This offbeat World War II era mystery was a pleasant surprise. It's not often you run across as original a narrative voice as Willowjean Parker, the chronicler of this tale.

Willowjean, who dresses in overalls and goes by Will, has had a checkered history. Her mom died young and she left home early to get away from an alcoholic father. She actually did run away with the circus, and picked up a host of unusual skills aided by her fierce intelligence, her don't tread on me attitude, and a surprisingly warm and loyal heart.

She meets her future employer, famed female detective Lillian Pentecost, while working as a rent a cop on a building site. And then the action begins. After a little incident, and one dead body, Lillian takes on Will as her assistant.

There is a little Sherlock and Watson, a little Nero and Archie, and a dash of noir, but this pair is ultimately not much like anyone else. Pentecost is formidable and scary smart. She also has multiple sclerosis and is clear-eyed about what her future holds. She needs someone to train for the day she can no longer carry on.

The mystery itself involves a family beset by drama: a father's suicide, followed by a mother's murder. There is a family business, a pair of grown children, their godfather, and a connection through their late mother to Ariel Belestrade, a medium and conduit to the spirit world. Not to mention a shadowy unknown figure dispensing justice outside the law.

Great characterizations, a nicely paced story, and some clever plotting made this quite an enjoyable read. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this title and am excited for the next book in the series already! The plot was straight forward and easy to follow, but still kept me guessing up until the very end. I loved Will and Lillian and found them to be likable, intelligent and well drawn characters that I would love to hang out with and have drinks. This book occurs right after World War 2 which is one my favorite time periods. I really appreciated how the author approached his queer characters and the struggles they encounter during this time. I can’t wait to spend more time with Pentecoast and Parker and their friends!

Introducing Pentecost and Parker – two formidable and charming lady detectives. Taking place in the 1940s, Willowjean Parker, a former circus employee, tells the story of one of their most interesting and tangled cases. At the same time she also explains how she came to work for Lillian Pentecost, an extraordinary woman who solves mysteries and also helps other women in need.

Oh my, how I did enjoy this book. It is a delight. Stephen Spotswood has created two memorable characters. They’re smart, they’re both a little flawed, and they are committed to each other. The supporting characters are also well-drawn and the mystery itself is interesting and well-done. All in all, Fortune Favors the Dead is a witty, clever, and entertaining book that I highly recommend. Meanwhile,I certainly hope Mr Spotswood has more books like this in his future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

In his first mystery novel, Spotswood imagines that two of New York’s finest private investigators in 1946 are Lillian Pentecost, a late middle-aged woman fighting against the encroaching enfeeblement of multiple sclerosis, and her investigator, young Willowjean Parker, aka Will. Will is a young woman who ran away from home at 15, joined the circus, and was eventually taken on by Pentecost as her protegé.

Pentecost is hired to investigate the murder of Abigail Collins, the widow of industrialist Al Collins, who committed suicide the previous year. The murder takes place in the Collins mansion during a Halloween party. Mrs. Collins has set up a fortune teller in the study to work the party, and late in the evening she is found there, bludgeoned with the crystal ball, in the locked study.

The size of the party gives Pentecost and Will a lot of suspects to examine. But in addition to the usual minutiae of following movements and alibis, they focus on motives and backgrounds. And boy, there sure is a lot to look at, including family and business secrets. Will’s job is complicated by her attraction to Mrs. Collins’s wild child of a daughter, Rebecca.

This is a sort of period hardboiled private detective story with a twist or two. One twist is that the PIs are women, another that Will is gay. Both Pentecost and Will are appealing characters, which helps paper over some of the weaknesses of the book, including the sketchy period details, a sprinkling of anachronisms, and too many mysteries crammed into one case.

Not a standout, but worth reading.

The word that comes to mind to describe Fortune Favors the Dead is delightful! I am a consummate consumer of all mysteries/suspense novels/thrillers, and this novel was such a wonderful change of pace because of its setting. It is, in fact, a mystery, and what makes it so special are the two heroines of the novel. I can only hope that this will be the first in an exciting new series.

The stars of the book are Lillian Pentecost, a female Sherlock Holmes who lives to get to the truth of a mystery and to help those in need, like poor and abused wives. She's obviously well off, of a certain age, and suffers with MS. At the beginning of the novel, which is set in NYC in 1942, Lillian meets a young woman named Willowjean Parker, aka Will. Will left an abusive home as a teenager and took up with a small traveling circus. She's mucked stalls, assisted the magician, learned to throw knives, and can even walk a tightrope. Lillian is taken with Will's ingenuity and quick thinking, and she asks her to join her private investigation practice as an apprentice, the Watson to Lillian's Holmes.

The story in Fortune Favors the Dead is being written by Will. It is a closed door mystery wherein a wealthy woman (Abigail Collins) has planned a seance conducted by one Ariel Belestrade as the highlight of her annual Halloween party. During the seance, Ms. Belestrade channels the late Mr. Collins, and after the seance, Abigail Collins is found bludgeoned to death by a crystal ball in her husband's locked office. Lillian Pentecost is subsequently hired by the Collins children and their godfather to solve this locked door mystery where the only suspect is the ghost of Abigail's deceased husband.

