Treachery on Tenth Street

August 8, 2022
Belli’s evocative third Gilded Gotham mystery (after 2021’s Betrayal on the Bowery) finds society-page reporter Genevieve Stewart and her sometime investigative partner, wealthy upstart Daniel McCaffrey, leaving Newport, R.I., in the summer of 1889 for New York City, because Genevieve’s artist’s-model friend, Callie Maple, wants her to look into the murder of a fellow model, Beatrice Holler. Callie fears Beatrice is the latest victim of a killer targeting models, and the police have been of no use. At the risk of their lives, Genevieve and Daniel use their connections among the Astor 400 and the city’s underworld to try to unmask the fiend before another young woman is struck down. Appearances by real-life artists, such as painter William Merritt Chase, and descriptions of long-gone landmarks, such as the Elephantine Colossus at Coney Island, lend historical verisimilitude. At times, though, excessive background detail slows the plot and undermines the building of suspense. The growing attraction between Genevieve and Daniel gets a light, sympathetic touch. Anne Perry fans will be pleased. Agent: Danielle Egan-Miller, Browne and Miller Literary Assoc.