This week’s page includes two thrillers – Sara Divello’s Broadway Butterfly and Vanessa Lillie’s Blood Sisters. And in a separate email, Drew Gallagher makes his case to go to work in Spotsy.
BROADWAY BUTTERFLY
by Sara DiVello
Published by Thomas & Mercer (August 1, 2023)
Paperback $16.99
Audiobook $14.99
Reviewed by Penny A Parrish
New York City in 1923 was in the throes of Prohibition, which certainly didn’t mean the lack of booze, sex, or scandal. Several newspapers competed for juicy front-page stories. One of those revolved around the murder of Dot King, a 27 year old Manhattan “It” girl, who was found murdered in her bed.
The flapper was a model and sometime-actress, but she was best known for the company she kept. The swains included a wealthy member of high society as well as a man with questionable ties to the underworld and a history of beating women.
Author Sara DiVello has taken this 100-year-old cold case and turned it into a fascinating look at the crime and the people involved. Julia Harpman is the dogged reporter for the New York Daily News, an unusual assignment for a woman in an almost all-male field of journalism. She is a thorn in the side of Detective John Coughlin because she asks penetrating questions and refuses to let the story go.
Almost everything connected to this case involved the political arena, all the way up to President Harding and movers and shakers in Washington DC. It also involved backdoor deals within the NYPD and racial inequities that were rampant at that time.
King was found by her maid, Ella Bradford. A Black woman, Bradford knew the most intimate secrets of her employer, who was kind to her. The bedroom where the victim lay had been ransacked, and the strong smell of chloroform was overwhelming.
Detective Coughlin questioned Bradford and the elevator man as well as the primary suspect Guimares, a shady character who had teeth marks on his hands. But then another lover – this one rich and famous – entered the list of suspects. And the top echelon in the NYPD did everything they could to hide his identity.
Racism, class favoritism, elitism, immigration, misogyny – all make an appearance in this fascinating true crime story. Characters are fleshed out and real, with Harpman’s struggle for justice for the victim and the maid’s fear of retribution especially compelling. The book is well researched, and at the end, the author – with a spoiler alert – tells us what happened to each of the major characters. The case was never officially solved, but astute readers will undoubtedly have their own thoughts on who murdered the Broadway Butterfly by the end of the book.
Penny A Parrish is a long-time book reviewer and artist. Learn more about her by visiting her page at Brush Strokes Gallery, which is in downtown Fredericksburg.
BLOOD SISTERS
By Vanessa Lillie
Published by Berkley (October 31, 2023)
Hardcover $18.90
Audiobook $14.95
Reviewed by Ashley Riggleson
Most of the time, I am a literary fiction reader, but I also enjoy a thriller from time to time. So, Vanessa Lillie’s new novel, Blood Sisters, fit right into my wheelhouse.
Readers follow an archeologist named Syd, a member of the Cherokee Nation, who has a dark past. Although she has carved out a life for herself working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Rhode Island, a dark event from her childhood continues to haunt her. As a result, Syd tries to distance herself from her family and rarely returns home.
But, as most seasoned thriller readers can guess, the reservation is not through with her yet, and Syd is soon forced to go back to the reservation to investigate a crime that happened close to where she grew up.
To add a level of intrigue to the story, it seems that Syd’s assignment to this crime is not a random choice. Instead, she has been called home. A skull has been found in a tree, and Syd’s ID is clenched in its mouth. Syd is initially reluctant to go home, and she is unsure of who she can trust when she gets there.
When she arrives, though, things quickly become more personal. Syd soon discovers that her sister, a recovering drug addict, is missing and her disappearance may be connected to whatever is happening in the dark underbelly of the reservation. And, of course, as Syd becomes increasingly involved in life here, the secret of what happened to her and her sisters all those years ago comes to the fore.
Meanwhile, Syd navigates tense personal relationships. Her mother resents her for having left, claiming that Syd no longer understands the politics of life on the reservation. And Mal, her wife back in Rhode Island, is pregnant with a child. Syd, however, is unsure whether she is ready to be a parent.
At first this thriller seems to be primarily character driven, and while the pace is never slow, it does take readers a while to orient themselves within the text.
By the middle of the novel, however, it is apparent that every interaction is important. Readers meet a narrator who is strong, protective, and loyal but also uniquely flawed. As Syd investigates the multiple crimes at play here, she continually faces her own flaws, the most dangerous of which is her inability to ask for help. Syd instead finds herself alone in increasingly dangerous situations, which means, of course, that for readers the second part of the novel passes at a breakneck pace.
Typically, readers ask only a few things from a good thriller, an escapist reading experience and an “unputdownable” book. This expectation is a tall order in itself, but I think Lillie delivers on that and more. She creates a setting that is alive with life, contradiction, and family lore.
I came to this novel for the mystery element, but I also loved getting lost in Lillie’s richly textured backdrop. Lillie shows readers a family that, though not without its problems, is also full of love.
All of these ingredients make for a deeply satisfying novel that will keep readers guessing. And, while Lillie does not shy away from exploring the problems that can come from life on the reservation, she pens an ending that is sweet and hopeful.
Blood Sisters is a compelling and poignant mystery that readers will not soon forget.
Ashley Riggleson is a free-lance book reviewer from Rappahannock County. When she is not reading or writing book reviews, she can usually be found playing with her pets, listening to podcasts, or watching television with friends and family.
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