Lillian and Will are delightful characters, and the mystery is clever and fast-paced. The book is written in the fashion of a Raymond Chandler or Mickey Spillane with a sense of humor, but it never comes across as dated. I loved every word and can't wait for more.

My thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Fortune Favors the Dead will be published on October 27, 2020, right in time for Halloween!

Willowjean Parker is the right hand woman to Ms. Lillian Pentecost lady detective. Having run away to join a travelling circus Willowjean is a resourceful woman making her way in the world. They meet when Willowjean inadvertently helps Ms. Pentecost with a case she gets hired on as an assistant this is the start of a beautiful partnership. The Collins case is this tale a woman is bludgeoned to death in her home at a party. With a house full of guests and with many having a motive this is a case that challenges the detectives.
I just love the characters and the historical feel of the book. The setting, feel and characters all feel very much of the time that the book was set in. The mystery is intriguing and you never know quite what anyone's play is. You will be engaged to the final page of this book.

Fortune Favors the Dead is a mystery novel for those looking for a LGBT lead during a time when being gay was a literal crime during the 1940s. Set right before WWII, WillowJean Parker, aka Will, takes a position working for a well know female private detective, Lillian Pentacost, days after she commits a crime in front of Lillian. Will, the narrator, discusses a case that occurred a few years into her service for Lillian Pentacost. One, that changes the history of their working relationship and sets Will on a course of her own. The case is that of the Collins family, the suicide and subsequent murder of the well-off patriarch and matriarch mere months apart from each other. Fortune Favors the Dead has plot twists and turns throughout that leave you unsure of who did what all until the very end.

The premise of the book was interesting (especially as it is set in the 1940s)-it features an aging female detective and her scrappy ex-circus assistant. I really wanted to like this book. The locked door mystery was interesting, the snippets about the earlier lives of both women provided some amusement, but the end product didn't live up to my expectations. Parts of the story felt a bit overdone-too much, too soon. The account is written from the recollections of the assistant ("Will" Parker)-the Dr. Watson to Lillian Pentecost's Sherlock Holmes. All is solved in the end, but it felt like it took way too long to get there. The pairing of the women has possibilities, though...so I am kind of looking forward to a second installment.

post-WW2, private-investigators, murder-investigation, NYC, historical-fiction, historical-research, women-sleuths

WillowJean Parker has a lot of things in common with Archie Goodwin: swift critical thinking and a fun chameleonish personality, to start with. Having escaped from home she made the circus folk her family until they urged her to take the position offered her by the unimposing but famous lady detective in New York City who would use those practical talents and add even more to her repertoire. This case is a locked room mystery involving a wealthy family, a lot of secrets, and a woman who inveigled a place for herself in the family as a kind of medium. There are an abundance of interesting characters but few viable suspects except for the ghost (according to the medium). It takes a lot of due diligence, dancing around the law enforcement involvement, and discreet humor to solve the case with as few negative complications as possible.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Doubleday Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. Willajean (Will) Parker has been taken under the wing of famous woman detective, Lilian Pentecost. Pentecost needs a right-hand woman to help her with her cases, as her multiple sclerosis often keeps her from doing all she wants and needs to do.

The book begins with their meeting, when Will saves Lilian from a killer, and Lilian saves Will from being charged by the police. The two negotiate a partnership, and Lilian begins to teach Will and pay for her training to become a private detective. The story then jumps three years to share the case of Abigail Collins, who died in a locked room, the same room where her husband had died a year before.

I loved the fact that Will is a lesbian, and is comfortable in her skin, wearing suits or men's clothes as much as she can. The friendship between Will and Lilian is one I enjoyed reading - sometimes Will is like a daughter, worrying about Lilian, and other times they are equal colleagues, working together to solve the mystery. There is another same-sex relationship in the book, but sharing it would be a big spoiler!

However, the writing style of Spotswood wasn't my favorite. It could be that I don't love hard-boiled mysteries, and this is supposed to be an homage to that style of writing. The characters use slang and language that is typical of the 1940s, and sometimes that interrupted my reading rhythm. The story was good, but not great. At first, I wasn't enamored of the characters, but they grew on me. I would read another book about Will and Lilian, but wouldn't rush to read the next one or pre-order it.

What a fun mystery read into 1940s NYC. I love the strong female leads, and the well paced story. Definitely a great read.

A romp of a mystery set in 1940s New York. A female Holmes and Watson duo solving a very twisted and layered murder. Very cinematic with great writing and quirky characters.
Loved it. Hope it's the start of a new series.
Thanks Net Galley for the early read.

