Murder on Bank Street - Victoria Thompson
Ok, this book was incredibly anti-climactic and the series is frustrating me to no end in terms of the romantic escalation.

First, the plot was good and well looked forward to - I mean we've been with Sarah for the last 9 books and were curious as to kill her husband and wanted closure for her. I wanted the closure so that she could move on. BUT I thought she'd be involved! Of all the cases for her to be involved in it was this one. But no, Maeve was the one who did all of the investigating and all of the danger and had her own P.O.V while Sarah was relegated to the background, of what should've been her own story, and only shown when she was worried about Maeve or fainting over her husband's possible actions.

This was so wildly out of character for Sarah that at first I found it incredibly hard to enjoy any of Maeve's involvement.

I got over that as Maeve is a pretty interesting character and if there is ever a spin-off of Maeve's own then I would read it.

Now, back to Sarah. To me, she appeared pretty weak in this book which didn't make any sense to me. She has a family now, I completely get that. Having a family changes people but Sarah still would've and should have gotten herself involved in her husband's investigations. It's apparent that she is intelligent and quick and there were things she could've done that wouldn't have put her in danger.

Malloy and Sarah's relationship didn't exist in this book and I gotta tell you that it frustrates me to no end to see something like that. Sarah and Frank are perfect for each other and I almost feel that for the sake of prolonging the tension (which has dwindled down significantly for the past three books) the author has decided to ignore anything between the two; using class systems and honor and a bunch of other excuses is fine but at this point it should've been addressed between the two of them.

At some moments their relationship has a Luke/Lorelai feel to it. Lorelai Gilmore is rich and she broke away from that life to pursue her own life - just like Sarah Brandt. Luke Danes is a hardworking, salt of the earth guy who is sweet but gruff - just like Frank Malloy. There are going to be class issues and social stigmas but there comes a point when love at least allows a conversation and for something to happen. Right now it's a stalemate.

Other than my bereavement of what seems to be a good series going downhill, the book manages to get three stars due to Catherine, Maeve and Mrs. Ellsworth.