from her icy breath rippled over the water. If she couldn’t understand herself, how would he?
    “S-slipped,” she said again, trying to make him out in shadow. “H-Hamish.” She tried again. Funny, usually he was the one with the stutter. Hamish DeLuca with the stutter and the bit of a handshake and that one pesky dimple and those big blue eyes. Her own eyes fluttered. Maybe she would never see him again. She would just slip under the water and rest her heavy eyelids. She blinked until a stream of torchlight buttered the dark walls, crystallizing the percolating water drips around her, and then the figure of her rescuer, whose blue eyes looked even more brilliant than usual in the eerie glow of the flashlight.
    Hamish dropped to his knees. “Take my hand.”
    “This didn’t turn out as I expected,” she chattered.
    “Reggie, we don’t have much time.” His voice rippled as he looked frantically at her and then over to the grille she had stared at since she got into the mess, watching the water level rise and fall and rise and fall until it made her dizzy. She clung to his hand a moment.
    “We should have gone with plan B.”
    Hamish growled. “We didn’t even have a plan A.”
    “You’re my hero, Hamish.” She patted his hand with her icy one. “It was so nice of you to come.”
    “Reggie, just take my hand.”
    “I’m stuck!” 
    “What?”
    “M-my shoe.”
    Hamish said something she was altogether certain she had imagined in her half-frozen and very soggy state. And then, of course, he recklessly jumped in to get her.

Review

Hamish + Reggie 4 ever! No, I’m not doodling romantic daydreams inside the cover of my school books, but I would happily read books about these two forever. Even their names go together perfectly! Perhaps more perfectly than they do themselves, but that explanation is better left to the story…

To be a little more serious—I adore this series. I adore the setting, the characters (Hamish gets all the heart-eyes), and the kinds of issues they’re tackling, both personally and professionally. And I adore how character-driven the stories are, even though I occasionally felt as though I lost the thread of the mystery in this one as a result. (More on that in a moment.) Not only is there the delicious romantic tension between Hamish and Reggie but also the tension created when friendship, familial loyalty, and suspicion collide. And if you really want to enjoy all of that to the full, I highly recommend you read Murder at the Flamingo before diving in to this one.

The mystery Hamish and Reggie tackle begins simply enough—if you don’t count the near drowning, that is: baseball player Errol Parker asks them to investigate a series of pranks he believes are racially motivated. But then it twists and turns as Hamish and Reggie follow a trail that keeps circling back to a radical political organisation, a proposed property development, and Hamish’s cousin. I loved the organic, slightly chaotic way it unfolded, and I especially loved that it was inseparable from the time and setting of the novel. After all, what’s the point of such a vividly rendered historical setting if your mystery could be set anywhere and anytime?

As I hinted earlier, my only difficulty was that I occasionally felt as though I had missed some connecting dots when it came to untangling the mystery. Then again, perhaps Hamish and Reggie are simply cleverer than I am—which is entirely possible! I could also have been slightly distracted (in a good way) by all the interpersonal stuff going on—which I’ve already mentioned is one of the things I LOVE about this series, but if you’re looking for a straight mystery without the character focus or the romance, this is a heads up you won’t find that here.

And I can’t finish this review without saying a little *squeee* for the meeting between Nate and a certain someone towards the end of the story. (Have I mentioned Nate? He gets heart-eyes too.) SUCH a great scene. *giggle* And here’s a *GASP* for a revelation made to Hamish!! I’m so looking forward to more from these characters!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Previous Books in the Series

Read my review for Murder at the Flamingo

About the Author

Rachel McMillanRachel McMillan is a keen history enthusiast and a lifelong bibliophile. When not writing or reading, she can most often be found drinking tea and watching British miniseries. Rachel lives in bustling Toronto, where she works in educational publishing and pursues her passion for art, literature, music, and theater.

Connect with Rachel
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Rachel is giving away a grand prize of both book in the series!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e513/murder-in-the-city-of-liberty-celebration-tour-giveaway

Blog Stops

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