Rating: 
Summary: Compelling historical suspense
Review: THE BLACK MARIA is the third in a series about Wilton McCleary, a Civil War veteran employed as a detective in Philadelphia during the 1870's. The first two books are good; this one is outstanding.Like the first two novels, THE BLACK MARIA is populated by fascinating, complex characters and a fast-paced (though occasionally convoluted) mystery. But it is the setting--the World Fair of 1876--that makes this novel so compelling. Mark Graham has recreated this vital slice of American history so extraordinarily well, it's almost like being there in person. Mark Graham is a talented author whose writing skills improve with each book. I look forward to the next addition to this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Wrong Era . . .
Review: This isn't a bad attempt at historical mystery fiction, so much as the wrong history in the hands of an amateur. Don't be surprised if you get the sense you've seen this movie before. You have -- it's Robert Towne's 1974 screenplay "Chinatown," but Graham is no Towne. I have trouble placing the smarmy, wiseacre dialogue used in "Black Maria" . . . with a nation of citizens who still have to empty their slop buckets daily and read by gaslight. Humphrey Bogart? Perhaps. John Wilkes Booth? Fugeddaboudit. Look, people were still riding horses in these days, okay? "Black Maria" doesn't smell like 1877; it doesn't move like 1877; it doesn't sound like 1877; and it doesn't taste like 1877. We're really in the 1930's -- the only thing our detective is missing is spats (and perhaps a bazooka). Historical mysteries present unique challenges. The strategic placement of brand names and places here and there is no substitute for the heavy lifting necessary to evoke 1877. Nothing short of every sense, at all times, must not only be recalled it must be ubiquitous -- or we might as well give them all cell phones. Only the most gifted talent should attempt capturing the atmosphere of (any) century prior to the 20th and this one just doesn't have what it takes. Want AUTHENTIC 1870's police fiction? Read Anne Perry: You won't make it through 2 pages before either smelling the open sewers, almost stepping in steaming horse dung, wiping the industrialized coal soot from your eyes, or covering your mouth from the latest health epidemic. Even a mug of ale in an 1870's pub -- placed in Anne Perry's evocative prose -- somehow tastes richer; the bread, more chewy; the meat pies, buttery and steaming. Children smell like soap, fresh from a bath with no proper ability to rinse off. Food competes for precious real estate where the daily ice block is stored (itself, a precious commodity). This is sufficient for a library book, and only when the one you really wanted has been checked out: Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed. Skye
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