This is the second book of a series but the first one I have read. Simpson is a great storyteller, bringing New York. The horrific murder of an Irish maid known to Prudence Mackenzie shocks New York, the privileged and the underbelly alike. Prudence and her partner Geoffrey embark want to solve the murder for personal reasons and to ensure that New York doesn't have it's very own Jack The Ripper.
The Police have their own agenda so Prudence and her team bring in some unlikely helpers. My favourite of these is a dog called Blossom, who really is a wonderful character.
It's a fast-paced, unpredictable historical mystery with great dialogue and interesting, well-rounded characters. I am looking forward to reading the next one.

This was a gripping historical mystery. It was very atmospheric and made for a thrilling read. I thought the characters were very complex, but realistic. I could sympathize with them. The mystery kept me on the edge of my seat! The only thing I did not like about the novel was it was too violent for my tastes. Still, it was well written and richly detailed. I have not read the first book, but I definitely will!

Prudence and Geoffrey take on their next case together. Someone is murdering young unmarried house maidens and the case strikes close to home for Prudence. Great second edition to this series.
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Lies That Comfort and Betray by Rosemary Simpson is a 2018 Kensington publication.

The first book in this new series set a solid foundation to be built upon. But, did the second book take advantage of that momentum?

Yes! Yes, it did-

This is an excellent follow up to ‘What the Dead Leave Behind’. With Jack the Ripper terrorizing London, New York finds it is not immune to the same depravity. When Nora Kenny, a young woman who works for Prudence, is brutally murdered, the prospect of JTR having crossed the pond is not a pleasant one, nor is the idea that New York is dealing with a copycat killer. But, the police immediately arrest Nora’s fiancé, a man Prudence is sure is innocent. With the help of Geoffrey, the law firm of Hunter and MacKenzie begin a harrowing murder investigation, hoping to discover the real killer before he strikes again.

This installment deals with a host of feminine related double standards prevalent in the gilded age. The dangers of back alley abortions, the stigma of premarital sex, and pregnancy out of wedlock are all explored, as well as a little tippy toeing around religion and a few blatant hypocrisies. Prudence still battles her own demons, but they do not take center stage, this time around. Instead, Prudence channels her energy and thoughts into her work.

Prudence and Geoffrey make a terrific team and I was happy to see the way their characters are developing. But, at the end of the day, the real test is how challenging the mystery was for me and if it kept my attention, if it was suspenseful, atmospheric, and if it kept me guessing. I’m happy to report that this novel passed the test in all categories!

While this is a part of a series, it can still be read as a stand alone- however, to get Prudence’s full background, and how she came to be partnered with Geoffrey, reading the first installment will certainly enhance your enjoyment of this second one.

Overall, I am a very happy customer and am eagerly awaiting the third book in this promising series.

I am confused. I have lots of questions re: this book which involve LOTS of spoilers, so you have been warned.

1) So what exactly did Joseph Nolan do to deserve to die? (besides that he was a twisted human being) Did he play any part in the murders at all?
2) Did Father Brennan play any part in the murders at all? What exactly was he involved in (since it wasn't the murders)? Why did the housekeeper see Father Brennan in the cellar when he shouldn't have been there? Why didn't she see Slattery if Slattery was the killer?
3) How did Neil Slattery get involved in the murders? Was there any relationship b/t him and St Anselm's besides geographic proximity? Did he have a key? (how did he get into the locked church, crypt, cellar, etc)
4) How did Slattery know his way around Sally Lynn's room? How did he get in/out of the house? How was he familiar with the properties for the other dead girls?
5) What was the point of the momentous decision of bringing in the reporter if nothing ever came of it? Why was the reporter on the cusp of the biggest case of his career but didn't follow up on anything? That feels like a pointless lost thread.

