Review by Booklist Review
After three years away, Edie Shippen returns to her family's Chestnut Hill estate in Philadelphia to celebrate her twin sister's engagement. Edie survived the 1918 pandemic, which left her with disabling migraines and damaged relationships. Gilbert Lawless grew up poor, but earned a medical degree he used in the trenches in France; he is now battling shell shock. Gil's job in the city morgue should have been a quiet place for his nerves to recover, but after the second brutal murder of a young woman, he starts to see connections that lead him to the Shippen household. Edie wants to break from the insulated life she's led, but does that mean she's ready to hunt down a killer with Gil? Readers who enjoy a good Upstairs, Downstairs-- or Downton Abbey--styled drama should try this. Adams' characters, representing the wealthy and the working class, have interactions that feel authentic, including acknowledgement of changing times and the awkwardness of gatherings without clear class definition. The discussions of 1920s fashion, food, medical opinions, and culture will please detail-oriented fans of historical fiction.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Adams's spirited if haphazard debut, a beautiful young socialite and a working-class coroner become embroiled in the search for a serial killer in 1921 Philadelphia. Edie Shippen has recently returned to Philadelphia from California, where she recovered from the Spanish flu, only to discover that her twin sister is engaged to her former lover, Theo. Wounded, Edie resolves to become a sexually liberated "modern girl." Meanwhile, coroner Gilbert Lawless, a former WWI medic, uses morphine to cope with his combat trauma and the untimely death of his wife. When Gilbert's sister, whom Edie has just hired as her new maid, goes missing, the two team up to find her, and quickly discover that someone may be targeting and brutally murdering "modern" young women all across the city. Edie and Gilbert's investigation--which sees the pair falling somewhat predictably in love--takes them to a gin palace, a boxing match, and the office of a fraudulent medium, among other locations, each of which Adams infuses with fascinating historical color. She never quite strikes the proper balance between grit and froth, however, seesawing between descriptions of violent slaughter and passages about Edie's wardrobe and her pug, Aphrodite. The result is an uneasy blend of dark thriller and silver-spoon cozy. Agent: Amy Giuffrida, Belcastro Agency. (Mar.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A serial killer terrorizes women in 1920s Philadelphia. Socialite Edie Shippen, who's been a shadow of her former self ever since influenza nearly killed her, returns from three years on the West Coast battling depression and migraines to find Frances, her twin sister, engaged to Edie's lifelong love, Dr. Theo Pepper. At the same time, Dr. Gilbert Lawless, the brother of Edie's maid, Lizzie, continues to have debilitating flashbacks to his experiences in the war and works at the morgue because he doesn't trust himself with living patients. He's one of the initial viewers of the body of a headless woman found on a creek bank, drugged and electrocuted. She'll be the first in a series of gruesome murders. Living in her grandmother's mansion, where she feels restricted by old-fashioned ideas and the strain of putting on a brave face, Edie joins some of her free-spirited cousin Rebecca's activities in an attempt to become a modern woman. Before the war, Gilbert, who's from a vastly different world than Edie, had married a society girl, who died in childbirth, leaving him with a daughter his wife's family rejected. Edie and Gilbert meet after she's mugged and Lizzie takes her to have him check out her injuries. The next corpse found on the creek bank has also been electrocuted and divested of all her organs; when she's identified as Rebecca, Edie springs into action. Lizzie disappears too as the slaughter continues, and Gilbert and Edie develop a relationship that turns them into sleuths and lovers desperately seeking a ruthless killer. Expect plenty of surprises in a period tale in which love conquers all societal differences. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
