Molasses Murder in a Nutshell - (A Nutshell Murder Mystery) by Frances McNamara (Paperback)

About the Book

When a woman is found murdered in the wreckage, Frances Glessner Lee asks her old friend, medical examiner Dr. George Magrath to help exonerate a young serviceman.

Book Synopsis

In January 1919 tank bursts in Boston's North End, flooding the neighborhood with molasses. When a woman is found murdered in the wreckage, Frances Glessner Lee asks her old friend, medical examiner Dr. George Magrath to help exonerate a young serviceman. He's a resident at the home for returning soldiers on Beacon Hill that Fanny has come from Chicago to manage. Frustrated by her lack of education and skills, she wants to clear the young man's name and find the killer. Will creation of a miniature crime scene lead to the truth? It's the best she can do.

This is the first in a series of fictional stories roughly based on the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. Over twenty miniature crime scenes were used from the 1940s to the present to train police detectives. Set in the 1920s, these stories imagine Frances Glessner Lee working with Dr. George Magrath to learn about "legal medicine" as forensic science was known at the time. Working with Magrath provided the foundation for the miniatures for which Frances Glessner Lee has become known as the Mother of Forensic Science.

Review Quotes

"Historical mystery readers who enjoy female sleuths and action firmly centered in realistic portraits of the past will find Death in a Time of Spanish Flu a compelling story... With so many facets and conflicts emerging from the start, it takes a deft writer to draw readers into a scenario which juxtaposes social issues, political strife, home life, and solving murders.  Frances McNamara is such a writer, capturing the personal observations, lives, and approaches of believable (and likeable) characters who find themselves caught up in situations beyond their ken or control... The action is nicely paced, the premise and mystery are unpredictable, and the historical backdrop of the times is so realistically integrated into the plot that readers will find it a snap to absorb its atmosphere, principles, and the sense of changing times... Although it's the 9th book in the Emily Cabot series, newcomers to Emily and her times will find Death in a Time of Spanish Flu stands nicely alone as a solid introduction to her life, world, and approach to problem-solving. Libraries looking for powerful blends of history and mystery which present a sense of place that feels familiar and is engrossing to modern readers (even those who normally don't read books from either genre) will relish the realistic and personal portrait that makes Death in a Time of Spanish Flu hard to put down." Midwest Book Review

"Set in 1918 Chicago, McNamara's excellent ninth Emily Cabot mystery (after 2020's Death on the Home Front) finds Emily's physician husband, Stephen, serving on the front lines of the Spanish Influenza epidemic... The real-life characters mingle seamlessly with the fictional ones to capture the myriad contradictions of Chicago, from the dirty politicians and gangsters who run the city to the idealists, intellectuals, and revolutionaries who are committed to social change. This timely novel informs as much as it entertains." Publisher's Weekly

"McNamara's suspenseful third Emily Cabot mystery...convincingly recreates a pivotal moment in American labor history...Laurie King and Rhys Bowen fans will be delighted." Publishers Weekly

"McNamara...proves, if anyone was asking, that librarians make great historical mystery writers...

I'd follow Emily to any location." Historical Novels Review