Murder Knocks Twice by Susanna Calkins
To support herself and her father, Gina Ricci takes a job as a cigarette girl at one of Chicago's most notorious speakeasies. At first, the atmosphere enchants her: the glamorous socialites, the free-flowing liquor in the middle of Prohibition, the entertainers and famous people. But no one wants to talk about Dorrie, the previous cigarette girl, and Gina learns to her horror that Dorrie was murdered on a rapid transit train. Then a photographer who turns out to be Gina's cousin is murdered in the alley behind the speak, and Gina wonders who will be next.
Initially, everything about this book appealed to me: the Roaring 20's, Chicago, Prohibition, an elegant speakeasy, flappers and gangsters, glamorous costumes and jewelry. The author obviously did a lot of research into the Prohibition era and speakeasies, and the descriptive parts of the book are really interesting, although they grow repetitious after a while. I also liked the cover art. But the main character was so boring and immature that I gave up about half way through the book. Too many references to her mama and her papa (even though she's a grown woman), all the wide-eyed wonder (why is he doing that? what does that mean? do you know my papa? what should I do now?). There is also too much backstory about the main character: did we have to learn EVERYTHING about Gina in the first book of what's supposed to be a series??
Did not finish. Really disappointing.
No comments:
Post a Comment