Celebrate Lit / June 21, 2019

Murder in the City of Liberty

Celebrate Lit Book Tour

About the Book Murder in the City of Liberty

Book: Murder in the City of Liberty

Author: Rachel McMillan

Genre: Christian Fiction, Historical

Release Date: May 21, 2019

Hamish DeLuca and Regina “Reggie” Van Buren have a new case—and this one brings the war in Europe dangerously close to home.

Determined to make a life for herself, Regina “Reggie” Van Buren bid goodbye to fine china and the man her parents expected her to marry and escaped to Boston. What she never expected to discover was that an unknown talent for sleuthing would develop into a business partnership with the handsome, yet shy, Hamish DeLuca.

Their latest case arrives when Errol Parker, the leading base stealer in the Boston farm leagues, hires Hamish and Reggie to investigate what the Boston police shove off as a series of harmless pranks. Errol believes these are hate crimes linked to the outbreak of war in Europe, and he’s afraid for his life. Hamish and Reggie quickly find themselves in the midst of an escalating series of crimes that seem to link Boston to Hamish’s hometown of Toronto.

When an act of violence hits too close to home, Hamish is driven to a decision that may sever him from Reggie forever . . . even more than her engagement to wealthy architect Vaughan Vanderlaan.

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My Thoughts:

This was such a fun read. I loved this view on a time in history that I’m always trying to learn more about. It’s 1940’s but before the United States enters the war. There are all kinds living here. It’s a great melting pot in Boston. But not everyone is happy.

There are those who don’t like the black or the Irish. But then there are those who don’t like the Italians and the Jews. They want them gone and will stop at nothing to get what they want.

I love a good mystery book and this definitely qualifies. What could Boston and Toronto have in common? Why target an up and coming great ball player? Because he’s black? And why beat up his nephew? It gets worse before it gets better.

Also, where is Hamish’s cousin Luca? And what is going on with Nate? Why is he so preoccupied and why does Hamish get the feeling he’s being lied to?

Full disclosure, I have not read book one of this series. I wish now I had so if you’re like me and want to know the back story that will be alluded to please read book one first.

Other than not knowing everything that is mentioned since I didn’t read book one, this is a great read. I’m a huge fan of mysteries and this was excellent. I loved getting to know the characters and found myself shaking my head at Reggie multiple times. The descriptions of her clothes were awesome too. As I said, this is a time period I like and the clothes are the best!

Favorite character: Reggie and love how she insists it is Reggie. I think it’s fun how she’s trying to be so self-reliant.

A character I loved to hate: Dirk. Enough said. Everyone is going to love to hate him.

The one you can’t help but want to thump over the head but still love anyway: Nate. I mean you want to thump him for keeping secrets but he’s really so loveable.

Vaughan, I felt sorry for. He seems like an up and up guy. Hopefully, there will be a book soon where he gets some good thrown his way.

Recommended! It starts off a bit slow. I’m not sure if that’s because I was a bit lost not having read the first book or if it’s just the writing style. There were a few things the book could have done without. The one thing that really pops into my head is the scene at Hamish and Nate’s house after Reggie almost drowns and needs to be warmed quickly.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

About the Author of Murder in the City of Liberty

Rachel McMillan is a keen history enthusiast and a lifelong bibliophile. When not writing or reading, she can most often be found drinking tea and watching British miniseries. Rachel lives in bustling Toronto, where she works in educational publishing and pursues her passion for art, literature, music, and theater.

Read the excerpt from Murder in the City of Liberty

Boston

April 1940

There really never was a good time to drown. But this particular April had been unseasonably cold and promised spring long in coming. The slosh of the Charles River warmed by ribbons of June sun would have been preferable to the crusted sludge of leftover ice rimming the harbor, or so thought Reggie Van Buren as she bobbed up and down like a buoy.

A New Haven Van Buren ought to have perished an old, wealthy woman, tendrils of snow-white

hair falling around a satin pillow, comforted in the knowledge that she would be interred in

the family plot, her soul destined for paradise—not with water up to her nose, choking as it lapped in and out like a tide over her chattering teeth. But a New Haven Van Buren also might have had the propriety to insist upon the use of her given name and not the “Reggie” she so preferred. The Reggie she was just hearing now in a rather frantic yet familiar voice.

“Reggie!” Hamish DeLuca’s panicked voice reached into the hollow dome of her cement cave. “Reggie!”

“I was st-stupid. I s-slipped.”

She treaded poorly, her arms feeling like gelatin, her form rather lacking the swimming skills

she had learned informally alongside her family’s schooner on Regatta Day. Reggie strained to rise above the lapping water. She took turns treading and raising herself as high up on her toes as she could. Rotating and wondering why she failed to complete the ballet classes her parents enrolled her in as a child. Standing on tiptoe might have added inches to her height and allowed her to clear her mouth of the water. As it was, her calf muscles strained. She said something that came out in a series of bubbles before glugging, rising upward, and noticing for the first time how the fog from her icy breath rippled over the water. If she couldn’t understand herself,

how would he?

“S-slipped,” she said again, trying to make him out in the shadow. “H-Hamish.” She tried again. Funny, usually he was the one with the stutter. Hamish DeLuca with the stutter and the bit of a handshake and that one pesky dimple and those big blue eyes. Her own eyes fluttered. Maybe she would never see him again. She would just slip under the water and rest her heavy eyelids. She blinked until a stream of torchlight buttered the dark walls, crystallizing the percolating water drips around her, and then the figure of her rescuer, whose blue eyes looked even more brilliant than usual in the eerie glow of the flashlight.

Hamish dropped to his knees. “Take my hand.”

“This didn’t turn out as I expected,” she chattered.

“Reggie, we don’t have much time.” His voice rippled as he looked frantically at her and then over to the grille she had stared at since she got into the mess, watching the water level rise and fall and rise and fall until it made her dizzy. She clung to his hand a moment.

“We should have gone with plan B.”

Hamish growled. “We didn’t even have a plan A.”

“You’re my hero, Hamish.” She patted his hand with her icy one. “It was so nice of you to come.”

“Reggie, just take my hand.”

“I’m stuck!”

“What?”

“M-my shoe.”

Hamish said something she was altogether certain she had imagined in her half-frozen and very soggy state. And then, of course, he recklessly jumped in to get her.