A young reporter, David King, has asked to follow McCleary around and do a story on a day in the life of a Centennial detective. What King doesn’t count on is McCleary finding the mutilated body of a young prostitute. When the chief of police orders him away from the investigation, McCleary thinks it is because the chief feels McCleary botched his last major case. In truth, the case came to more closure than McCleary can admit to anyone. Angry that he has been ordered to leave the investigation alone, McCLeary pockets a piece of evidence so he can investigate on his own.

McCleary is asked by King’s father, a very powerful and wealthy man, to help keep an eye on his unstable daughter, Elise. With the help of Pemberton Price, McCleary begins spending time with the young woman and trying to keep her from harm. The longer McCleary spends with the King family, the more secrets he realizes they harbor and the closer they bring him to a possible serial killer.

As each secret of the King family is revealed, McCleary thinks he has solved not only the prostitute’s murder, but the ten year old murder of two young boys that an innocent man may have confessed to. Even after McCleary thinks he has the crime solved, there is one last surprise that no one could have ever anticipated.

The Black Maria is a densely written mystery. So densely at times that it becomes cumbersome. The Centennial is described in great detail, sometimes too much detail. Graham has researched this era very well and includes much historical detail. It seems unlikely, however, that all the events to which McCleary claims first hand knowledge would have been experienced by one person.

McCleary carries a lot of baggage from time he spent in the Civil War at least ten years ago and the notoriety he received from the last case. All of this does nothing to make him a sympathetic character. The other characters he encounters are in as sad shape as he, making for a bleak and dower cast.

While this mystery is not for everyone, those who enjoy historical mysteries full of corruption and detail should enjoy this. Graham, whose great-great-great grandfather was a nineteenth century Philadelphia policeman, has created a decidedly different, seamier look at the Philadelphia Centennial.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry