Skip to main content

Editorial Content for Pageboy: A Memoir

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jana Siciliano

It seems only fitting that I write this review on the same day that we celebrate Bloomsday, the day on which James Joyce set ULYSSES, his infamous book about Leopold Bloom, Ireland’s great literary truth-teller. For writing a book full of real truths about nationalism, sexuality and religion, Joyce was banished from his home country of Ireland (today, however, he is rightly celebrated there and all over the world). Read More

Teaser

“Can I kiss you?” It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back. With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels, and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent. Until enough was enough.

Promo

“Can I kiss you?” It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back. With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels, and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent. Until enough was enough.

About the Book

Full of intimate stories, from chasing down secret love affairs to battling body image and struggling with familial strife, PAGEBOY is a love letter to the power of being seen. With this evocative and lyrical debut, Oscar-nominated star Elliot Page captures the universal human experience of searching for ourselves and our place in this complicated world.

“Can I kiss you?” It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans person. Getting closer to his desires, his dreams, himself, without the repression he’d carried for so long. But for Elliot, two steps forward had always come with one step back.

With Juno’s massive success, Elliot became one of the world’s most beloved actors. His dreams were coming true, but the pressure to perform suffocated him. He was forced to play the part of the glossy young starlet, a role that made his skin crawl, on and off set. The career that had been an escape out of his reality and into a world of imagination was suddenly a nightmare.

As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent, unsure of what to do. Until enough was enough.

The Oscar-nominated star who captivated the world with his performance in Juno finally shares his story in a groundbreaking and inspiring memoir about love, family, fame --- and stepping into who we truly are with strength, joy and connection.

Audiobook available, read by Elliot Page

Editorial Content for Robert B. Parker's Bad Influence: A Sunny Randall Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

The late, great Robert B. Parker left us in 2010 but gifted us with a multitude of books starring Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall. Mike Lupica penned four Sunny Randall novels following Parker’s death and now has passed the baton to Alison Gaylin. Read More

Teaser

Sunny Randall’s newest client, Blake, seems to have it all: he is an Instagram influencer, with all the perks the lifestyle entails --- a beautiful girlfriend, wealth and adoring fans. But one of those fans has turned ugly, and Sunny is brought on board by Blake’s manager, Bethany, to protect him and to uncover who is out to kill him. In doing so, she investigates a glamorous world rife with lies and schemes…and ties to a dangerous criminal scene. When Bethany goes missing and the threats against Blake escalate, Sunny realizes that in order to solve this case, she has to find out exactly who Blake and Bethany are, behind the Instagram filters. While digging into their pasts, she is also forced to confront her own, as old friends --- and ex-husbands --- reappear.

Promo

Sunny Randall’s newest client, Blake, seems to have it all: he is an Instagram influencer, with all the perks the lifestyle entails --- a beautiful girlfriend, wealth and adoring fans. But one of those fans has turned ugly, and Sunny is brought on board by Blake’s manager, Bethany, to protect him and to uncover who is out to kill him. In doing so, she investigates a glamorous world rife with lies and schemes…and ties to a dangerous criminal scene. When Bethany goes missing and the threats against Blake escalate, Sunny realizes that in order to solve this case, she has to find out exactly who Blake and Bethany are, behind the Instagram filters. While digging into their pasts, she is also forced to confront her own, as old friends --- and ex-husbands --- reappear.

About the Book

Boston PI Sunny Randall investigates the dark side of social media in this exciting new thriller in the bestselling series.

Sunny Randall’s newest client, Blake, seems to have it all: he is an Instagram influencer, with all the perks the lifestyle entails --- a beautiful girlfriend, wealth and adoring fans. But one of those fans has turned ugly, and Sunny is brought on board by Blake’s manager, Bethany, to protect him and to uncover who is out to kill him. In doing so, she investigates a glamorous world rife with lies and schemes...and ties to a dangerous criminal scene.

When Bethany goes missing and the threats against Blake escalate, Sunny realizes that in order to solve this case, she has to find out exactly who Blake and Bethany are, behind the Instagram filters. While digging into their pasts, she is also forced to confront her own, as old friends --- and ex-husbands --- reappear. With a combination of old-school crime-solving skills and modern internet savvy, Sunny will stop at nothing to catch a killer.

