In Last Call at the Nightingale, the first in a Jazz Age mystery series, Katharine Schellman (The Body in the Garden) serves up Prohibition-era murder and intrigue with style, atmosphere and a side of bootlegged bubbles and gin.
In 1920s New York City, Vivian Kelly is alone in the world but for her stick-in-the-mud older sister, Florence. Vivian works for a pittance and receives less respect in a dressmaker's factory, but at night she has a space where she can forget her poor pricked fingers and dance 'til last call: the Nightingale, a speakeasy jazz club. Vivian is "poor orphan Irish trash"; her best friend Bea is Black; bartender Danny is Chinese; and the bar's owner, Ms. Honor Huxley (don't call her Miss), prefers other women as her dance partners. The Nightingale is a place where anything goes, more or less--until one night that includes murder.
When Vivian discovers a body just outside the club's back door, she finds herself thrown into circumstances beyond her usual daytime drudgery and nighttime frolics. Arrested in a raid, she owes her bail bond to the intimidating but sexy and intriguing Ms. Huxley. Then a mysterious stranger arrives from Chicago and begins pursuing Vivian. Threatening bruisers are hot on her tail, and Florence is increasingly displeased by her younger sister's nightlife. Vivian at first feels pressure from others to solve the murder; eventually she may need to do so to save her own life.
Readers will love Last Call at the Nightingale for its twisting plot, its flair for historical detail and its inclusive cast of appealing characters. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia