Pros
Likeable characters from the start. The author does a good job of giving you a window into each character allowing you to feel something for them from very early on.

Cons
Character introductions a bit confusing. I found that prior to the full explanation of all of the females living in Fitz’s house - I was a bit confused, it could have been done a little better.
There are a lot of conveniences making everything a little too ‘easy’ for this family.
Fitz having a friend who knows everything about WWII.
Finn having a friend who is incredibly good at math/science and just happen to knows a room full of people who can help with this mystery.

Overall this book was a bit slow for me and I therefore couldn't really get fully in to it to appreciate it in its entirety.

"A brutal murder.
A heinous secret.
A deadly conspiracy.

The brutal murder of the little old lady next door puts FitzHugh Donovan on the case. A retired New York City Police Chief, he knows a cover-up when he sees one and his Irish Cop conscience can't let that happen.

Now, Fitz, his family and his quirky band of Bleecker Street Irregulars are ensnared in the bizarre secret the woman died to protect.

Is this a cold case turned hot again, or an unspeakable conspiracy that could alter the course of history?

Fitz doesn't yet know how high the stakes are, that failure isn't an option, and that the little old lady was so much more than she appeared. But he's trying to keep everyone alive long enough to find out.

Characters you’ll care about, dark shocking secrets, and disturbing similarities to today’s political scene, will keep you turning pages to an ending you won’t see coming."

Anyone else get a chuckle out of Bleecker Street Irregulars?

When an elderly woman is murdered, her ex-cop neighbor investigates the strange circumstances. The deeper he digs into her life, the more he realizes his neighbor was anything but an ordinary person. As his family and friends pitch in to help solve the case, they’ll find themselves on high alert in the middle of a larger plot. Veteran author Cathy Cash Spellman debuts in the mystery/thriller genre with the well-intentioned but wieldy, bulky novel A Murder on Jane Street.

After decades as one of New York City’s finest, retired police chief FitzHugh Donovan is enjoying ownership of an independent bookstore. He lives in a charming brownstone with his daughters and his granddaughter, and for the most part he’s content. While he’s friendly with their next-door neighbor, Mrs. Wallenberg, they haven’t formed a close friendship.

Fitz is shocked, then, when Mrs. Wallenberg calls him one day sounding frightened. She insists that someone is targeting her, and she wants to leave important materials with him in the event that she dies. She asks if he can stop by on his way home from the store, but Fitz doesn’t know what to think. Why would someone go out of their way to kill a little old lady well into her nineties?

By the time he checks on her, it’s too late. Mrs. Wallenberg is murdered in a gruesome fashion. From her house, Fitz retrieves a packet addressed to him of mysterious documents, and he realizes that one of them is written in invisible ink. It turns out to be a journal and reveals that Mrs. Wallenberg led quite the life before migrating to the United States from Poland decades earlier.

Her journal warns of a global conspiracy dating all the way back to World War II, Hitler’s plans to take over Europe and beyond, and the complicity of Allied countries in hoaxes and cover-ups. For 75 years she’s kept secret evidence of it all, but she knows those on the wrong side of justice have long memories.

Fitz is quickly joined by his daughters, granddaughter, and several friends in finding Mrs. Wallenberg’s killers. The longer they pursue the truth, the more they realize that the global scale of the operations means the wrongdoers will stop at nothing to keep their secrets. Fitz and Co. will need to be careful with who they approach for help and who they trust if they want to stay alive.

Author Cathy Cash Spellman’s efforts succeed within a limited range. The story introduces endearing characters, but Spellman brings on so many to solve the murder that at one point readers may forget names or who does what. The book tries to tackle science, history, the supernatural, present-day politics, and police procedure; the various elements, like the various characters, may overwhelm the target audience.

Worse, at some point readers may feel the need to skim ahead, and Spellman’s didactic writing approach means reading every single page might be unnecessary. The characters gather at regular intervals to meet and “update” one another on their progress as they work to uncover the secret plots. What happens is, essentially, an update for the readers.

Most of the big action happens “off stage,” so readers only find out about big discoveries via these updates or character conversations. The result is that the book feels less like a heart-stopping murder mystery and more like an interesting newspaper feature article—in multiple parts—after the fact. It doesn’t help that the characters spend the bulk of the book doing research into Mrs. Wallenberg’s journal and her claims. Readers never get a clear-cut answer on what the brave cast was going to do once they uncovered the complicated, webbed truth.

In a book that makes the characters call out the Allied powers in World War II for secretly supporting the Germans, the tone is upbeat and optimistic in a Nancy Drew kind of way. While Fitz and family all know they might run into dangerous factions, the book’s tone never lets the reader doubt that in the end the Donovan family will come out all right. The lack of major conflict throughout the book confirms this; the characters run into dangerous elements a total number of two times. For a book that tops out at more than 120 (short) chapters, the danger needed to be sky high.