Audiobook available, read by Kate Burton

Editorial Content for The Last Lifeboat

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

THE LAST LIFEBOAT is the latest of several recent releases set in WWII Britain. In this gripping novel, Hazel Gaynor immerses us in the action from the very first page. She has us feeling the lash of the icy rain and the storm-riled waves that are tossing about the lifeboat in which Alice King has landed. Then Gaynor leaves us hanging as she abruptly takes us back in time to show how Alice ended up in that lifeboat. Read More

Teaser

1940, Kent: As the threat of German invasion looms, a plane crash near her home awakens a strength in Alice King she’d long forgotten. She finds a role perfectly suited to her experience as a schoolteacher --- to help evacuate Britain’s children overseas. 1940, London: Lily Nicols’ humble home is her world until war tears everything asunder. She is faced with an impossible choice: keep her son and daughter close, knowing she may not be able to protect them, or enroll them in a risky evacuation scheme. When a Nazi U-boat torpedoes the S. S. Carlisle carrying a ship of children to Canada, a single lifeboat is left adrift in the storm-tossed Atlantic. Alice and Lily, strangers to each other, will quickly become one another’s very best hope as their lives are fatefully entwined.

Promo

1940, Kent: As the threat of German invasion looms, a plane crash near her home awakens a strength in Alice King she’d long forgotten. She finds a role perfectly suited to her experience as a schoolteacher --- to help evacuate Britain’s children overseas. 1940, London: Lily Nicols’ humble home is her world until war tears everything asunder. She is faced with an impossible choice: keep her son and daughter close, knowing she may not be able to protect them, or enroll them in a risky evacuation scheme. When a Nazi U-boat torpedoes the S. S. Carlisle carrying a ship of children to Canada, a single lifeboat is left adrift in the storm-tossed Atlantic. Alice and Lily, strangers to each other, will quickly become one another’s very best hope as their lives are fatefully entwined.

About the Book

Inspired by a remarkable true story, a young teacher evacuates children to safety across perilous waters, in a moving and triumphant new novel from New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor.

1940, Kent: Alice King is not brave or daring --- she’s happiest finding adventure through the safe pages of books. But times of war demand courage, and as the threat of German invasion looms, a plane crash near her home awakens a strength in Alice she’d long forgotten. Determined to do her part, she finds a role perfectly suited to her experience as a schoolteacher --- to help evacuate Britain’s children overseas.

1940, London: Lily Nichols once dreamed of using her mathematical talents for more than tabulating the cost of groceries, but life, and love, charted her a different course. With two lively children and a loving husband, Lily’s humble home is her world, until war tears everything asunder. With her husband gone and bombs raining down, Lily is faced with an impossible choice: keep her son and daughter close, knowing she may not be able to protect them, or enroll them in a risky evacuation scheme, where safety awaits so very far away.

When a Nazi U-boat torpedoes the S. S. Carlisle carrying a ship of children to Canada, a single lifeboat is left adrift in the storm-tossed Atlantic. Alice and Lily, strangers to each other --- one on land, the other at sea --- will quickly become one another’s very best hope as their lives are fatefully entwined.

Audiobook available, read by Billie Fulford-Brown

Editorial Content for Trial

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

It is hard to believe that there has not been a novel by Richard North Patterson in nine years. During that time, he has written over 300 essays and articles for a handful of national publications, mostly on politics. In his heyday, I always felt that Patterson should be a household name on the same level as, say, John Grisham. Fortunately, his hiatus from fiction has not allowed any rust to build. In fact, the time he spent mired in national politics has built the foundation for what might be his finest book to date. Read More

Teaser

Malcolm Hill, a Black 18-year-old voting rights worker, is stopped by a white sheriff’s deputy on a dark country road in rural Georgia. His single mother, Allie, America’s leading voting rights advocate, restlessly awaits his return before police inform her that Malcolm has been arrested for murder. In Washington, D.C., the rising, young white congressman Chase Brevard of Massachusetts is watching the morning news with his girlfriend, only to find his life transformed in a single moment by the appearance of Malcolm’s photograph. Suddenly all three are enveloped in a media firestorm that threatens their lives --- especially Malcolm’s.

Promo

Malcolm Hill, a Black 18-year-old voting rights worker, is stopped by a white sheriff’s deputy on a dark country road in rural Georgia. His single mother, Allie, America’s leading voting rights advocate, restlessly awaits his return before police inform her that Malcolm has been arrested for murder. In Washington, D.C., the rising, young white congressman Chase Brevard of Massachusetts is watching the morning news with his girlfriend, only to find his life transformed in a single moment by the appearance of Malcolm’s photograph. Suddenly all three are enveloped in a media firestorm that threatens their lives --- especially Malcolm’s.

