Murder on Astor Place By Victoria Thompson

This book was amazing!!!! I loved it!!! This is the first mystery book I have read in a while, and I am very glad I read it!! The main reason I loved it so much is because all of the pieces of everything came together, like math. All of the clues added up into the final solution. Additionally, I loved the plot of the story. A young girl who lives at a boarding house is murdered. A detective and a midwife are trying to solve her murder. When I first picked up this book, I just thought it would be a simple murder mystery. They try to find the killer by looking at clues and stuff like that. It was nothing like that at all. The midwife recognized the girl as the sister of an old friend the night before the murder and that is how she got involved. The girl was actually very rich and had run away from a country home her father had sent her to. The detective and midwife question all of the servants and her groom (horse person) and family. In the middle of the book, you find out her father was setting up a marriage between the girl, Alicia, and a sixty year old lawyer. I found that absolutely repulsive and so did the midwife, Sarah. I also learned, toward the end of the book, that Alicia's father, Mr. VanDamm, had had a sexual relationship with his eldest daughter, Mina, and then Mina had Alicia. He also had a sexual relationship with Alicia, who had been pregnant at the time of her death. Sarah and the detective are trying to find the killer and the father of Alicia's baby during the whole book. They found in the second to last chapter. This book takes place in around 1900 and I got to learn the massive cultural difference from then and now. They have servants and butlers and maids and the marriage and sex ideas are very different from now. I think it is disgusting and so do most people now, but the culture was different back then and this may have not been as repulsive as it is now. The poor were not well respected at all. Sarah's mother is very wealthy and her maid gives Sarah a look when she wants to visit her mother because of her clothing. Overall, I loved this book and hope to read more from this author in the near future.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter By Kim Edwards

I just finished this book and it was pretty good! The plot was very interesting and kind of weird. David Henry gave his baby girl with down syndrome to a nurse to take the baby to an institution. The nurse, Caroline, ended up raising the baby as her own. David didn't tell his wife about giving the baby up, he told her she died. I have no idea what David thought this would solve. He should have told his wife from the beginning. Throughout the book, you see the girl, Phoebe, growing up the nurse and Phoebe's twin, Paul, growing with David and his wife, Norah. The book gets boring at several points because the author just seems to ramble and say stuff that doesn't seem to matter. Both children grow up not knowing the other is alive, but Caroline and David send each other letters to communicate: Caroline tells him about Phoebe and he sends her money to help with Phoebe. The title is what is because this talks a lot about photography and David's camera is called the memory keeper. A lot of learning takes place based on photographs. David is also a photographer. Reading this book, I also get to learn about how mental diseases are treated during the 1960s. Caroline finds it very hard to get Phoebe into school and doesn't have that much faith in her. She is very scared about Phoebe leaving their home, which every parent is, but especially scared because of her down syndrome. I think she should give Phoebe more freedom and trust that she raised her the right way. Paul is also very good because he really wants to help Phoebe and learn about her and take care of her. You also see the lack of trust in David and Paul's relationship because David doesn't rust Paul's musical talent to get him through life, but Paul still pursues music and has a great life. The lack of trust and fighting over Paul's future destroys their relationship. Some parts of this book were very easy to get through and exciting, but a lot of it was boring, but I still am glad I read the book