Previously featured in “6 More Books to Check Out if You Love Miss Scarlet and the Duke.” A Deadly Endeavor by debut author Jenny Adams hits shelves today.
ARC provided by the publisher for review. This post includes affiliate links that kick us a small percentage – at no cost to you – if you use them to shop. If this post is useful or helps you discover a new to you author, please use them to support my work. Thanks!
Set in 1920s Philly. Edie is the daughter of a councilman, just back in town after convalescing and recovering in California from the flu pandemic. In the interim she finds out her fiancé returned from war and took up with her twin sister. It’s time for Edie to take control of her own future. Gil is a widowed war vet who now works as a coroner in Philly. The disappearance of a series of women in Edie’s new social circle puts these two on a path to uncovering the killer.
Jenny Adams paints a vivid picture of Jazz Age Philly (think Gatsby, but it’s not glamorous for everybody) and it’s the details that make it for me. From the aftermath of WWI and the Great Flu to seances to cocktails to the use of a telephone exchange numbers.
Edie’s never had to think about her own privilege, so the investigation also serves as something of a transformative experience for her. While most characters in the story are white, there are marginalized side characters (both POC and LGBTQ+). Gil being an Irish immigrant whose sister is a maid for Edie’s family also brings class and economic status into the story. And in fact, I loved that the class difference between these two ends up being an asset as each have different skills and access in Philly’s social strata. You get gangsters, you get Richie-Riches, you get people who work in service.
While this is historical mystery first and foremost, it’s got a romantic subplot that serves up my favorite line in the book. Did I swoon? Maybe. Oh, who am I kidding, of course I did.
4 stars
CW: loss of spouse in childbirth, flu pandemic, PTSD flashbacks, semi-graphic post-mortem descriptions
Signed copies are available from One More Page Books.
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