Sarah’s uptown socialite mother, Mrs. Decker asks Sarah if she will accompany her to a séance where Mrs. Decker hopes to ask Sarah’s dead sister Maggie for forgiveness. Maggie died during childbirth after she was forbidden to marry the man she wished, but ran away with him anyhow instead of going away to quietly have her child as was planned. Since then, Mrs. Decker has carried much guilt, part of the reason she allowed Sarah to marry a downtown doctor, ultimately ending in her young widowhood.

Though Sarah doesn’t believe séances are more than another way charlatans have devised to get money from the rich, she decides to accompany her mother for Mrs. Decker’s safety. Mrs. Decker is very satisfied that Madame Serafina has contacted Maggie and that she must return to learn if Maggie has forgiven her. Mrs. Decker returns to the Waverly Place house for another séance without her daughter, but when their hostess, Mrs. Gittings dies during the sitting, she identifies herself as Sarah Brandt, knowing this will bring Detective Malloy who will have things well in hand in no time.

The immediate suspect the police try to take into custody is Nicola, a young Italian man who is Serafina’s lover and who helps create “atmosphere” during a séance by hiding in a concealed cabinet and providing appropriate sound effects. Nicola manages to escape police custody and Frank allows Sarah to take Serafina in while the police investigate the murder, pretty sure she is not taking a murderer into her house.

As always, Sarah Brandt’s New York is drawn with impeccable detail, down to the use of a flashlight which had just been invented the year before. Sarah becomes more endearing to readers with each entry; her family has grown with adopted daughter Catherine and Catherine’s caregiver Maeve, who had a tough life before Sarah met her, and is able to use what she learned on the streets to assist Sarah in many aspects.

Mrs. Decker’s more frequent visits are a welcome addition to the plot as it tells more about Sarah’s life prior to her marriage to Tom Brandt and how she has shaped her life since his murder. Notably missing from this episode are Malloy’s mother and son Brian, with whom Sarah is forging relationships; her growing relationship with Malloy is also not obvious in this story, something longtime fans will miss.

The mystery appears fairly straight forward as a locked room murder, but there is more to everything than meets the eye and there are couple of neat twists thrown in, proving that all the characters are not as naive as some would think. The séance adds an overall lighter feel to the story, though with sadness as Sarah’s sister Maggie and the circumstances surrounding her tragic death are remembered. Readers will enjoy seeing Sarah Brandt again.                                                    

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry