The Last Note of Warning (The Nightingale Mysteries, 3)
This is the third novel in The Nightingale Mysteries, and it is a sparkling sequel. The setting is 1925 New York, the height of the Prohibition era, which creates a lively, mysterious, seductive plot. Twenty-four-year-old Vivian Kelly is at the center of all the action, and a more engaging protagonist would be hard to find.
By day, Vivian is a respectable assistant in a couture shop; by night, she is a bartender at an illegal speakeasy, The Nightingale, where she spends her break time dancing the tango, the foxtrot, and whatever the band plays next. Ironically, when she is delivering a dress to a Manhattan socialite, she gets entangled in the gruesome murder of the woman’s husband, and the cops think she is the culprit. She has one week to prove her innocence to the crusty police commissioner.
Luckily for her, Vivian has an interesting circle of friends and acquaintances who are willing to help her beat the murder rap and find the real villain. The storyline develops characters like her elusive boss at the speakeasy, Honor, a woman Vivian is attracted to; Vivian’s Jewish boyfriend, Leo, who tries to help her with legal contacts; Bea, the Black chanteuse at the speakeasy, who even impersonates a maid to uncover useful clues; and Hattie Wilson, a master criminal herself, who will only help Vivian if the circumstances help her. Each of these personalities are developed with a deft hand and not a little intrigue. The heroine herself has many layers — sometimes sassy and sometimes scared; sometimes sure of herself and sometimes confused about her feelings, desires, and ambitions.
Schellman is a polished storyteller. In a well-paced narrative, she presents a lively cast of characters against the backdrop of a complex era in American history.