About the Book

TRIAL confirms Richard North Patterson’s place as “our most important author of popular fiction.”

In a propulsive narrative that culminates in a nationally televised murder case, TRIAL explores America’s most incendiary flashpoints of race.

Malcolm Hill, a Black 18-year-old voting rights worker, is stopped by a white sheriff’s deputy on a dark country road in rural Georgia. His single mother, Allie, America’s leading voting rights advocate, restlessly awaits his return before police inform her that Malcolm has been arrested for murder. In Washington, D.C., the rising, young white congressman Chase Brevard of Massachusetts is watching the morning news with his girlfriend, only to find his life transformed in a single moment by the appearance of Malcolm’s photograph. Suddenly all three are enveloped in a media firestorm that threatens their lives --- especially Malcolm’s.

Editorial Content for You Were Always Mine

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

In YOU WERE ALWAYS MINE, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza create two very imperfect characters whose interactions are brief but end up changing their lives. Read More

Teaser

Cinnamon Haynes has fought hard for a life she never thought was possible. Her life’s mantra is to be good, quiet and grateful. Until something shifts, and Cinnamon is suddenly haunted by a terrifying question: “Is this all there is?” Daisy Dunlap has had her own share of problems in her 19 years on earth. Her hopes for her future are threatened when she gets unexpectedly pregnant. She hides this development from everyone close to her and then makes a drastic decision with devastating consequences. When Cinnamon finds an abandoned baby in a park and takes the newborn into her home, the ripple effects of this decision risk exposing the truth about Cinnamon’s own past, which she has gone to great pains to portray as idyllic to everyone…even herself.

Promo

Cinnamon Haynes has fought hard for a life she never thought was possible. Her life’s mantra is to be good, quiet and grateful. Until something shifts, and Cinnamon is suddenly haunted by a terrifying question: “Is this all there is?” Daisy Dunlap has had her own share of problems in her 19 years on earth. Her hopes for her future are threatened when she gets unexpectedly pregnant. She hides this development from everyone close to her and then makes a drastic decision with devastating consequences. When Cinnamon finds an abandoned baby in a park and takes the newborn into her home, the ripple effects of this decision risk exposing the truth about Cinnamon’s own past, which she has gone to great pains to portray as idyllic to everyone…even herself.

About the Book

The acclaimed authors of the “emotional literary roller coaster” (The Washington Post) and "Good Morning America" Book Club pick WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM return with this moving and provocative novel about a Black woman who finds an abandoned white baby, sending her on a collision course with her past, her family and a birth mother who doesn’t want to be found.

Cinnamon Haynes has fought hard for a life she never thought was possible --- a good man by her side, a steady job as a career counselor at a local community college, and a cozy house in a quaint little beach town. It may not look like much, but it’s more than she ever dreamed of or what her difficult childhood promised. Her life’s mantra is to be good, quiet, grateful. Until something shifts, and Cinnamon is suddenly haunted by a terrifying question: “Is this all there is?”

Daisy Dunlap has had her own share of problems in her 19 years on earth --- she also has her own big dreams for a life that’s barely begun. Her hopes for her future are threatened when she gets unexpectedly pregnant. Desperate, broke and alone, she hides this development from everyone close to her and then makes a drastic decision with devastating consequences.

Daisy isn’t the only one with something to hide. When Cinnamon finds an abandoned baby in a park and takes the blonde-haired, blue-eyed newborn into her home, the ripple effects of this decision risk exposing the truth about Cinnamon’s own past, which she has gone to great pains to portray as idyllic to everyone...even herself.

As Cinnamon struggles to contain old demons, navigate the fault lines that erupt in her marriage, and deal with the shocking judgments from friends and strangers alike about why a woman like her has a baby like this, her one goal is to do right by the child she grows more attached to with each passing day. It’s the exact same conviction that drives Daisy as she tries to outrun her heartache and reckon with her choices.

These two women, unlikely friends and kindred spirits, must face down their secrets and trauma and unite for the sake of the baby they both love in their own unique way when Daisy’s grandparents, who would rather die than see one of their own raised by a Black woman, threaten to take custody.

