Brooklyn Graves-Triss Stein

Brooklyn Graves Triss Stein Poisoned Pen, Mar 4 2014, $24.95 ISBN: 9781464202193 In the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, widow Erica Donato finds she can continue to pursue her History Ph.D., work at the museum, assist snobbish visiting dignitary Dr. Thomas Flint on his history of the Tiffany studio, and raise her teenage daughter Chris; just don’t sleep. She shows the unreasonable demanding Flint the National Historic Landmark Green-Wood Cemetery whose mausoleum contains incredible stained glass windows. Someone murders Dima, husband of Erica’s friend Natalya and father of Chris’ friend Alex. Erica tries to get the grieving widow to understand that NYPD is not the Russian police that Natalya remembers from her childhood in her homeland. Though she has no time for sleuthing, Erica looks into the homicide. Erica also works with Flint’s geeky Pratt student assistant Young Ryan Ames (who dreams of being the next Dave McKean instead of a historian) on the documents including whether the author of many of them, Maude Cooper, was an unknown Tiffany Girl. To their amazement, the pair finds oddities. The second Erica Donato Mystery (see Brooklyn Bones) is a fabulous amateur sleuth as the protagonist knows she should not make inquiries into the murder, but cannot stop herself. The seemingly diverse whodunits are entertaining although the abrupt climax relies too much on happenchance. Fans will enjoy frantic caring Erica’s guided tour of Brooklyn Graves. Harriet Klausner