A thriller with rather cardboard characters and a not-terribly-thrilling plot. Set in New York, the plot involves a man killing his wives for their fortunes, a post-mortem photographer and his sister trying to capture an image of a soul leaving a body, an ex-Pinkerton detective, a woman investigator, and a cast of other flat and boring characters including Jacob Riis, who is included because apparently you have to have a real-life figure in a book like this? The author doesn't seem to know how problematic it is to hold the Pinkertons up as examples of good detectives or people in general; nor that it is equally problematic to describe addiction as something overcome by strength of will. The plot was not tightly constructed and repeated instances of "intuition," easily overcome challenges, and coincidences led to a predictable end.

Let the Dead Keep Their Secrets by Rosemary Simpson is a Historical Mystery to savor. I loved all the historical details of the culture, clothing, technology and surroundings. Close your eyes and you may glimpse the 19th century for a moment. Feel the emotions and know the thoughts of the all the characters. The criminals plot their evil deeds but are they mad or evil or both? How far will the investigators go to solve the murders? Who will find death and who will live? Loved this intricate and fast paced story. I have enjoyed every book by Rosemary Simpson to date and hope to read more soon. My thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for making this book available to me to read and review.

A historical book of murder and mystery. This book is extremely well written, a little different in the fact that it does get into some of the minds of the times (and I won't enlarge as it would spoil the read) and the period of the book is well set - one can almost feel it around.
I did enjoy the book, thought provoking and a little dark but a very good read. character where good and the thriller element on there.

While I'm sure this book will do well with historical readers, it just wasn't my cup of tea. Having said that, the story was sound, the characters well drawn out and complete and the ending well constructed.