September 4, 2023
The sparkling third installment in Edwards’s historical series (after Viviana Valentine Goes Up the River) finds the newly engaged Valentine and her fiancé/investigative partner Tommy Fortuna heading to New York City’s Times Square to celebrate New Year’s Eve in 1950. On the way, the couple witnesses a brutal stabbing in an alley, with only a pair of discarded matchbooks and the dead man’s final words (“Tell Frankie it’s okay”) to point them toward the culprit. Over the next week and a half, Viviana and Tommy investigate the killing while juggling a trio of other cases involving a cryptic blackmailer, a jealous fiancé, and a missing investment banker. Meanwhile, Viviana learns that her all-women’s boarding house is about to close, and discovers key details about Tommy’s upbringing and dark recent past that threaten to derail their engagement. Though the mysteries all find satisfying resolution, readers looking for a pacey plot might be disappointed—what they’ll find instead, however, is cracking dialogue, well-drawn characters, and vivid evocations of mid-century Manhattan. Fans of Ashley Weaver and Mariah Fredericks should check this series out. Agent: Anne Tibbets, Donald Maass Literary.
September 1, 2023
The dawn of 1951 presents a long list of cases for Edwards' heroine, now the partner and fiancee of Hell's Kitchen shamus Tommy Fortuna. The thing is, Tommy and Viv's clients are cagier than most suspected criminals. The first of them, Floristan, asks the pair to recover a missing item he refuses to identify and shows them what he considers a ransom note that's written in cipher. Bowen, an investment banker, won't say exactly why he's concerned about the disappearance of Trevor Penhaligon, a cog in the wheel of Keller Bachmann Investments. Morty Lobel, an old pal of Tommy's, wants Fortuna and Valentine to shadow Rachel Blum, his bride-to-be, because she's changed in some indeterminate way he can't put his finger on. Given a caseload like this, with clients as enigmatic as the puzzles they bring to the sleuths, it's no wonder that Viv and Tommy have little time or energy to devote to the mystery of the dying man they found on the sidewalk west of Times Square in the closing minutes of New Year's Eve. Whoever the victim was--the person who stabbed him to death seems to have lifted his identification--his dying words, "Tell Frankie...it's okay," pose still another riddle. The solutions to most of these mysteries are instantly forgettable, and the title promises more suspense than Edwards delivers, but the sharpness and warmth of Viv's lively patter and the evocation of postwar New York will stick with you much longer. Perfect for anyone who longs for a return to the days when "violent crimes are rarely committed against strangers."
COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
September 1, 2023
Set in 1950, with characters as diverse as the New York City setting, is Edwards's latest featuring recently engaged private investigators Viviana Valentine and Tommy Fortuna (following Viviana Goes Up the River). The couple's plans for a New Year's Eve in Times Square take a dive when they witness a brutal murder. They vow to investigate, just in case the police and their sometime nemesis Detective Lawson are in over their heads. Three other cases emerge: a missing banker, an artifact held for ransom, and a longtime friend of Tommy's who asks the pair to tail his fianc�e. At the heart of these cases, there is also a tension between Viv and Tommy--their new role as a soon-to-be married couple changes their previous professional relationship. They will have to solve that case too. The novel's sometimes heavy-handed use of late '40s and early '50s vocabulary can wear thin. VERDICT Readers will have no problem jumping right into this hardboiled tale.--Linsey Milillo
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.