Scarlet Women

Scarlet Women by J.D. Christilian

New York, 1871. A prostitute named Alice Curry is found murdered near the East Street docks. Not unusual, except that the clothes the victim is wearing belong to the missing wife of an aristocrat. Street-smart private investigator Harp takes on the case. When a restaurateur who was the closest thing Harp had to a father is also murdered, the two cases prove to be related. Harp, the son of a prostitute, once a street urchin and apprentice thief, possesses a sometimes unbelievable encyclopedic knowledge of the city. He knows everybody who is anybody in every dance hall, brothel, precinct house, and gambling parlor. Though less about the lives of prostitutes than the title implies, this novel invites readers onto the streets of Victorian New York and steeps them in its vivid stories of danger, corruption, destitution, and obsession. Harp's flawed but heroic triumphs prove highly entertaining. Christilian is the pseudonym of an author of historical nonfiction and fiction, screenplays, and contemporary suspense.

-Amazon

Touted to be "Gripping suspense for fans of The Alienist", I must say I was somewhat disappointed.  Although filled with detail of the underworld  life in New York in 1871, I was disappointed in the story.  Caleb Carr created a much more compelling mystery in his book The Alienist.  I can only rate this one with three stars***

-MONA