Review by Booklist Review
Set in New York City during the Roaring Twenties, Schellman's latest features feisty, brave, smart heroine Vivian Kelly playing amateur sleuth. Her friend Bea's beloved Uncle Pearlie is dead, apparently having killed himself. But Bea knows Pearlie could never have committed suicide, and she begs Vivian to help her find out what really happened. Between their shifts at the Nightingale, a speakeasy run by tough, no-nonsense Honor Huxley--for whom Vivian feels a strange sexual attraction--Bea and Viv seek answers. Helped by handsome but dangerous Leo, who has some dicey connections to NYC's criminal elements--and who's someone else she's strongly attracted to--Vivian begins to unravel a tangled, deadly web of corruption, lies, blackmail, theft, and violence. Her life and that of her beloved sister Florence are in grave danger as a result of Vivian's investigation, but she refuses to give up. An intense plot and a heart-wrenching picture of a city during a time of frenetic energy, widespread police corruption, dangerous gangs, and a dramatic divide between the rich and the poor make this a satisfying read for historical-mystery fans.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Schellman's entertaining follow-up to 2022's Last Call at the Nightingale folds fastidious period detail into a sturdy mystery plot. Vivian Kelly has found gainful employment as a waitress at the Nightingale, an illegal jazz club in Prohibition-era New York City. When Pearlie, a bouncer at the Nightingale and the uncle of its chanteuse, Bea, dies suddenly from arsenic poisoning, the attending doctor rules it a suicide. Bea doesn't buy it, especially because Pearlie recently told her he'd been working with a mob boss and was about to land a significant payday that would allow him to move their entire family to a better neighborhood. After Vivian pulls some strings to have the death reexamined by authorities, evidence of foul play surfaces--including the disappearance of Pearlie's cache of money--and she plunges full-throttle into an investigation, aided by the nephew of the NYPD's police commissioner. Schellman has fun with her chosen setting, sprinkling in welcome bits of period language without succumbing to cliché, and she further establishes Vivian as an ace investigator. Future Nightingale adventures would be welcome. Agent: Whitney Ross, Irene Goodman Literary. (June)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Vivian and Florence Kelly are two Irish sisters who work for a seamstress during the day in 1920s New York City. Vivian feels lucky to waitress several nights a week at her favorite underground jazz club, the Nightingale. But when whispers of suicide go through the club one evening, Vivian will once again be caught up in a murder investigation. A new bouncer, Pearlie, is dead. Pearlie's niece, the club's singer Bea, can't believe it's suicide. Bea turns to her best friend Vivian for help. They find a bottle that the coroner says was laced with arsenic. They also find a note. Pearlie isn't the only one in their poor neighborhood to get a note, but the others threaten neighbors unless they turn over a cherished possession--a necklace, a pair of candlesticks, etc. When Florence receives a threatening note, Vivian turns to friends at the Nightingale for help. She'll do anything to protect her sister, even dealing with powerful mob bosses or crooked cops. VERDICT The sequel to The Last Call at the Nightingale is a riveting historical mystery set in New York City's demimonde.--Lesa Holstine
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Jazz Age friends team up again to uncover the truth about a suspicious suicide. A single word--Dead--ripples through the lively speak-easy the Nightingale like a flood. Vivian Kelly catches the eerie sensation and links it to the absence of her best friend, Bea, who's uncharacteristically late. When Bea finally arrives at their nightly hangout, it's with the sad news that her beloved Uncle Pearlie is dead by his own hand. Despite a doctor's declaration of suicide, Bea is certain that someone killed Pearlie. Vivian, not convinced but concerned for her friend, decides to help Bea with her probe. Her belief in Bea's theory grows when the coroner rules that arsenic was the cause of death and a visit to Uncle Pearlie's apartment reveals that his secret horde of money has been stolen. Schellman builds on the vivid portrait of Roaring '20s New York that she introduced in the series debut, Last Call at the Nightingale (2022): The social order is superficially progressive but simmering with multiple prejudices which both the Irish immigrant Vivian and the African American Bea encounter. The rich supporting cast includes the androgynous Honor "Hux" Huxley, who runs the Nightingale with an iron hand; colorful criminal Leo Green; and Vivian's demure sister, Florence, working with quiet determination as a dressmaker to make ends meet. The discovery that Pearlie's gal, Alba, is pregnant and that he worked for gangsters thickens the plot, and a threatening letter adds urgency to the probe. A brisk and bubbly period whodunit with a pair of indomitable heroines. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
