This is a nice period cozy mystery with romance and some paranormal plot threads. Rose is a newly graduated Pinkerton agent who worked as a housemaid before becoming an investigator. There is a lot of upstairs/downstairs subplot action going on and some exploration of the rigid society rules which defined class in 1886.
The plot is woven around a skeleton framework of actual historical events and people in NYC during the time period (1886) covered in the book. The author has done some research and if the actual racism and class resentment, corruption, sexism, and anarchy of 'real' history is smoothed over somewhat to make it more palatable for readers, I, for one, didn't mind at all. It's not missing, it's just toned down a bit.
The plot is easy to follow, the characters are reasonably well developed, the romance elements are slow moving (and chaste), the murders are bloodless (well, mostly bloodless), and for readers new to the series, it works perfectly well as a standalone novel. I did enjoy it and the scope of 'luck' (psychic talents) seems almost endless - it seems inevitable that there will be more books along soon. The author has a readable, accessible, entertaining writing style and I enjoyed my first introduction to this series enough that I intend to go and seek out the first book.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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