Murder Knocks Twice

Murder Knocks Twice

Author: Susanna Calkins

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Published: 2019-04-30

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1250190843

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The first mystery in Susanna Calkins’ captivating new series takes readers into the dark, dangerous, and glittering underworld of a 1920s Chicago speakeasy. Gina Ricci takes on a job as a cigarette girl to earn money for her ailing father—and to prove to herself that she can hold her own at Chicago’s most notorious speakeasy, the Third Door. She’s enchanted by the harsh, glamorous world she discovers: the sleek socialites sipping bootlegged cocktails, the rowdy ex-servicemen playing poker in a curtained back room, the flirtatious jazz pianist and the brooding photographer—all overseen by the club’s imposing owner, Signora Castallazzo. But the staff buzzes with whispers about Gina’s predecessor, who died under mysterious circumstances, and the photographer, Marty, warns her to be careful. When Marty is brutally murdered, with Gina as the only witness, she’s determined to track down his killer. What secrets did Marty capture on his camera—and who would do anything to destroy it? As Gina searches for answers, she’s pulled deeper into the shadowy truths hiding behind the Third Door.


The Speakeasy Murders

The Speakeasy Murders

Author: Patricia M. Muhammad

Publisher: Patricia M. Muhammad

Published:

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13:

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It is the roaring '20s in Chicago. The federal government enacts the Volstead Act. This does not stop the activities of the underground world, both in the coloured and white side of town. Helen Williams is an astute, but bashful upper class coloured detective who wields her heirloom magnifying glass more than she brandishes a gun. She goes undercover with her partner, Stephen Patterson, to further investigate murders where a vacant field is used as a dumping ground. She is surprised to know who was the head of operations all along. The suspects all lead to the illegal underground establishment--a speakeasy. Williams learns the latest dance crazes, fashion and even hairstyles of the atypical flapper. Yet, at least one person can readily tell that she does not belong in the illegal club. Helen meets Thaddeus, a handsome Englishman who courts her. Thaddeus eventually proposes. On the final night of her investigation, Williams uses a secret passageway to confront the female 'executioner'. The detectives, Thaddeus and the mastermind of a criminal organization confront one another in an upper suite of the speakeasy. Who will leave alive?


The Fate of a Flapper

The Fate of a Flapper

Author: Susanna Calkins

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Published: 2020-07-28

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9781250190857

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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 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.


A Murder at Rosamund's Gate

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate

Author: Susanna Calkins

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Published: 2013-04-23

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1250007917

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For Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English chambermaid serving in the household of the local magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing pewter, emptying chamber pots, and dealing with other household chores until a fellow servant is ruthlessly killed, and someone close to Lucy falls under suspicion. Lucy can't believe it, but in a time where the accused are presumed guilty until proven innocent, lawyers aren't permitted to defend their clients, and—if the plague doesn't kill the suspect first—public executions draw a large crowd of spectators, Lucy knows she may never find out what really happened. Unless, that is, she can uncover the truth herself. Determined to do just that, Lucy finds herself venturing out of her expected station and into raucous printers' shops, secretive gypsy camps, the foul streets of London, and even the bowels of Newgate prison on a trail that might lead her straight into the arms of the killer. In her debut novel Murder at Rosamund's Gate, Susanna Calkins seamlessly blends historical detail, romance, and mystery in a moving and highly entertaining tale.


The Masque of a Murderer

The Masque of a Murderer

Author: Susanna Calkins

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Published: 2015-04-14

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1466861126

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In Susanna Calkins's next richly drawn mystery set in 17th century England, Lucy Campion, formerly a ladies' maid in the local magistrate's household, has now found gainful employment as a printer's apprentice. On a freezing winter afternoon in 1667, she accompanies the magistrate's daughter, Sarah, to the home of a severely injured Quaker man to record his dying words, a common practice of the time. The man, having been trampled by a horse and cart the night before, only has a few hours left to live. Lucy scribbles down the Quaker man's last utterances, but she's unprepared for what he reveals to her—that someone deliberately pushed him into the path of the horse, because of a secret he had recently uncovered. Fearful that Sarah might be traveling in the company of a murderer, Lucy feels compelled to seek the truth, with the help of the magistrate's son, Adam, and the local constable. But delving into the dead man's background might prove more dangerous than any of them had imagined. In The Masque of a Murderer, Susanna Calkins has once again combined finely wrought characters, a richly detailed historical atmosphere, and a tightly-plotted mystery into a compelling read.


