She Treads Softly: In Sunshine or in Shadow

Saturday, February 24, 2024

In Sunshine or in Shadow

In Sunshine or in Shadow by Rhys Bowen, Clare Broyles
3/12/24; 304 pages
Minotaur Books
Molly Murphy Mystery #20

In Sunshine or in Shadow by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles sends Molly out of Manhattan and up north to visit her mother-in-law in Westchester County. It is highly recommended for fans of the series.

In 1908 typhoid is back in the city and retired detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is expecting so Daniel wants her, along with their toddler son and teenage ward, to go stay with his mother for the summer. Much to her relief, her mother-in-law is a surprisingly welcoming host. When Molly's friends, Sid and Gus, invite her to come stay with them for a visit, she jumps at the chance. She joins them in a visit to Sid's family in a Jewish bungalow in the Catskills where tensions are running high and soon there is a murder to solve.

Mother and daughter Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles team up on this 20th installment of the mystery series. This is a typical Molly Murphy mystery. At this point, the characters are fully realized and developed across the whole series. The story arc is expected, a murder will be solved, although this time it is slow to happen, which marks the start of the investigation portion of the novel. It is a predictable, but comfortable, plot.

The quality of the writing is excellent, as expected. Where it really shines is in the descriptions of life during that time period, 1908, and all the historical information on the early Catskill resorts. Fans will welcome this latest addition and those new to the series can enjoy it as a standalone novel. This novel was reviewed in partnership with my mother who is an avid reader and big fan of the author. Thanks to Minotaur Books for providing an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.