Incognito by Gregory Murphy is a seamless mystery set in the Gilded Age in New York City. It was a tad slow for me but it kept me reading. I had to find out if Sybil the love interest was to be trusted or not.

William Dysart is an attorney working in a prestigious firm and married to a gorgeous high society woman. He originally married Arabella for her beauty. Many people are envious of him but he knew behind Arabella’s physical beauty there was a woman incapable of loving anyone but herself. She even did not want to have any children. She thought that they would be a bother to her and probably she would be jealous of any attention that they got. She only wanted the grandest of houses, the most expensive and most modern of clothing. She was a very cold and uncaring person.

William is unhappy with his wife as you can imagine. He is constantly, going to social events so his wife can climb higher and higher in status. She is seductive and controlling. He feels trapped. At work, he is given the assignment to persuade a woman (Sybil) to sell for small cottage on a little bit of land to a society matron. He doesn't know at the beginning that there are many secrets behind this sale. He also doesn't know much about his mother who left him long ago and died. It is these secrets that he has to unravel for himself with a lot of work. I felt closest to William in this book. He was like a trapped fly in his wife’s spider web. Would he ever be able to get out?

I really enjoyed the author's description of the luxury furniture in the mansions, the strong emphasis on social status at the time and the different views of women's suffrage that the characters had.

I highly recommend Incognito to all fans of historical fiction. ( )

Set in New York City at the turn of the twentieth century, Incognito tells the story of William Dysart, a lawyer stuck in a loveless marriage to a very beautiful woman, in a fantastic job that he hates, and with a very very rich father for whom he seems to have no affection. Yes, Mr. Dysart has everything one could ask for, but none of it makes him happy. That is until he's assigned a peculiar task by his firm, a task that sets him at odds with everyone he knows and spirals him into an exploration of his own history.

The novel is graced along the way with magnificent descriptions of Manhattan and Long Island during the city's guilded age. While the story is billed as a mystery, it's almost more of a gentleman's late coming-of-age story. It's not very often that I find myself getting caught up in, or sympathetic with stories told from a man's perspective, but I found Dysart to be very sympathetic, and likable despite his mistakes.

There was a lot more to this book than I had initially expected, and even though some of the subjects at its core are despicable, the story around them is told with simple, genuine elegance. Definitely a quick and lovely read, filled with vivid descriptions that will captivate any reader of historical fiction.

Lauren Cartelli
www.theliterarygothamite.com ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Incognito has a little bit of everything - romance, intrigue, beautiful descriptions of a turn of the century New York, mystery and is written in such a beautiful way that it feels as if you are just floating through the story.

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I started reading Incognito. I began around 10pm at night, knowing I'd need to get to sleep within the hour and finally put the book down around 1am, and only then with much regret. I'd been drawn into the story through descriptions, through the dialogue and through the development of some of the most subtly colorful characters I've had the opportunity to read about in quite some time.

William is a lawyer from a well-to-do, upper crust New York family and he is married to one of the most beautiful women in the city. His life begins to change, however, when he is given the assignment to make an offer to purchase property from a Miss Sybil Curtin for one of his firms most powerful clients. Nothing is as it seems when young Sybil refuses him and he begins to investigate, knowing deep down that something is amiss.

Oh the twists and turns this story takes. I don't want you to think, however, that it is a story of excitement, a thriller that will have your gripping your book - because it isn't. It's quiet, unassuming but demands your attention until you have the very last answer and the characters are finally given exactly what they deserve, be that good or evil.

Incognito is the perfect summer read and one I will be recommending every chance I get. ( )