Reeling from her husband Alexander Hamilton's death in a duel, Eliza Hamilton is shocked to find her family is deep in debt. And that's before her son, Alexander Jr., is implicated in a murder. Mollie Ann Cox's gripping debut historical mystery, The Lace Widow, follows Eliza as she joins a group of strong-minded widows to find out who's killing off witnesses to the Hamilton-Burr duel--and figure out how to save her family's finances.
Cox, who also writes as Maggie Blackburn (Once upon a Seaside Murder), paints a nuanced portrait of Eliza: devastated by the loss of her husband but determined to protect her family, even if it means flouting society's rules and putting herself in danger. Her new friends, women who live independently in lower Manhattan, run a healthy business selling lace and textiles to affluent households, which means they know many of those households' secrets. To the horror of her sister, Angelica, Eliza begins selling her family's handmade lace, and she joins her friends in some clandestine investigations. As they dig deeper, Eliza uncovers connections to a sinister secret society as well as a long-ago plot to steal treasury monies, of which her husband had been accused before his death. Cox weaves a mystery plot with as many threads as Eliza's intricate lace, and she manages to bring it to a satisfying conclusion. Rich with historical detail, and full of brave and clever women, The Lace Widow is a worthy tribute to the woman Hamilton (in the musical) called "best of wives and best of women." --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams