Nominated for Reader's Choice Awards as Best First Novel and Best Historical Mystery Nominated for a Lovey Award as Best Traditional Amateur Sleuth "A first-rate, top of the line cozy that provides the reader with plenty of atmosphere and page turning what-ifs. Even the best armchair detectives will have a tough time trying to name the killer." -- Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine "The author's sense of dialogue is crisp and clever. The complex moral ambiguities of the novel will stay with you long after you've finished reading." --Roundtable Reviews Gilded Age Mystery Series Chicago in the 1890's is the fastest growing metropolis in America. It rivals New York as the City Of The Century and the epitome of the Gilded Age. This melting pot of thieves and corrupt politicians, robber barons and immigrants, is rife with scandal and social injustice. Evangeline LeClair and Freddie Simpson find themselves repeatedly drawn into the hidden world of intrigue and murder that lurks in the shadows of the White City. Volume One - The Fall Of White City Eccentric heiress Evangeline LeClair leads a paradoxical life. By day, she fends off marriage-minded suitors. By night, she teaches English to factory workers at a social settlement in the slums. Evangeline is quite satisfied with the status quo until murder disrupts her routine. One of her students, a penniless immigrant named Elsa, has been stabbed to death in Chicago's most exclusive hotel. Elsa's brother Franz, a known anarchist, is accused of the crime. Evangeline believes she can aid Franz by tracking down the real killer herself. She wheedles her admirer, Freddie Simpson, into helping her investigate. Their list of possible suspects is long: captains of industry, denizens of the slums, a shady doctor who mixes his own drugs, and a teenage prostitute at a sporting house in the Levee District. When the two compare notes, all their evidence points to the same conclusion. Elsa met a mysterious gentleman at the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. He became her lover, possibly her killer, and she may not have been his only victim. The amateur sleuths race to unmask their unknown opponent before the Fair ends and he vanishes for good. To find him, they must delve beneath the gleaming surface of the White City to find the darkness that lies at its core.
Description:
Nominated for Reader's Choice Awards as Best First Novel and Best Historical Mystery Nominated for a Lovey Award as Best Traditional Amateur Sleuth "A first-rate, top of the line cozy that provides the reader with plenty of atmosphere and page turning what-ifs. Even the best armchair detectives will have a tough time trying to name the killer." -- Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine "The author's sense of dialogue is crisp and clever. The complex moral ambiguities of the novel will stay with you long after you've finished reading." --Roundtable Reviews Gilded Age Mystery Series Chicago in the 1890's is the fastest growing metropolis in America. It rivals New York as the City Of The Century and the epitome of the Gilded Age. This melting pot of thieves and corrupt politicians, robber barons and immigrants, is rife with scandal and social injustice. Evangeline LeClair and Freddie Simpson find themselves repeatedly drawn into the hidden world of intrigue and murder that lurks in the shadows of the White City. Volume One - The Fall Of White City Eccentric heiress Evangeline LeClair leads a paradoxical life. By day, she fends off marriage-minded suitors. By night, she teaches English to factory workers at a social settlement in the slums. Evangeline is quite satisfied with the status quo until murder disrupts her routine. One of her students, a penniless immigrant named Elsa, has been stabbed to death in Chicago's most exclusive hotel. Elsa's brother Franz, a known anarchist, is accused of the crime. Evangeline believes she can aid Franz by tracking down the real killer herself. She wheedles her admirer, Freddie Simpson, into helping her investigate. Their list of possible suspects is long: captains of industry, denizens of the slums, a shady doctor who mixes his own drugs, and a teenage prostitute at a sporting house in the Levee District. When the two compare notes, all their evidence points to the same conclusion. Elsa met a mysterious gentleman at the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. He became her lover, possibly her killer, and she may not have been his only victim. The amateur sleuths race to unmask their unknown opponent before the Fair ends and he vanishes for good. To find him, they must delve beneath the gleaming surface of the White City to find the darkness that lies at its core.