A Deadly Endeavor
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A serial killer is on the loose in Jazz Age Philadelphia in Jenny Adams’ debut historical mystery, perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Rhys Bowen.
Philadelphia, 1921. When Edie Shippen returns home after spending years in California recovering from Influenza, she’s shocked to discover that her childhood sweetheart is engaged to her twin sister. Heartbroken and adrift, Edie vows to begin living her life as a modern woman—and to hell with anyone who gets in her way. But as young women start to disappear from the city, her newfound independence begins to feel dangerous.
Gilbert Lawless returned home from the Great War a shell of his former self. He hides away in the office of Philadelphia’s Coroner, content to keep to himself until a gruesome series of corpses come into the morgue. And when his sister, Lizzie, goes missing, he risks his career to beg help from the one person Lizzie seemed to trust: her employer, Edie Shippen.
Fearing the worst, Edie and Gilbert desperately search for clues. It soon becomes clear that Lizzie’s disappearance is connected to the deaths rocking the City of Brotherly Love...and it’s only a matter of time until the killer strikes again.
With a lush Roaring Twenties setting and a wickedly smart sleuth to cheer for, A Deadly Endeavor is the perfect puzzling romp for fans of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Adams's spirited if haphazard debut, a beautiful young socialite and a working-class coroner become embroiled in the search for a serial killer in 1921 Philadelphia. Edie Shippen has recently returned to Philadelphia from California, where she recovered from the Spanish flu, only to discover that her twin sister is engaged to her former lover, Theo. Wounded, Edie resolves to become a sexually liberated "modern girl." Meanwhile, coroner Gilbert Lawless, a former WWI medic, uses morphine to cope with his combat trauma and the untimely death of his wife. When Gilbert's sister, whom Edie has just hired as her new maid, goes missing, the two team up to find her, and quickly discover that someone may be targeting and brutally murdering "modern" young women all across the city. Edie and Gilbert's investigation—which sees the pair falling somewhat predictably in love—takes them to a gin palace, a boxing match, and the office of a fraudulent medium, among other locations, each of which Adams infuses with fascinating historical color. She never quite strikes the proper balance between grit and froth, however, seesawing between descriptions of violent slaughter and passages about Edie's wardrobe and her pug, Aphrodite. The result is an uneasy blend of dark thriller and silver-spoon cozy.