This book had fun characters and a good story. The time period was interesting and will appeal to a lot of readers. It's a good start for what will be a series, I am sure, of the adventures of these characters

I've already recommended this book to the Sam Spade lovers in my Bring Your Own Book Club. Will Parker hits all the right notes as not only a sassy sidekick, but a savvy detective in training.

Set in 1942 New York, Willowjean Parker found herself working security at a Manhattan building site. A former circus roadie and jack of all trades, she ends up saving the life of a woman by knifing a man. Cleared of the murder, Will finds herself in the employ the woman, Lillian Pentecost, whose life she saved. Ms. Pentecost is the top private investigator of her day and offered Will a job as an assistant. Ms. Pentecost is struggling with multiple sclerosis and some days are better than others. Jobs varied from the small to the large. They they were hired to find out who killed the widowed wife of an industrialist. The woman was found with a gashed skull, caused by a crystal ball used by the medium, Ariel Belestrade. From there, the plot thickens as the police and Ms. Pentecost strive to solve the murder.

Will's favorite books to read are detective stories and this story is written in that slangy, fast-moving style.

I enjoyed the protagonist's voice. A fast, gripping read. Unfortunately, it was marred by anachronisms (after a mention of ZIP codes 18 years too soon, I started questioning other details.). Lots of fun. Hoping for sequels!

You know an author has a talent for creating likable characters when, only three chapters in, you begin mentally writing future scenes involving those characters. While none of the scenes I composed while walking my dog came to pass, Mr. Spotswood’s future scenes more than compensated. Fortune Favors the Dead is an exciting, absorbing, and sparkling debut that, one very much hopes, is the foundation of a new series.

In addition to being filled with terrific characters, the novel has a solid mystery told at an unflagging pace, a sweet, daring-for-the-1940s romance, the requisite surprises and red herrings, and a tone that shifts easily and naturally between light and dark. It’s all set down by Will Parker, our indomitable narrator-heroine, in snappy, colorful, page-turning prose.

As is frequently the case, Conan Doyle’s template for private detective mystery novels is followed here. We have a Holmes, Watson, Lestrade, and even a potential Moriarty, though three of Spotswood’s four are females, and his Lestrade – Lieutenant Lazenby – is refreshingly far above the clueless inspector (and his kin in the genre) in competence. There’s even a version of the Baker Street Irregulars in the Saturday morning visitors Ms. Pentecost assists, and who in turn provide her with information relating to her cases. Interestingly, Ms. Pentecost* is a less clever Holmes (but who isn’t?), and her contributions to this murder mystery are generally secondary to those of Miss Parker, our Watson. But Parker (whose love of pulp detective fiction I identify with) is much more than just a narrator admiringly relating her employer’s feats – she is unmistakably the star of the show. Her immensely engaging personality, her resolve and resourcefulness, and her mistakes, drive the plot and keep our eyes glued to the pages.

I was initially drawn to Fortune Favors the Dead when I discovered that Stephen Spotswood is the husband of Jessica Spotswood, the author of the Cahill Witch Chronicles trilogy which I thoroughly enjoyed. Clearly, the Muses have favored the Spotswood household!

* I waited in vain for Lillian Pentecost to utter the phrase “the spirit moved me”.

Willowjean Parker begins working with Lillian Pentecost after helping her out of a jam. Will previously worked for the circus but Lillian sees promise in her and takes her on as an assistant. A definite pulp fiction, crime novel feel. I enjoyed the female protagonists and villains. Not many damsels in distress here! Feels like the beginning of a series and I would read more.
3.5

After the Collins family matriarch, Abigail, is bashed in the head to death by a crystal ball, her relatives ask Lillian Pendergast to investigate her murder. This is not the first death recently. Alistair Collins shot himself last year. Before her death, Abigail was seeing controversial psychic, Ariel Belstrade. Too add more problems to her plate, Abigail’s daughter, Rebecca begins hitting on WillowJean Parker, Lillian’s assistant and successor. Will Lillian be able to solve the case? Will she be hiring a new successor? Full of murder, intrigue, and mystery, readers will be drawn easily into the story. The characters are likable, intriguing, and engaging. Fans of mystery, adventure, and historical fiction will enjoy reading this book.
Please note: This was a complementary review copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No financial compensation was received.

It was 1942 and WillowJean Parker, on a break from her circus gig, was working security at a Manhattan building site.She ended up knifing a man who was preparing to shoot a woman. Once she was cleared of the murder, the woman, Lillian Pentecost, offered Will a job as her assistant. At the time, Ms.Pentecost was the top woman private investigator in NYC. She was also suffering from multiple sclerosis.
For next 3 years, Will proved indispensable to Ms. Pentecost. Then they were hired to find out who killed the recently widowed wife of a prominent industrialist. The industrialist had committed suicide weeks before.
Will and Ms. Pentecost spent weeks investigating before they finally solved the mystery.
This book was written in the style of the 1940s detective stories and told from the point of view of Will. It is full of slang and very fast moving. Lots of historical references as well.
This ARC was provided by Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.