Ms McCleary has written a wonderful, entertaining and perfectly delightful novel featuring investigative journalist Nellie Bly. Nellie Bly was a colorful pioneer in woman’s rights who pushed her way into the newspaper business and wrote an expose’ on the treatment of female factory workers. She went on to become a foreign correspondent in Mexico and to get a job with The New York World newspaper, she feigned insanity and had herself committed to a notorious Woman’s Lunatic Asylum and wrote an article about how the women were treated. Inspired by Jules Verne’s novel, she went around the world in 72 days beating Phileas Fogg’s time by 8 days. This was in 1890.
Our author has placed Nellie in Paris in pursuit of a serial killer who has been killing and mutilating young women. She has been tracking this evil person from America to England and now to France. The year is 1889; the World’s Fair and it’s special attraction, the Eiffel Tower has attracted hundreds of thousands of people. The killer of women has struck in Paris and if that were not bad enough, a strange, deadly plague is taking the lives of the people of Paris. The French Ministers are not anxious to expose either the killings of the mysterious deaths for fear of panicking the Fair visitors. They attribute the plague to the gases from the underground rivers. Nellie thinks that the there is a connection with her serial killer. In this exciting adventure, Nellie meets and enlists the aid of some of the most interesting and contemporary figures of the time; Jules Verne , Oscar Wilde, Louis Pasteur and even Toulouse Lautrec. Together they explored streets and alleys of Paris; they meet dangerous characters and visit some very scary places; Nellie even enjoys a little romance. There were some surprises and an exciting climax when Nellie faces the killer alone.
I,really, enjoyed this one and look forward to more Nellie Bly adventures. Thank you Carol!
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