Murder on Sisters' Row

Author’s Note

AS I HAVE FOR MANY OF MY STORIES IN THE GASLIGHT MYSTERY Series, I got the idea for this story while doing research for an earlier book. I found an interesting passage in a reference book about the New York Charity Organization Society (COS). They really did exist, and they built the United Charities Building to provide offices for the many charitable organizations that were created during this time of rising social consciousness. Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell, formerly a commissioner for the State Board of Charities, founded the COS in an effort to bring order and efficiency to the various charities because she found many of them to be “wasteful” and “encouraging pauperism and imposture.” The quotes I attributed to her in the book are really hers and reflect an attitude toward charity that seems oddly uncharitable to us today. I couldn’t resist incorporating these views into my story, even if I’m relatively certain they never motivated a murder in real life.

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