What I didn't care for:
1) Speaking of loose threads - Tim Fahey and Mick McGuire are suspected of murder and subject to baseless arrest and extreme torture, but they become no more than a brief footnote at the end. Literally one sentence and then they're done,
2) The ending felt super rushed. No explanation/wrap-up of how everything happened. If it had always been Neil, how did he track down his victims? How did he know where they lived/when they were coming to St Anselms/how to plan out the murder? (see #3 above)
3) There were too many red herrings that panned out to nothing. Yes, red herrings are essential to mysteries, but in this case, it was like, it was HIM! No, it was HIM! No, it was HIM! Actually, it was none of them, it was this other guy who you didn't see in the book at all until it was time to pick a murderer.
4) There were too many spoilers from book 1. I didn't read book 1 but even if I wanted to, I wouldn't now.
5) I didn't care for the setup of the mystery. For each victim, we learn her backstory, get to know her and her hopes and dreams, then see her get to die a horrible death. It was sad and, I thought, unnecessary. We could have gotten to know them through the investigation after the murder. I would have preferred not to have them be personalized and be inside their minds before they get murdered, though I guess that's a matter of personal preference.
6) The book was quite dark and gory - it contained a lot of graphic violence, descriptions of abortions, etc. I thought the synopsis that led me to want to read this book didn't give enough warning of its graphic nature. I would never have read it if I thought it was going to be a twisted American Jack the Ripper story.
7) I liked and disliked the Blossom POV. I liked it because Blossom was awesome and crucial to the story. I didn't like it though because it was so unrealistic to make Blossom the narrator. In the end, it didn't work for me.

Ultimately - maybe I just didn't get this book, but for me, it was super dark and left too many unanswered questions.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC via netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

When I started this book, I did not know it was the second in a series. Unfortunately, I was bludgeoned with this information a few pages in, and every twenty or so pages afterwards. Instead of alluding to the events of the previous title, large chunks of backstory stopped the current plot cold. I have no need to read the previous title now, since I now know everything that happened. An eclectic mix of characters kept me reading to the end, but it was more work than I wanted to put in.

This is a suspenseful and richly atmospheric mystery taking place in nineteenth-century New York. A Jack The Ripper style book. The women that are murdered are done savagely. In November 1888 has Jack The Ripper sailed from England and now has a new killing spot, is there a copy cat killer, or simply someone deranged ? Prudence MacKenzie is a valuable partner to attorney Geoffrey Hunter despite this being the Golden Age. Devastated when her childhood friend Nora is murdered after an early Saturday morning confession at Saint Anselm’s she knows something must be done. When police move too slowly on this case former Pinkerton agent, Geoffrey intends to step in and Prudence is right beside him all the way. Fast paced mystery and action that kept me reading late into the night!
Pub Date 30 Jan 2018
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for a review copy. I was not required to write a positive review.

I found this book to be a fascinating read. Each character was given the perfect amount of attention, even if they only made a brief entrance in the story. I also loved that the author was able to offer enough planned confusion to leave you wondering till the end.

Rosemary Simpson presents a Gilded Age mystery in Lies that Comfort and Betray. Heiress Prudence Mackenzie and lawyer Geoffrey Hunter team up to find the Ripper copycat murderer in New York city who is murdering catholic girls who have fallen into sin. The corrupt police want to blame the boyfriends. St. Anselm's church has some connection. Gritty but enjoyable.

Lies that Comfort and Betray by Rosemary Simpson is the second book in A Gilded Age Mystery series. It is November of 1888 and Jack the Ripper is terrorizing London with his savage butchery. Prudence MacKenzie is a partner in the private inquiry firm of Hunter and MacKenzie with Geoffrey Hunter in New York. Prudence is distressed when her childhood friend, Nora Kenny is ruthlessly murdered and left dead in Colonial Park. The manner in which Nora was killed mimics the Ripper’s. She had been expected at the MacKenzie home on Fifth Avenue to help prepare for the holidays. Where did she go after getting off the ferry from Staten Island? Then Nora’s fiancé is arrested for the crime and the police make him disappear. Prudence, Geoffrey and their well-connected assistant, Josiah Gregory start investigating by looking into Nora’s movements the day she died. They soon discover that Nora had secrets she was keeping from her family and friends. Then Ellen Tierney turns up dead in the same manner as Nora. Soon another woman is dead. There is a murderer loose in New York and the police just want to sweep the deaths under the rug. What connects the victims? Prudence and her associates intend to find out and put the killer behind bars.

I thought that Lies that Comfort and Betray would be a historical cozy mystery. I quickly found out that Lies that Comfort and Betray is a dark and graphic novel. Readers are given detailed descriptions of the mutilation done to the bodies as well as graphic sex scenes (one person has a strange religious fetish described in detail). There is also foul language in the story. At the beginning, my attention was captured. After a while, though, my mind started to wander (I was bored). I thought the author was wordy and overly detailed (do we need to know what the church smells like for example). We are given the minutest of details. This led to a slow pace that lasted throughout the whole book. We are also given details on what every character is thinking and feeling (including the dog). I liked Prudence MacKenzie. I thought she was well-crafted and developed. She is a strong, intelligent female doing an unusual occupation (studied law with her father). She is also struggling to overcome her addiction to laudanum. It is a shame that women were not admitted to the New York State Bar at that time. I also liked the character of Josiah Gregory. The mystery is one, for the most part, that plays out (which I find frustrating). The killer is not introduced until the halfway mark and we are given one miniscule clue. Otherwise, we are not given the details needed until right before the reveal (which is drawn out). The ending does wrap up all the storylines. I did appreciate the mention of Jo’s Boys in the story (Prudence was reading it). While Lies that Comfort and Betray is the second book in A Gilded Age Mystery series, it can be read alone. The author includes a summary of what occurred in the first book as well as background on the main characters. With a different writing style this could have been an interesting novel (had potential).

The second installment of this series is even better than the first! Prudence MacKenzie and Geoffrey Hunter face a serial murderer who is cunning and heartless. Prudence and Geoffrey must piece together how these 3 women could have been so horribly murdered. Set against the background of the Catholic Church, red herrings and multiple suspects are afoot. The pacing is good, the characters well drawn and a few new ones are introduced. The ending is unusual as justice is served, but in a fashion that is rarely seen in historic mystery. I found this book to be a creative ,original mystery with a lot of twists and turns. I look forward to the next book by Rosemary Simpson.

Thanks Kensington Books and netgalley for this ARC.

I liked this mystery more than the first in the series. Gritty, crazy, and a tour of the gilded age New York. This series just keeps getting better and better.

LIES THAT COMFORT AND BETRAY is the second novel in the Gilded Age Mystery series by Rosemary Simpson. In the first novel, WHAT THE DEAD LEAVE BEHIND, the reader is introduced to wealthy heiress Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton detective Geoffrey Hunter. Prudence's father has recently passed away and then her fiancé, Charles, perishes in the Great Blizzard that struck New York City in 1888. Prudence teams together with Charles' friend, Geoffrey, to prove that Charles' death was no accident, and that her step-mother is attempting to do away with her in an nefarious plot to get her hands on Prudence's inheritance.

In the second installment in the Gilded Age Mystery series, Prudence and Geoffrey are now operating their own private investigative company. Despite the restrictions placed upon women of the era, Prudence is determined to break the mold and be an equal part of the company - even if that means placing herself in physical danger.

LIES THAT COMFORT AND BETRAY begins the day after Jack the Ripper brutally murders and butchers his final victim in the Whitechapel area of London. When the butchered body of an Irish woman (who just happens to be Prudence's childhood playmate and current maid) turns up in New York City, Prudence and Geoffrey believe that there is a Jack the Ripper copycat at work. The police believe it as well, and they are determined to cover it up by placing the blame on the victim's innocent fiancé. Two more Irish women (one a maid and the other a prostitute) are also murdered and their bodies are butchered. The police are more concerned with covering up the details of the murders to prevent a panic among the citizens of the city than they are with finding the serial killer who is stalking the city. Meanwhile, Prudence and Geoffrey set their sights on connecting the three women and finding the one commonality between the victims that will lead them to finding the killer.

This novel is a captivating follow-up to WHAT THE DEAD LEAVE BEHIND. As a character, Prudence MacKenzie really comes into her own in this novel. She continues to grow as a person and take charge of her life as she breaks the mold of what everyone expects of a woman during her era. What makes LIES THAT COMFORT AND BETRAY intriguing is that Rosemary Simpson tells the story from so many different perspectives - including a rather articulate dog. The characters are all well-developed and interesting. The various perspectives help give the readers a full picture of what is going on. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. My only complaints are that there were times when the story seemed to drag a bit. Also, the murderer never makes an appearance (aside from a couple brief but insignificant mentions) until late in the novel and that makes it difficult and frustrating for those of us who are playing along at home and trying to figure out the killer before he's caught.

Diving into New York in the 1880’s, Lies That Comfort and Betray, the 2nd book in Rosemary Simpson’s Gilded Age Mystery series calls to question: did Jack the Ripper leave London and land in New York? An unusual – for the time period – detective is on the case. Prudence MacKenzie, partnered with a former Pinkerton Security Agent, Geoffrey Hunter, are on the case after one of Prudence’s childhood friends is found murdered. And then Prudence’s fiancé is accused. Can they clear his name and find the killer? The stakes are raised when first one, and then another woman are killed in the same manner.
Challenged by the period of time when women were delegated to the drawing room or kitchen, and by an addiction to laudanum at the wicked hands of a villain in the previous book, Prudence is a strong-willed, self-sufficient character. And her partner, Geoffrey Hunter, is a good match in the detective business for Prudence.
I hadn’t read the first book in the series, but I wsn’t too far behind in getting to know the characters. It was a solid and entertaining read, with lots of twists and dark turns before arriving to a satisfactory conclusion. However, note that this is not a COZY mystery, but a darker tale with some graphic language and descriptions. Not too much for this reader of thrillers as well as cozy’s, but might be a challenge for some.
Entertaining with characters I enjoyed getting to know, yet it did drag a teeny bit in spots. I give this book a solid three stars.

(Thanks to NetGalley, Kensington, and Rosemary Simpson for allowing me to read an arc. The opinions are all my own).

What the Dead Leave Behind was the mystery I enjoyed reading the most last year, so needless to say, I was really looking forward to reading this sequel. I'll start by saying that I liked this one a lot, but not as much as I liked What the Dead Leave Behind. In that book the murder happened during the Great Blizzard of 1888 and I really found the setting interesting. This time around we have the murder happening at around the same time as the Jack the Ripper murders are taking place over in London. I was a bit disappointed in this because I feel like the Jack the Ripper thing has been done to death. This seems to be very loosely based on events that occurred in New York at a later date and features a police detective who was actually a real person.

For most of the book I thought I knew who the killer probably was, but also thought that the solution was too easy. The book did end up keeping me guessing for a while as eventually there ended up being three different good suspects. Besides the ripper part, this book dealt with some some heavy issues including abortionists, sexual deviancy, and prostitution. This resulted in the book feeling quite a bit darker than the first book in the series.

I enjoyed revisiting the characters Prudence and Geoffrey, and also liked the addition of the new character Kevin and his dog Blossom, although I did feel like they stole the show a little. I had a big problem with the way Blossom was portrayed. The dog came off as way too human and it wasn't realistic in a book like this that is set in the real world. I also would have liked for a little more development in the personal lives of Prudence and Geoffrey, but I can see that that is being set up as a slow burn with the focus mainly on the mystery, which is fine since this is a mystery series. I just kind of missed them a little here because we didn't spend as much time with their perspectives.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for giving me a copy of this book for review.

Interesting take on a serial killer in Gilded Age New York. Simpson has created a truly intriguing character in Prudence. You've gotta wonder what she would be doing today, when women are not hampered by the restrictions she faces. Geoffrey is a good partner for her. I had not read the first book but that wasn't a problem. This starts off with a murder close to home for Prudence - her childhood friend and periodic domestic Nora- and then the violence spreads to other women. I was skeptical of a possible connection to the Ripper (so many novels have worked that story) but Simpson steers the plot away from that. This is neatly plotted and atmospheric. The mystery is not that complicated but its always fun to read one where the amateur detectives have such good personalities AND where all the CSI stuff is not available. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is for fans of historical mysteries.

Lies That Comfort and Betray by Rosemary Simpson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in the late 1800's Lies That Comfort and Betray shine a light on how different our justice system is from that in our not so distant past. Prudence MacKenzie is a heiress and a partner with attorney Geoffrey Hunter in an investigation firm. When girls turn up murdered the two try to find the killer. What emerges is a story that is set in both the high society of the time and the underbelly that is also part of the times. This is a story with a lot of twists and turns. Justice is slow to happen and in the end is taken into the hands of one man who suffers a life altering event. I enjoyed the story but did wish I had read the first book in the series. Prudence is a woman out of her time and the events that made her change happened in the first book. There are several interesting characters who seem to be set up as continuing. Blossom the dog is the most interesting.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

An engrossing read with characters that jump right off the page and into your living room. A well written mystery with a great mix of suspense. When Prudence decides to solve the mystery of who murdered her long time friend and family maid, she finds herself plunged into the heart of the Church and the working classes of New York City. With Geoffrey by her side and the assistance of some additional delightful characters, Prudence solves the crime after nearly becoming a victim herself. A great read!

This story starts out in a Detective Agency, in America, while Jack The Ripper is doing his murdering in London. The Detective , his lovely lady friend, of course , she isn't afraid, knows all the gruesome, graphic details. Now, we have an even worse set of murders , going on in Austin Texas. I , personally find these too graphic. I am certain that people who love this genre, will love this book.
Thanks!
Carolintallahassee👒

"Lies That Comfort and Betray" is the second Gilded Age Mystery from Rosemary Simpson and I can't WAIT for the others.

Turn of the century. A 'plucky' heiress. An attorney. An investigation. MURDER. It's everything I love. Simpson does a wonderful job of creating the atmosphere of the terror of an unknown (and perhaps copy-cat) killer on the loose in New York.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.