Set in times past in New York, teens may have some difficulty relating to this book--a world with no telephones, much less cell phones, is difficult for today's youth to comprehend. The young heroine flouts society's rules to identify her father's murderer and does so successfully, with the help of an 'unsuitable' friend. She goes grave digging and attends autopsies to solve this somewhat predictable historically fictional mystery.

I've read a couple of Jennifer Donnelly's other books and I highly enjoyed them. This one was no exception. Donnelly writes such strong female characters and Jo Montfort is excellent. I've read several historical fiction novels set during this period of time and that dealt with women in the upper classes. What I liked about this book was that Jo was believable. Too often, authors write about upper class women who move outside of the normal circumstances and seem to not stumble. Jo's innocence about the world outside of high society was refreshing at it was fitting with the time period and the life of an upper class young lady. What I also like about Donnelly is that she writes about women in roles that were not typical for the time period in which her books were written, in this case, a journalist. I loved the mentioning of Nellie Bly and her impact on women's roles in journalism.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction and strong female characters.