The Fate of a Flapper, the second mystery in this captivating new series, takes readers into the dark, dangerous, and glittering underworld of a 1920’s Chicago speakeasy. A 2019 Agatha Award Nominee for “Best Historical Mystery”! After nine months as a cigarette girl at the Third Door, one of Chicago’s premier moonshine parlors, Gina Ricci feels like she’s finally getting into the swing of … finally getting into the swing of things. The year is 1929, the Chicago Cubs are almost in the World Series, neighborhood gangs are all-powerful, and though Prohibition is the law of the land, the Third Door can’t serve the cocktails fast enough.
Two women in particular are throwing drinks back with abandon while chatting up a couple of bankers, and Gina can’t help but notice the levels of inebriation and the tension at their table. When the group stumbles out in the early morning, she tries to put them out of her head. But once at home that night, Gina’s sleep is interrupted when her cousin Nancy, a police officer, calls–she’s found a body. Gina hurries over to photograph the crime scene, but stops short when she recognizes the body: it’s one of the women from the night before.
Could the Third Door have served the woman bad liquor? Or, Gina wonders, could this be murder? As the gangs and bombings draw ever closer, all of Chicago starts to feel like a warzone, and Gina is determined to find out if this death was an unlucky accident, or a casualty of combat.
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1929 Chicago is a great setting for this series, where Gina is a cigarette girl in a speakeasy. I loved all of the period details and learned a lot about Chicago and Prohibition in this book. The characters keep the story moving and keep the reader engaged. The mystery is well written and I was kept wondering the reason behind the deaths until the end. I started with this book but plan to go back and read the first book in the series before the next one comes out.
The Fate of a Flapper is the second book in The Speakeasy Murders series by Susanna Calkins. I haven’t read the first book and I wasn’t confused or lost at all. I plan to get the previous book, though, because this one was hugely entertaining. I’m a fairly new historical mystery fanatic. Most of the books I’ve read were set in the Victorian era, so the late 1920’s Prohibition setting here was a fun change of pace.
Gina Ricci works as a cigarette girl at the Third Door, a popular moonshine parlor in 1929 Chicago. Even though it’s Prohibition, the club never lacks for huge crowds. One evening Gina sees two women drinking like there’s no tomorrow, spending time with two men in the financial industry. The next day Gina’s policewoman cousin Nancy calls her to take some photographs of a crime scene…and the deceased is one of the women from the night before! Soon there is another death of a Third Door customer. Could it be a bad batch of liquor? Or is it murder? Gina is intent on finding out!
This was a fun mystery with lots of great characters, including 1929 Chicago. We have Cubs baseball on the radio, Prohibition, a tottering stock market, gangs, protection rackets, bombings, music and WWI veterans. It’s the perfect setting for a mystery. Gina is a great character, a young woman trying to make her way in the world while taking care of her ailing Papa. Besides working in the speakeasy, she fixes appliances and the like in her spare time. Then there’s Gina’s not-quite available beau Roark who helps her try to figure out the mystery. Cousin Nancy is trying to move up in the police department, desperately attempting to solve a murder to help her break through the glass ceiling. Other great supporting characters include the Signora (who is the proprietor of the Third Door), the mysterious and menacing Morrish, Nancy’s creepy parents, Gooch, young Jakob, Stella and so many more. I can’t wait to revisit Gina and the Third Door; there are so many stories begging to be told!
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.
A worthy successor to the first book in the series. You’ll be immersed in the world of 1929 where everything seemed to be going so well until it wasn’t. Calkins vividly re-creates the Crash and all the pain surrounding it while her heroine tries to solve a murder. I especially loved the picturesque slang of the era. If you haven’t read the first book in the series, MURDER KNOCKS TWICE, get it. Now is the perfect time to get caught up!
The Fate Of A Flapper is the second book in The Speakeasy Mystery series.
This book takes place in 1929 and is set in Chicago, Illinois. The country is dealing with Prohibition and speakeasy’s are popular for those that would like an alcoholic drink and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the Great Stock Crash are just around the corner.
Gina Ricci is a cigarette girl/waitress at the speakeasy, The Third Door. They are usually very busy and quite often have to turn patrons away. One evening the customers are packed in and Gina is very busy keeping up with the customer’s request for drinks and smokes. One gentleman has had far too much and has been ordered out of the establishment. Gina is also kept busy by another table that is occupied by two couples who have had a lot to drink and finally leave.
The next morning Gina gets a call from her cousin, Nancy Doyle, a police officer, asking that she bring her camera to an apartment where Nancy is investigating the death of a young girl. Gina has been able to prove her photographic skills since another cousin left his photographic equipment when he passed. Nancy is hoping that she can get a promotion if she can solve the case.
Gina is shocked when she arrives at the apartment and finds that the female is one of those from the previous evening at the speakeasy. It is thought that her death is from a drug overdose but when the body of one of the men is also found dead, they become suspicious that some “bad hooch” might have been delivered to the speakeasy. Gina wanting to help her cousin solve the murder and find out if bad gin was the reason for the death before The Third Door business becomes ruined.
This book is well-written and the time-period is well done. The characters are well-developed, interesting, and believable.
I will be watching for the next book in this exciting series.
Chicago Speakeasy 1929 Cozy Mystery
This is a wonderful piece of history as fictionalized in this cozy mystery. Chicago in 1929 had both the St. Valentine’s Day massacre and the Great Stock Market Crash that ended the roaring twenties and opened the door to the Great Depression. It was a world of haves and have-nots with no social safety net. Besides being a great look at life in the 1920s, it has a wonderful cozy mystery that twists and turns like crazy. The final denouement was quite a surprise, but all of the loose ends were tied up by the end of the book. I have read both of the books in this series and can’t wait for the next one. The books can be read in any order but would be best enjoyed if read in order. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.
Historical mysteries are a favorite of mine and this series set in 1929 Chicago is a winner. Gina is a cigarette girl working in a speakeasy called the Third Door. It’s located in the basement of a local drug store and the hooch is smuggled in by way of false bottoms in crates containing lotions, potions and such destined for the drug store shelves. Right under the noses of the Drys, the local nickname for the Feds who are tasked with enforcing the laws of Prohibition. Gina’s boss, the Signora, is a force to be reckoned with but so is Gina. She is the major breadwinner for herself and her ailing father and she has learned how to stay on The Signora’s good side. Not an easy thing considering she owns a large chunk of the neighborhood.
In the first book of the series, Murder Knocks Twice, Gina’s cousin leaves her his photographic equipment and she has mastered photography well enough that she is asked by her cousin Nancy, a police woman who wants to rise in the ranks, to come to a crime scene and take pictures so she can do her own investigating. Gina is surprised when she sees the victim – a young woman she had served the night before at the Third Door. Soon another death occurs and Gina joins in the investigation. These are dangerous times in Chicago and some of the dangers might just focus on Gina.
The mystery is well plotted and satisfying but the real pleasure reading this mystery is the way it lets the reader become immersed in the time period. The sights, sounds, language, the historical events all lead the reader into Gina’s world and I can’t wait to read more.
My thanks to the publisher St. Martin’s Griffin and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.