A couple of small factual errors might make some readers wonder what other facts don’t line up with reality. Those plus the long length and the sense that the characters are having all the fun without letting the readers partake in most of it might make some readers shun the novel. I rate the book as Bordering on Bypassing it.

Judging a book by its cover, which one should never do, I assumed A Murder on Jane Street by Cathy Cash Spellman was going to be a light mystery. WRONG. The author included lots of interesting “conspiracy theory” type details which I personally loved, with genuine suspense regarding a mysterious woman’s death.

I enjoyed this novel and kept turning the pages, interested in how everything was going to conclude. It was a great book!

Synopsis:

The brutal murder of the little old lady next door puts FitzHugh Donovan on the case. A retired New York City Police Chief, he knows a cover-up when he sees one and his Irish Cop conscience can’t let that happen.

Now, Fitz, his family and his quirky band of Bleecker Street Irregulars are ensnared in the bizarre secret the woman died to protect.

Is this a cold case turned hot again, or an unspeakable conspiracy that could alter the course of history?

Fitz doesn’t yet know how high the stakes are, that failure isn’t an option, and that the little old lady was so much more than she appeared. But he’s trying to keep everyone alive long enough to find out.

I’m not a huge fan of detective series (I tend to burn out on the same characters) but this one is off to a strong start. If you are someone who enjoys mysteries, suspense, conspiracies, then you will want to get your hands on A Murder on Jane Street.

Order here, due out soon!

Fitzhugh Donovan, former police chief, received an odd request from the "Old Lady" next door. It seems she had received a threatening letter and she wanted him to know why she was about to be murdered. After giving him a tattered old journal, she asked him to come back later that evening. But unfortunately, before he was able to return, she was found tortured and then murdered. This event sets Fitz on a long trail to determine who exactly Mrs. Wallenberg really was and what information she had that would have caused someone to so brutally murder an aged ninety-something year old lady. This investigation soon involves friends and family and the information they uncover is not only explosive, but also puts all of them in danger of being murdered. This was an enjoyable murder mystery, for mystery lovers, historians and conspiracy theory buffs alike, as information regarding World War II, the Third Reich and Hitler are explored and theories posited. The group of investigators mainly involve Fitz and his two daughters and granddaughter, but there are other characters that appear equally memorable and quirky, as their team, nicknamed BSI (Bleecker Street Irregulars), unravel the clues and delve deeper into Mrs. Wallenberg's life. The story is also a bit of a cautionary tale, and two of the cited quotes stand out for today's society: "A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth" and "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Disclosure: I am voluntarily reviewing this book received through NetGalley and all opinions are strictly my own.

Cathy Cash Spellman’s Murder on Jane Street is a gripping tale of holocaust secrets finally coming to roost 55 years later in NYC. Great plot, and the big Irish family, with a former police chief turned mystery book store owner and everyone else in the family adept at detecting makes for a really good read. The ending has a clever twist, and I’m sure I’ll read more of this family’s adventures.

This was an enjoyable book. Ms. Spellman has created a great cast of characters in the Donovan clan and their friends/associates. The Donovans remind me of Nuala Anne McGrail/Dermot Coyne and their family from the Nuala Anne McGrail series and the O'Malleys (from the series of the same name), both by Andrew Greeley. That comparison reflects favorably on Ms. Spellman, as Mr. Greeley was one of the best writers when it came to Irish and Irish-American characters, mysteries (especially a current mystery with a historical element), and mixing Irish/Celtic mythology/mysticism with contemporary investigative techniques and technology.

The central plot revolves around the murder of the Donovans' elderly neighbor, Ghisella Wallenberg, shortly after she told Fitzhugh Donovan, head of the Donovan family and former Chief of Police, that she had an important secret to entrust to him after she gathered some hidden documents. The secret revolves around a Nazi plot to create a secret Fourth Reich, including using artificial insemination to create a secret Hitler child and have the child or a descendant of the child become President of the United States, and therefore able to use the immense power and influence of the position to effectively rule the world along with former Nazis (who had been given new identities that hid their Nazi past) or their progeny, who were influential in business, high finance, politics, science, technology, etc. There are aspects of the plot that are over-the-top, but the author has done a good job of tempering things, dwelling just enough on some of the over-the-top elements to highlight the seriousness of the threat and the urgency of containing it without allowing things to go overboard.

The chapters alternate between various characters and between current events and Ghisella's past. There is good build-up of the plot and good pace of revelation of the mystery surrounding Ghisella, with different characters finding out information or piecing together clues to help make the picture more complete regarding Ghisella's past, the full extent of her secret, and who are the powerful figures trying to obtain the information Ghisella was hiding so that it does not disrupt their plans. There are plenty of surprises, including the rather creative method of resolving the threat, at least temporarily.

I would give this book 4.5 stars and highly recommend that others read it. I was very glad to learn that another book involving these characters is in the works.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley.

3/5 ⭐️
So this one was just okay. It definitely had a interesting plot to it. . I loved the mystery aspect and the character.

If it's possible to have a family friendly middle of the road murder/conspiracy novel involving Nazis, this it it. Fitz, a retired chief of police, enlists his children and grandchildren (gotta have computer skills) to help him solve the murder of his neighbor, Mrs. Wallenberg (I might have given her another name under the circumstances). She's got a cache of papers and, for want of another word, stuff relating to a deep secret involving Hitler. Some of this moves into the implausible but go with it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Spellman has a nice way of telling a story.

I absolutely loved this book! Here's who should read it: mystery readers, people who love historical fiction, puzzle people, those interested in today's political climate, conspiracy theorists. Basically everyone should read A Murder on Jane Street. It is a great story well-told.

The story revolves around a three generational Irish family in NY. The patriarch of the family is Fitz Donovan. Fitz is a retired NY police chief who is called upon by his elderly next door neighbor because she has received a threatening letter and tells Fitz she is going to be murdered. She tells him she has some evidence to put together for him, and he promises to return in a few hours. By the time he does so, he discovers that she has been tortured and killed. When the police detectives lets him know that his help is unneeded and unwanted, Fitz puts together his own motley crew to solve the mystery of who the neighbor was and why she was murdered. He is aided by his two daughters, Maeve and Rory, as well as his granddaughter Finn. He also assembles a brilliant team of hackers, physicists, a Holocaust survivor, and a few very wealthy friends.

All of the characters in this novel are exceedingly appealing and exceedingly well developed by author Cathy Cash Spellman. I personally was in love with the Donovans and would love to be adopted by them. They are loving and smart and indominable. As I said, the story has a little of everything. It is a great mystery with an historical element and even a little bit of romance. Truly something for everybody. I even enjoyed the literary quotes that start each segment of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Wild Harp & Company for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love everything about this book. From Nazi history to present autocrats it illuminates the forces of evil and the action necessary to combat them. The style of writing is smooth and clear. The characters are realistic and diverse. The story has growing suspense, and it draws the reader in. All of the characters are people you want to meet.

What a great read. This was a new author for me and I was not disappointed. Very well written. A little long in some areas but very well put together. I will be looking for other books from this author.

This was a pleasant surprise! I hadn't known quite what to expect, not having read anything by this author before but she crafted a clever, creepy story with lost of unexpected twists and turns that really kept me on my toes. Recommended!

First, let me start by reminding you to not judge a book by it’s cover. Let’s not get this twisted here, as this is in no way a “Cozy” thriller nor does it purport to be. Title and cover can lead one to feel this may be something sweet with a touch of thrill mixed in, but ah ah! There in lies the “do not judge” element.

This book was captivating. I did not want to put it down. I loved the “Irishness” of it, the retired detective aspect, being caught up in a local murder. I found the elements quite endearing to a fellow book lover, such as myself. How Cathy Cash Spellman wrapped the plot into “books and historical” background was just as enthralling.

The cast of characters all blend in just right, in my humble, and being a visual reader, I can see the scenes falling into my mind’s eye with ease.

Highly recommend this book and a great “Thank You” to Netgalley and The Wild Harp & Company, Inc for allowing me the opportunity to read this advanced copy. It was a pleasure!

Jane Street. One of those tony side streets in NYC’s Village neighborhood. Everyone is rich, talented, beautiful, doesn't look their age. You know.

Fitz Donovan is a retired NYC police chief who now runs a mystery-themed bookstore. Wife died 10y ago. Daughter Maeve (who carries on the family trait of clairvoyance) and grand-daughter Finn (trying to become a photographer) live with him. Another daughter, Rory (former lawyer who now rehabs and flips homes), lives nearby.

Next door lives Ms. Wallenberg, an elderly lady who fled Europe after the war. She says she wants to give Fitz something because she knows he will know what to do with it. Two hours after she tells this to Fitz, she is found murdered in her home. The police are writing it off as a burglary gone bad.

But she was tortured, too. And by the looks of things, it was done by a pro. The ex-cop in Fitz isn’t on the same page as the NYPD on this one. And he finds a large envelope that had been tossed in his bushes. In it is a journal that contains far more than just the day-to-day musings of an old lady. It presents in considerable detail just how advanced German science was in the days of Hitler. New physics. Concepts that are only now just being unearthed, the Germans were way ahead back in the 1930s and 40s.

