Loved this book! This is one of those books that I could not put down. Donnelly does a great job of blending historical fiction, character development, and mystery. Jo, the main character, uncovers the truth around father's death and learns who she is. A story like this runs the risk of being cliche but Donnelly avoids those traps. The plot unfolds with great pacing. This is one that's highly recommended.

3.5 stars... it took a while for the story to catch... rounded out well

I did enjoy this book - lots of action etc but the mystery part was a bit predictable

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly was $1.99 on Kindle and I figured what did I have to lose. These Shallow Graves is a historical mystery set in New York City and I found out later is really meant for the young adult category. Jo Montfort is a pretty girl from a wealthy and socially prominent family, but she aspires to greater things then parties and arranged marriages. She is drawn by the work of Nellie Bly and wants to be a journalist just like her. When her father dies suddenly, Jo is convinced there is more to the story than "an accident" and she begins to follow the trail of lies and deceit. Along the way, she hooks up with a young reporter, named Eddie, and a band of street kids who end up helping her solve the mystery. Overall it was a fun mystery, but a little long.

Enjoyed this book for the most part, but bumped the rating down because I had it all figured out almost as soon as I met the main villain.

Also, I really hate it when books describe anything as "impossibly (insert adjective here)". In this book's case, one character's eyes were "impossibly blue". Ugh. This has been used too many times and is also kind of confusing. What does it mean to be "impossibly blue", or "impossibly anything"? His eyes are obviously blue. How is it impossible if it's an eye colour that actually exists? Baaaah!

Okay calm. Sorry for the rant. I've just encountered that word pairing too many times to count and it grates :D

Other than those gripes, I thought the plotting was mostly well done, I liked Jo and some of the side characters (Oscar!), the setting, the female friendships, the analysis of gender norms, forensics! The audio narration was also well done (but please note that I listen at 1.3x speed, so the narration may be slightly different for you.)

It's 1890, and Miss Josephine Montfort has everything - a wealthy family, a vast social circle, and servants to do everything from dress her to chaperone her walks in the park. Life is full of dances and parties, and for excitement, she fancies herself a reporter and wants to be Nellie Bly. Life is idyllic until she receives word that her father has died in a tragic accident, and comes home from finishing school. When visiting one of her father's friends, she overhears a newsroom conversation that hints that it may not have been an accident, after all. Could it be a suicide, or something more sinister? With some help from a handsome reporter and a quirky mortician, she gets in a little over her head while trying to unearth the truth.

This book. This stupid book. Rather, this stupid main character. Jo is so sheltered and naive that I wanted to reach into the book and give her a good shake. She can't even dress herself (she has a maid for that), and she thinks babies come from the stork. She finds out that her father's death wasn't an accident, and wasn't a suicide, and she's all, "but what else could it be?!" She gets a lead to talk to some ladies at a brothel, and has to have it spelled out for her ("they have sex with men for money") before she understands what they do, and why they're wearing lingerie and kissing strange men on a public street - euphemisms and trying to say it nicely just don't get through her head. ("Hired to work at night? Do they polish the silver?") Seriously??

I found myself resolutely wishing that Jo would just marry the rich guy she didn't love, because there's no way that she could ever survive without being coddled and pampered.

I really enjoyed this book.

It was a great discription of the 1800's in New York. It very much felt like being in Dickenian London.
We meet Jo, who is from a well to do family, she is at a prestigious school and along with her friends is sort of chaffing against all the constraints that their upbringing and society place on them. her life is changed when her father dies, it is classed as a suiside but Jo over hears something that changes everything.
She seeks help from a reporter and together they start to investigate her father's death and then the death of another partner in her father's shipping firm. Is there a link between the deaths? Who is the man with the scars that Jo has seen outside her house staring up at her father's study window? As Jo and Eddie (the reporter) delve deeper into the deaths, we meet more people - some of whom reminded me of characters from Oliver Twist.
Jo has to hide what she is doing from her family because if they find out she will loose everything.

A good read, would recommend.

While I enjoyed the mystery part of this book, the rest was very lacking. I didn't like the main character, Jo. I realize she's supposed to be a poor little rich girl who's incredibly naive at first, but she was too obnoxiously dense. She didn't grow out of it, either. I saw what was happening a mile away, and by the time Jo figured it out all I could think was "You kind of deserve this." I liked Eddie and Oscar and Fay, but couldn't stand anyone else. Plus it was just too long and repetitive.