From the Charred Remains

From the Charred Remains

Author: Susanna Calkins

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Published: 2014-04-22

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1250007895

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It's 1666 and the Great Fire has just decimated an already plague-ridden London. Lady's maid Lucy Campion, along with pretty much everyone else left standing, is doing her part to help the city clean up and recover. But their efforts come to a standstill when a couple of local boys stumble across a dead body that should have been burned up in the fire but miraculously remained intact—the body of a man who died not from the plague or the fire, but from the knife plunged into his chest. Searching for a purpose now that there's no lady in the magistrate's household for her to wait on, Lucy has apprenticed herself to a printmaker. But she can't help but use her free time to help the local constable, and she quickly finds herself embroiled in the murder investigation. It will take all of her wits and charm, not to mention a strong stomach and a will of steel, if Lucy hopes to make it through alive herself, in From the Charred Remains by Susanna Calkins.


But Who Will Bell the Cats?

But Who Will Bell the Cats?

Author: Cynthia Von Buhler

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2009-09-07

Total Pages: 37

ISBN-13: 0547529198

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While a princess spoils her eight cats, a mouse and his friend, a brown bat, live on scraps in the castle cellar, but Mouse decides to place bells on the cats necks so that he and Brown Bat might live comfortably, as well. Includes the Aesop fable on which the story is based.


The Sign of the Gallows

The Sign of the Gallows

Author: Susanna Calkins

Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd

Published: 2021-01-01

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1448304695

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A dead man at a crossroads. A secret message. A ring with a warning about death . . . Printer’s apprentice Lucy Campion is caught up in a strange and puzzling murder case in this twisty historical mystery set in seventeenth-century London. London, 1667. On her way to a new market to peddle her True Accounts and Strange News, printer’s apprentice Lucy Campion quickly regrets her decision to take the northwestern road. Dark and desolate, the path leads her to the crossroads – and to the old hanging tree. She doesn’t believe in ghosts, but she’s not sure ghosts don’t believe in her. But before she even reaches the crossroads, she’s knocked off her feet by two men in a hurry. What were they running from? To her dismay, she soon discovers for herself: there, dangling from the tree, is the body of a man. Did he commit self-murder, or is there something darker afoot? The more Lucy learns, the more determined she is to uncover the truth. But this time, even the help and protection of magistrate’s son Adam, and steadfast Constable Duncan, may not be enough to keep her safe from harm . . .


The Thin Man

The Thin Man

Author: Dashiell Hammett

Publisher: Wildside Press LLC

Published: 2023-02-21

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1667621114

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The Thin Man (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, made famouos by the series of movies based on it starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. The story is set in New York City during the Christmas season of 1932, in the last days of Prohibition in the United States. Nick Charles, a retired private detective, and Nora, his socialite wife, become embroiled in a mystery.


Death at the Tavern

Death at the Tavern

Author: Lee Strauss

Publisher: La Plume Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1988677548

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Death by Rum Running. . . It’s the hot and humid East Coast summer of 1930 and five years since Dr. Haley Higgins’ brother Joe was murdered. The case has grown cold. The Boston Police Department may have given up on finding Joe Higgins’ killer, but Haley never will. She’s serious and savvy and has what it takes to hold up under depressive times. At least she finds some satisfaction doing her part as the city pathologist’s assistant in solving other crimes. A man is found dead inside Boston’s oldest tavern—a “tea and coffee” house since prohibition became law. Another in a string of deaths related to underground rum running. Haley doesn’t care for nosy reporters, and Samantha Hawke is no exception. Demanding and presumptuous, Haley tries to stay clear of the ambitious Sam Hawke, but it turns out they may just need each other to solve this case without becoming the next victims.