Listened to this on Audible. Great story and great narrator! I'll be looking for #2. ( )

For a mystery book, there sure wasn't a lot of mystery to this story... ( )

It’s March 1888 in New York City. The day a huge blizzard blows in (this was a real event), Prudence’s fiancee (Charles, a lawyer) is out walking with a couple other men. One of them decides he can’t go on, but Charles goes on with his friend and fellow lawyer, Roscoe. Roscoe gets further ahead, and when Charles stops to rest, he is knocked out and dies in the cold.

Prudence has also only recently lost her own father (a judge). She is now living with her hated stepmother, Victoria (Victoria and Prudence’s father had only been married a couple of years), and unfortunately, Victoria is trustee to Prudence’s inheritance until she turns 31. The trusteeship was supposed to have transferred over to Charles when they married in only 2 weeks.

Prudence and Charles’ best friend Geoffrey (also a lawyer) work on trying to figure out what’s going on, and how to help Prudence get her rightful inheritance out of her stepmother’s grasp.

I was very impressed with the descriptions of the snow storm. I also loved that Prudence was treated so well by her father; they were very close and he treated her more like a son… as in, he taught her a lot of lawyer-ly stuff that a woman, at that time, would never normally have learned. Prudence is smart and I like how the men/lawyers she is working with (Roscoe, in addition to Geoffrey) accept that she is capable. We have an idea what happened early on, but spend the book trying to figure out how it all happened. There were a lot of characters, though, so I did tend to forget who was who at times, and it was a bit of a tangle/maze even once it was revealed how everything happened. I have no issues with how things ended and I will continue with the second book in the series. ( )

This was a dark mystery with the sleuthing led by the daughter of a Pinkerton. Lots of characters to keep straight but all the pieces fit together at the very end. I'm looking forward to the next one. ( )

The Blizzard of 1888 brings New York City to a halt. The snow blocks transportation and 200 people that venture outside during the storm freeze to death. The storm will also completely change heiress Prudence MacKenzie's life. Her fiance, Charles, is found dead on a bench, the back of his head caved in. Officials rule that a falling tree branch knocked him unconscious and he froze to death. Prudence believes the cause of his death might be much more sinister.

Following the death of her father, Prudence's stepmother is in complete control over the household and slowly making her stepdaughter addicted to laudanum. The family attorney informs Prudence that inheritance from her father's will depends on her marrying Charles. With his death, her stepmother gains control of everything -- the house, the money, even Prudence's dead mother's jewelry. Soon, Prudence finds it hard to even leave the house. Is her life in danger? Is Charles' death murder? What is her stepmother up to? With the help of the family attorney and a former Pinkerton agent, Prudence begins to delve into family secrets. What she discovers is shocking.

I found myself completely engrossed in this story from the start. The backdrop of Gilded Age New York and the aftermath of a massive blizzard is engaging. Simpson paces the story perfectly, letting the tension build up until the very end. Although the final outcome is not shocking, the way it comes about is surprising. Well done!

I liked all of the characters. The "bad guys'' were supremely horrible. I felt justified in despising them right from the beginning. Prudence is a great main character. She is feisty, intelligent, self-reliant and brave. Former Pinkerton agent, Geoffrey Hunter, is a great male lead as well. He is dedicated to getting to the bottom of the case and protecting Prudence. I was very happy to discover that this book is just the first in a planned Gilded Age Mystery Series. Simpson has announced two more future books, Lies That Comfort And Betray and Final Portraits. I will definitely be reading more of this series!

For more information on the author and her books, check out her website: http://rosemarysimpsonbooks.com/

**I voluntarily read an Advance Readers Copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.** ( )