That Germany had brilliant scientists wasn’t lost on the OSS and they started up Operation Paperclip that tracked down the major brains in science, industry, banking, and more in order to secret them to the US and put to work, mostly under new identities. Werner Von Braun of NASA was just the most visible beneficiary of Paperclip.

Donovan recruits a number of NYC geniuses to help read, interpret, and unravel all that Ms. Wallenberg and kept locked up in this journal – they call themselves the Bleeker Street Irregulars. But their work doesn’t go un-noticed. A cabal of former Nazis living in the US want them stopped because the main secret is that it was a Hitler doppelganger who died in that bunker and that Hitler’s bloodline is alive and well. Heads of finance and industry can, with a lot of serious digging, be traced back to their Nazi roots. And one is being nurtured by this gang to make a run at the White House. If successful, the vision of the Third Reich will be realized.

Just a bit of a coincidence that I read two books about modern day Nazis. The bulk of this book surrounds each of Donovan’s team as they investigate a multitude of different arms of the conspiracy. And it’s pretty clever, too. After about 2/3 of the book, I started to think that this as the obvious Part 1 of a coming series about this one man’s push toward the White House. Sort of like The Omen parts 1-3. You’ll have to decide. It IS the beginning of a series of books about Donovan’s Bleeker Street Irregulars. Think of this coming series as a modern take on Agatha Christie.

This historical fiction was most interesting and entertaining. A 96-year-old woman was harboring a critical secret from WWII and was brutally murdered because of it. Fitz and his family and friends set out to figure out the mysteries.

The characters — maybe a few too many — are highly intelligent, eccentric, and, many of them, very wealthy. Collectively, they’re just the right mix of talent to accomplish their mission.

The intriguing plot to uncover the truth (what we know about history is only a tiny fraction of the truth) is well developed and complex, and the author’s writing style expertly keeps it exciting. How in the world would Ms. Spellman pull this together for a believable ending. She does!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I enjoyed it immensely.

The Endsieg Protocol, or the final victory would be Hitler fathering a son secretly and having him become President of the United States. This was his greatest desire. We know that he did not truly die when they said he did. It was all a set up.
Ghisella Wallenberg the women that lives next door to the Donovan's has been brutally tortured and murdered. She was in her mid nineties. Who would possibly want to do that to a lonely old woman. Before her death she is able to sneak some documents and a journal to her neighbor, a retired police officer. In the journal is her life story and all that she endured to stop the Endsieg Protocol to come to fruition. She also has a list of the Nazi's that were saved under Operation Paperclip. This Operation gave former Nazi scientists, doctors and others new identities and sometimes images so they could live freely in the United States.
These people still wanted the protocol to go through and there were actual blood relatives of Hitler in the Senate and in the running for President.
The Donovan's and other friends and associates will have to fight power with power, if this is not to happen. They will have to finish the work Mrs. Wallenberg had spent her life protecting. The freedom of our nation from Nazi leadership.

The cover of this book doesn’t do the story inside justice. The cover makes it look like this is a cozy mystery, which it’s not.

Retired police chief Fitz Donovan knows his elderly neighbor on a superficial level because she loves books, and when he retired, he opened a bookstore focusing on mysteries, old and new. But when she tells him she’s in danger and she’d like him to come over later so she can show him what she’s talking about, he heeds the call, only to discover that she’s been murdered—after being brutally tortured. Fitz enlists the help of his daughters, his granddaughter, and their friends (some of whom are conveniently hackers with a deep understanding of the hard sciences, another happens to have ties to the ridiculous wealth that this team discovers is all part of uncovering the whodunit).

What they all piece together about this mysterious neighbor and what she knows is fascinating and much darker than the cover suggests.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book, which RELEASES JULY 16, 2019.

For more reviews, please visit http://www.theresaalan.net/blog

Fantastic book with varied characters all of whom are intelligent in very different ways. The plot starts with a murder and ends unimaginably
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me this arc

The brutal murder of the little old lady next door puts FitzHugh Donovan on the case. A retired New York City Police Chief, he knows a cover-up when he sees one and his Irish Cop conscience can't let that happen.

Now, Fitz, his family and his quirky band of Bleecker Street Irregulars are ensnared in the bizarre secret the woman died to protect.

Is this a cold case turned hot again, or an unspeakable conspiracy that could alter the course of history?

Fitz doesn't yet know how high the stakes are, that failure isn't an option, and that the little old lady was so much more than she appeared. But he's trying to keep everyone alive long enough to find out.

I did not enjoy this. Nothing felt like it was developed enough to invest in and the plot and subplots were predictable and boring.