Life in 1881 San Francisco is difficult if you are a poor widow like Mrs. O'Malley, especially when you have seven children and are forced to live in one of the crowded neighborhoods South of Market. Late one night, as she sat at the window of her crowded flat, sewing and worrying, she noticed something strange going on across the street. Her decision to investigate will have unexpected consequences. Mrs. O'Malley's Midnight Mystery is a short story in the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, and it comes right after the short story, Dandy's Discovery, and before Lethal Remedies, the seventh novel in the series.