The Lace Widow (An Eliza Hamilton Mystery)
New York, 1804. Alexander Hamilton has been killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. Eliza Hamilton, his wife, is distraught at the loss of a husband but also at the prospect of surviving with eight children and no means of support.
Further tragedy looms: her son Alexander Jr., has been arrested, accused of killing someone he had fought with in a tavern. Eliza searches for a way to clear both her son’s name and her late husband’s reputation. Before his death, Hamilton had been accused of stealing money from the government, and the ensuing scandal almost destroyed her family. During her search for evidence of her son’s innocence, she combs through her late husband’s papers and begins to find clues that would exonerate him and hopefully provide help for her son.
Debt-ridden and desperate, Eliza begins to sell the delicate lace she makes. Through this, she meets a network of other widowed lacemakers, most of whom are connected to New York’s most prominent families. Through these women and their connections, Eliza learns the dark secrets behind the glittering social milieu of New York. When people start turning up dead, Eliza must stay out of danger.
Mollie Ann Cox is a well-established mystery writer, but The Lace Widow is her first historical mystery. She masterfully re-creates a New York in its infancy, just before its major entrance onto the world’s stage. Both her historical and her fictional figures are believable and compelling. This book is a treat for lovers of American history and connoisseurs of tightly paced, well-written mysteries.
