Death at Chinatown

Emily Cabot Mysteries Volume 5

Fiction - Mystery - Murder
226 Pages
Reviewed on 10/04/2014
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Patsy Glans for Readers' Favorite

In Death at Chinatown, An Emily Cabot Mystery by Frances McNamara, Emily Cabot is in awe of Dr Mary Stone and Dr. Ida Kahn. They have sacrificed so much to become doctors. Now they are in Chicago for the summer to learn all they can about the latest medical treatments to take back with them to China to open their clinic to help their fellow countrymen and women. Emily herself wishes she could do more, but with her husband's work, their children and all of her charities, she just can't do any more. Her husband, Dr. Stephen, keeps asking her to do things and she is annoyed with him; he just does not seem to understand they have children that need at least one of their parents caring for them, not the nanny. When two Chinese women are accused of killing a local herbalist in Chicago's Chinatown, Emily is asked to help ferret out suspects and clues and relay the information to the police. When Emily and her children are put in danger, will she risk everything she holds dear to uncover the true identity of the killer or will she turn her back to protect what is hers?

This is the fifth installment of this historical mystery series featuring amateur sleuth, Emily Cabot. I was confused at times, as I have not had the pleasure of reading the other books so I didn't fully appreciate Emily's back story. However, I still enjoyed it very much, especially the historical detail. The same issues Chinese women face today were doubly hard to overcome in the 1890s. They didn't give up then and they certainly don't give up today. In the 1890s, very few women were well received in colleges, especially medical colleges. They relied heavy on local herbs to help cure all kinds of aliments, although there were a number of people who thought using herbs were dangerous and did whatever they could to discredit this practice, even framing their own for murder. Frances McNamara does an incredible job of getting the historical facts correct in her research, and takes the time to explain what each herb can do in healing and which ones to be careful of as they can be deadly if used wrongly. Fans of mystery and medical stories will enjoy this latest installment.