Week of May 2. This week I read The Wages of Sin, by Nancy Allen, Death at Chinatown by Frances McNamara and Death and Hard Cider by Barbara Hambly.

In Wages of Sin, Elsie works on a case in which a man batters his 8 month old pregnant wife to death with a baseball bat.

Of course, the case is more complicated that it first appears, involving a meth lab and a traumatized young girl. Elsie is also negotiating her on/off relationship with Detective Ashcroft. Now that he has taken in his son, Ashcroft has been given a list of rules by his ex-wife and it is seriously impacting his relationship with Elsie. I really enjoy these books although they are dark, and Elsie’s success in court is never assured. Recommended.

The second book I read is Death at Chinatown, a book I picked up at Malice Domestic.

Emily Cabot Chapman is drawn into the murder of a Chinese herbalist in Chinatown. A woman doctor from China has been accused of the murder. The tension in the Chinese community between the traditionalists, (there is a description of some young women with bound feet) and those who want to see China progress – but not always with Western ideals. As in Death at the Homefront, which described the prejudice against the Germans, this book deals with the prejudice against the Chinese.

At the same time, Emily, who has two small children, is trying to balance her responsibilities as a wife and mother with Stephen’s urging for her to go back to work – and the conflict that causes.

Another good mystery, well-researched. I do wish I’d read it in order, though.

Finally, I read Death and Hard Cider. Barbara Hambly is one of my favorite authors. I began reading her when she wrote science fiction and moved with her when she began her Benjamin January mysteries.

It is 1840 and William Henry Harrison (Tippencanoe and Tyler too) is running for President. Henry Clay and his son James visit New Orleans. After one of the many events, a beautiful young girl is found shot to death. One of January’s friends, a former placee, is arrested for the murder. January and his friend Shaw are not satisfied and begin to look into the murder.

As always, the characters and the setting are top rate. I always feel as though I am right there, with the heat and the smell of the swamp and the constant danger of being a black man, although free, in a slave owning community. Highly recommended.