Florida Girls (The Queenpin Chronicles)
It’s October 1944, and 18-year-old Thelma Miles finds herself in St. Petersburg, Florida – stranded after her bus to Miami leaves without her because she’s trying to help a lost child. Thelma has $16.75 to her name, no job, no family, and bad memories to escape. She’s desperate to start a new life. Opportunity comes knocking when Thelma is selected to join the Florida Girls – a troupe of girls sponsored by St Petersburg’s Sun City Emporium that will model swimsuits and perform a singing and dancing routine to raise money for war bonds (and to line their sponsors’ pockets). The troupe will tour cities between St Petersburg and Los Angeles, where they’ll compete for a movie contract. Of course, nothing is quite as it seems, and Thelma suddenly finds herself moving in a world of glamour and intrigue with mafia connections, money laundering, spies, secrets, and plenty of bad behaviour.
This is a book about a young woman’s strength and determination as she learns to work with an equally determined and secretive sponsor amid a network of complex connections. At times, I got lost in the plot. There are many characters and a lot of small events, and it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of who is doing what. Some key plot points just seem to ‘happen’ with little explanation, description, or follow through. I found it difficult to believe that an 18-year-old could play on near-equal terms with a mafia boss. That being said, Thelma Miles is a likeable character, and it’s fun to spend time in her company.
Florida Girls is L. L. Kirchner’s debut novel and the first book in the Queenpin Chronicles trilogy, which will follow the adventures of Thelma Miles and her sponsor Kathleen Young.