Once again, these authors bring their “empathetic, riveting and authentic” (Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling to an unforgettable novel that revolves around provocative and timely questions about race, class and motherhood. Is being a mother a right, an obligation or a privilege? Who gets to be a mother? And to whom? And what are we willing to sacrifice for the sake of marriage, friendship and our dreams?

Audiobook available, read by Alexis Floyd and Jenni Barber

Editorial Content for Between Two Moons

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, tells its readers about phases of the moon and its movement from full to crescent. In Aisha Abdel Gawad’s fantastic debut novel, narrator Amira Emam remembers Allah’s words as such: “We have ordained phases for the moon, which daily wanes and in the end appears like a bent old twig.” Read More

Teaser

It’s the holy month of Ramadan, and twin sisters Amira and Lina are about to graduate high school in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. On the precipice of adulthood, they plan to embark on a summer of teenage revelry, trying on new identities and testing the limits of what they can get away with while still under their parents’ roof. But the twins' expectations of a summer of freedom collide with their older brother's return from prison, whose mysterious behavior threatens to undo the delicate family balance. Meanwhile, a storm is brewing in Bay Ridge. A raid on a local business sparks a protest that brings the Arab community together, and a senseless act of violence threatens to tear them apart. Everyone’s motives are called into question as an alarming sense of disquiet pervades the neighborhood.

Promo

It’s the holy month of Ramadan, and twin sisters Amira and Lina are about to graduate high school in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. On the precipice of adulthood, they plan to embark on a summer of teenage revelry, trying on new identities, and testing the limits of what they can get away with while still under their parents’ roof. But the twins' expectations of a summer of freedom collide with their older brother's return from prison, whose mysterious behavior threatens to undo the delicate family balance. Meanwhile, a storm is brewing in Bay Ridge. A raid on a local business sparks a protest that brings the Arab community together, and a senseless act of violence threatens to tear them apart. Everyone’s motives are called into question as an alarming sense of disquiet pervades the neighborhood.

About the Book

Set in the Arab immigrant enclave of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, following three siblings coming of age over the course of one Ramadan, "a moving look at family, survival and celebration" (Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A LITTLE DEVIL IN AMERICA).

It’s the holy month of Ramadan, and twin sisters Amira and Lina are about to graduate high school in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. On the precipice of adulthood, they plan to embark on a summer of teenage revelry, trying on new identities, and testing the limits of what they can get away with while still under their parents’ roof. But the twins' expectations of a summer of freedom collide with their older brother's return from prison, whose mysterious behavior threatens to undo the delicate family balance.

Meanwhile, outside the family’s apartment, a storm is brewing in Bay Ridge. A raid on a local business sparks a protest that brings the Arab community together, and a senseless act of violence threatens to tear them apart. Everyone’s motives are called into question as an alarming sense of disquiet pervades the neighborhood. With everything spiraling out of control, how will Amira and Lina know who they can trust?

A gorgeously written, intimate family story and a polyphonic portrait of life under the specter of Islamophobia, BETWEEN TWO MOONS challenges the reader to interrogate their own assumptions, asking questions of allegiance to faith, family and community, and what it means to be a young Muslim in America.

Audiobook available, read by Suehyla El-Attar Young

Editorial Content for Witch King

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Eleni Karavoussianis

Known widely for her Hugo Award-winning series, The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells dives headfirst back into the fantasy genre after a decade apart with her new release, WITCH KING. In this engaging mystery, thorough worldbuilding, enticing and endearing characters, and a carefully constructed tension kept me turning each page in a hunt for answers much like our protagonist. Read More

Teaser

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well. But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence? Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions. He’s not going to like the answers.

Promo

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well. But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence? Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions. He’s not going to like the answers.

About the Book

From the breakout SFF superstar author of MURDERBOT comes a remarkable story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.

"I didn't know you were a...demon." 

"You idiot. I'm the demon." 

Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' WITCH KING...

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai-Enna wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.

But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?

Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.

He’s not going to like the answers.

WITCH KING is Martha Wells’ first new fantasy in over a decade, drawing together her signature ability to create characters we adore and identify with, alongside breathtaking action and adventure and the wit and charm we’ve come to expect from one of the leading writers of her generation.

Audiobook available, read by Eric Mok

Editorial Content for The Adult

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jana Siciliano

When Natalie turns 18, she decides to leave her tiny, cloistered Canadian town for university in the big city of Toronto. College is a shock; everyone there is happy for hookups and hot times while going to class. Natalie is naïve and tries to become the perfect college student by watching videos, studying how to small talk with others, and changing her fashion tastes to fit the campus style. But none of this makes her feel at ease; she realizes she’s not quite ready to become an adult. As the book’s title suggests, that’s her end goal. Or is it? Read More

Teaser

Eighteen-year-old Natalie has just arrived at her first year of university in Toronto. Everyone she encounters seems to know exactly who they are. She reads advice listicles, watches videos online and thinks about how to fit in, how to really become someone, whoever that might be. And then she meets Nora, an older woman who takes an unexpected interest in her. She begins spending more and more of her time at Nora’s perfect, tidy home in her beautiful, quiet world. Natalie lies to her floormates about her absence, inventing a fake off-campus boyfriend, and carefully protects this sacred, adult relationship. This only deepens her obsession, even as she comes to suspect that Nora is hiding something.

Promo

Eighteen-year-old Natalie has just arrived at her first year of university in Toronto. Everyone she encounters seems to know exactly who they are. She reads advice listicles, watches videos online and thinks about how to fit in, how to really become someone, whoever that might be. And then she meets Nora, an older woman who takes an unexpected interest in her. She begins spending more and more of her time at Nora’s perfect, tidy home in her beautiful, quiet world. Natalie lies to her floormates about her absence, inventing a fake off-campus boyfriend, and carefully protects this sacred, adult relationship. This only deepens her obsession, even as she comes to suspect that Nora is hiding something.

About the Book

An addictively gripping queer coming-of-age story about an all-consuming, insidious love affair between a college freshman and a mysterious older woman, from an unforgettable new voice in fiction. 

Eighteen-year-old Natalie has just arrived at her first year of university in Toronto, leaving her remote, forested hometown for the big, impersonal city. Everyone she encounters seems to know exactly who they are. She reads advice listicles, watches videos online and thinks about how to fit in, how to really become someone, whoever that might be.

And then she meets Nora, an older woman who takes an unexpected interest in her, and is drawn unstoppably into Nora’s orbit. She begins spending more and more of her time off campus at Nora’s perfect, tidy home. Natalie lies to her floormates about her absence, inventing a fake off-campus boyfriend, and carefully protects this sacred, adult relationship. This only deepens her obsession, even as she realizes Nora is hiding something. As the secrets multiply and the intensity of the romance threatens to overwhelm her, Natalie realizes that the new, adult identity she had imagined for herself is far from the one she’s actually coming to know.

With atmospheric, electric prose that captures the anxiety and emotional intensity of young adulthood like never before, THE ADULT is about sex, yearning, poetry and learning to free one­self from the expectations of others. Bronwyn Fischer is an immensely talented new writer to watch.

Audiobook available, read by Emma Love

Editorial Content for Relentless Melt

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

I confess to not being familiar with Jeremy P. Bushnell or his prior work, but the description of his latest novel was so interesting that I was immediately drawn to it. I have a penchant for good horror, supernaturally based tales that have more going on than just blood and guts. To say that this book met that need would be an understatement. RELENTLESS MELT is horror with a healthy dose of historical and speculative fiction thrown in for good measure. Read More

Teaser

By day, Artie Quick holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s. By night, she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA's Evening Institute for Younger Men. Artie sets out in search of something to investigate with her pal Theodore, an upper-crust young bachelor whose interest in Boston's occult counterculture has drawn him into the study of magic. Their journey begins on Boston Common --- where the tramps and the groundskeepers swap rumors about unearthly screams and other unsettling anomalies --- but soon they uncover a series of violent abductions that take them on an adventure from the highest corridors of power to the depths of an abandoned mass transit tunnel, its excavation suspiciously never completed.

Promo

By day, Artie Quick holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s. By night, she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA's Evening Institute for Younger Men. Artie sets out in search of something to investigate with her pal Theodore, an upper-crust young bachelor whose interest in Boston's occult counterculture has drawn him into the study of magic. Their journey begins on Boston Common --- where the tramps and the groundskeepers swap rumors about unearthly screams and other unsettling anomalies --- but soon they uncover a series of violent abductions that take them on an adventure from the highest corridors of power to the depths of an abandoned mass transit tunnel, its excavation suspiciously never completed.

