Vanished in the Crowd
Molly Murphy • Book 22
by Rhys Bowen, Clare Broyles
Why You'll Love This
A retired detective, a vanished scientist, and two million strangers flooding 1909 New York — the perfect crowd to make someone disappear forever.
- Great if you want: historical mystery with a sharp, resourceful female protagonist
- The experience: warm but tense — cozy atmosphere with genuinely compelling stakes
- The writing: Bowen weaves period detail naturally into plot, never as lecture
- Skip if: you haven't read earlier entries — character dynamics assume familiarity
About This Book
In 1909 New York, the Hudson-Fulton celebration has drawn two million visitors to a city already crackling with the new century's energy—parades, electric spectacle, and the dizzying sense that the world is changing faster than anyone can track. Into this glorious chaos steps Molly Murphy Sullivan, reluctantly drawn back into detective work when a female scientist vanishes in the crowd. Molly is juggling private financial pressures she's too proud to admit, a city transformed beyond recognition, and a case that touches on ambition, independence, and just how far society will go to silence women who reach too high. The stakes feel both intimate and historic.
What makes this entry in the long-running Molly Murphy series so satisfying as a reading experience is how richly the co-authors fold real historical pageantry into personal drama without letting either overwhelm the other. The prose moves with confidence—vivid period detail worn lightly, never as lecture—and Molly herself remains one of historical fiction's most genuinely compelling protagonists: funny, stubborn, and human in ways that accumulate meaningfully across twenty-two books. Newcomers can step in here; longtime readers will feel right at home.