About the Book

"Stranger Things" meets the Golden Age of Detective Fiction in a rollicking supernatural detective thriller that introduces Artie Quick, a sales assistant at Filene’s in Boston, who moonlights as an amateur detective.

The year is 1909, and Artie Quick --- an ambitious, unorthodox and inquisitive young Bostonian --- wants to learn about crime. By day, she holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s; by night, she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA's Evening Institute for Younger Men.  

Eager to put theory into practice, Artie sets out in search of something to investigate. She's joined by her pal Theodore, an upper-crust young bachelor whose interest in Boston's occult counterculture has drawn him into the study of magic. Together, their journey into mystery begins on Boston Common --- where the tramps and the groundskeepers swap rumors about unearthly screams and other unsettling anomalies --- but soon Artie and Theodore uncover a series of violent abductions that take them on an adventure from the highest corridors of power to the depths of an abandoned mass transit tunnel, its excavation suspiciously never completed.

Will Theodore ever manage to pull off a successful spell? Is Artie really wearing that men's suit just for disguise, or is there something more to it? And what chance do two mixed-up young people stand up against the greatest horror Boston has ever known, an ancient, deranged evil that feeds on society's most vulnerable?

Editorial Content for The Last Drop of Hemlock

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

We met Vivian Kelly in LAST CALL AT THE NIGHTINGALE when she was working at the club. She was enjoying it immensely until one night when she discovered a body outside. Now she’s back, with her bobbed hair and jaunty spunk. Read More

Teaser

Life as a working-class girl in Prohibition-era New York isn’t safe or easy. But Vivian Kelly has a new job at the Nightingale, an underground speakeasy. Things are finally looking up for her and her sister, Florence...until the night Vivian learns that her friend Bea's uncle, a bouncer at the Nightingale, has died. His death is ruled a suicide, but Bea isn’t so convinced. She knew her uncle was keeping a secret: a payoff from a mob boss that was going to take him out of the tenements and into a better life. Now, the money is missing. Vivian and Bea uncover more than they expected when rumors surface of a mysterious letter writer who's blackmailing Vivian's poorest neighbors for their most valuable possessions, threatening poison if they don't comply.

Promo

Life as a working-class girl in Prohibition-era New York isn’t safe or easy. But Vivian Kelly has a new job at the Nightingale, an underground speakeasy. Things are finally looking up for her and her sister, Florence...until the night Vivian learns that her friend Bea's uncle, a bouncer at the Nightingale, has died. His death is ruled a suicide, but Bea isn’t so convinced. She knew her uncle was keeping a secret: a payoff from a mob boss that was going to take him out of the tenements and into a better life. Now, the money is missing. Vivian and Bea uncover more than they expected when rumors surface of a mysterious letter writer who's blackmailing Vivian's poorest neighbors for their most valuable possessions, threatening poison if they don't comply.

About the Book

In THE LAST DROP OF HEMLOCK, the dazzling follow up to LAST CALL AT THE NIGHTINGALE, even a dance can come with a price.

The rumor went through the Nightingale like a flood, quietly rising, whispers hovering on lips in pockets of silence.

Life as a working-class girl in Prohibition-era New York isn’t safe or easy. But Vivian Kelly has a new job at the Nightingale, an underground speakeasy where the jazz is hot and the employees look out for each other in a world that doesn’t care about them. Things are finally looking up for her and her sister Florence...until the night Vivian learns that her friend Bea's uncle, a bouncer at the Nightingale, has died.

His death is ruled a suicide, but Bea isn’t so convinced. She knew her uncle was keeping a secret: a payoff from a mob boss that was going to take him out of the tenements and into a better life. Now, the money is missing.

Though her better judgment tells her to stay out of it, Vivian agrees to help Bea find the truth about her uncle's death. But they uncover more than they expected when rumors surface of a mysterious letter writer who's blackmailing Vivian's poorest neighbors for their most valuable possessions, threatening poison if they don't comply.

Death is always a heartbeat away in Jazz Age New York, where mob bosses rule the back alleys and cops take bootleggers’ hush money. But whoever is targeting Vivian’s poor and unprotected neighbors is playing a different game. With the Nightingale's dangerously lovely owner, Honor, worried for her employees' safety and Bea determined to discover who is responsible for her uncle's death, Vivian once again finds herself digging through a dead man's past in hopes of stopping a killer.

Audiobook available, read by Sara Young