Speakeasies, prohibition cocktails like the Bees Knees and the Corpse Reviver are all the rage now. Bars with hidden entrances and secret passwords sound like fun.
But in the 1920s, speakeasies were necessary but also dangerous at times. They were the bars the cops couldn’t find and patrons went to wet their whistle over a dark and stormy or a gin blossom while listening to music.
Prohibition era Chicago is the setting again for the second installment of Susanna Calkins Speakeasy Murder series.
The Fate of the Flapper, set in 1929, takes us back to the Chicago speakeasy, The Third Door, and our Gina Ricci.
Gina, still working as a cigarette girl at night, finds that her amateur sleuthing skills are needed again after two customers die after leaving The Third Door.
Their deaths will have Gina, along with her cousin policewoman Nancy Doyle, and her suitor Roark, investigating the suspicious double murders from the alcohol poisoning of a flapper and a businessman.
Author Susanna Calkins has Gina building quite the reputation as an amateur sleuth and this follow up book to Murder Knocks Twice is another great read. It is even better with a gin cocktail but maybe not from the same batch that poisoned the flapper and businessman.
Looking forward to the next installment from Susanna Calkins. Gina is definitely the bees knees of detectives.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. #NetGalley #TheFateoftheFlappet

Susanna Calkins sets her historical mystery in 1929 Chicago in a moonshine parlor The Third Door where Gina Ricci is a leading cigarette girl. . Fruma and another patron die of bad liquor. Gina's cousin is a policewoman with ambition who pursues the deaths. Bombings, lives destroyed, the stock market crash, gangs competing for turf all provide backdrop for the story. Gina keeps her independence through everything. Well told with feel for the atmosphere of Prohibition and gang turf wars.

Love reading books set in the twenties and that this was set in Chicago, the city of my youth was a bonus. So much happening here, during this time, all mentioned in the story. Al Capone and the St. Valentine massacre, prohibition and the speakeasies, protection rackets, anarchist bombings and of course the stock market crash.

The year is 1929 and Gina works at a speakeasy. When two recent customers are found dead, Gina and her cousin who is a police officer, become involved. This is a light, non graphic mystery, characters that are from all backgrounds, and framed within some wonderfully illustrated historical context. It is fast paced and the main characters are well drawn, the story one that draws the reader into this time and place. It was easy to feel that one was actually there, the atmosphere created so vividly.

The authors note denotes those characters and events that were actual real and took place. Chicago was a rip roaring, often dangerous town during this time and many people became involved in things that soon became deadly. Well done and interesting.

It’s 1929, and Gina Ricci has several jobs. She lives with and keeps house for her papa who has been ill, works several hours a day in the drugstore, and at the right time, slips downstairs to the Third Door, a speakeasy, changes clothes, and becomes the cigars, cigarettes, cigarillos girl. As if that’s not enough, she serves drinks, and when Neddy, the piano player is on break, works the record player while Lulu and Jade perform.

The stock market has been fluctuating but it always bounces back so no one is too worried. It’s the number of bombs going off throughout Chicago that causes concern, almost one hundred, in places as mild as ice cream parlors, although the parlors, like the drugstore, might be a front for another speakeasy.

Liquor is illegal, but the coppers are willing to look the other way for a price. It’s sad, though, to see boys as young as ten, in their raggedy clothes, selling newspapers for a penny. If you get close enough you can smell the booze on their breath and spot a cigar in their pocket.

Fruma and Adelaide have picked up George and Daniel. The foursome leaves, Fruma not looking so good. The next day, Gina gets a phone call from her cousin Nancy, a patrol officer for the Chicago Police Department. “Bring your camera and get a move on!”

Nancy’s got ambition and wants her own set of crime scene photos. To Gina’s dismay, the victim is Fruma, who it turns out, is Adelaide’s roommate. While it could be an accidental, if it turns out to be alcohol poisoning, the speakeasy will be in trouble. Nancy has printed her own business cards and added Gina’s phone number, making her an unofficial part of the investigation.

Mysterious strangers, rumors of mobsters, all those bombs, and more than one dead body keep the story moving along. Gina is a great character, practical, level-headed, while a bit headlong. Roarke is a possible love interest, but there’s a complication that seems insurmountable. The speakeasy gives a closeup look at how adaptable people were to make a living, all with the looming stock market crash in the background. Second in the series, it’s a great choice for a good mystery and enjoyable read.

Murder Knocks Twice is the first book.

Loved the era! Loved the mystery! Everything about this was phenomenal. I would love to see more of this series soon.

The Fate of a Flapper is the second book in The Speakeasy Murders series by Susanna Calkins. I haven't read the first book and I wasn't confused or lost at all. I plan to get the previous book, though, because this one was hugely entertaining. I'm a fairly new historical mystery fanatic. Most of the books I've read were set in the Victorian era, so the late 1920's Prohibition setting here was a fun change of pace.

Gina Ricci works as a cigarette girl at the Third Door, a popular moonshine parlor in 1929 Chicago. Even though it's Prohibition, the club never lacks for huge crowds. One evening Gina sees two women drinking like there's no tomorrow, spending time with two men in the financial industry. The next day Gina's policewoman cousin Nancy calls her to take some photographs of a crime scene...and the deceased is one of the women from the night before! Soon there is another death of a Third Door customer. Could it be a bad batch of liquor? Or is it murder? Gina is intent on finding out!

This was a fun mystery with lots of great characters, including 1929 Chicago. We have Cubs baseball on the radio, Prohibition, a tottering stock market, gangs, protection rackets, bombings, music and WWI veterans. It's the perfect setting for a mystery. Gina is a great character, a young woman trying to make her way in the world while taking care of her ailing Papa. Besides working in the speakeasy, she fixes appliances and the like in her spare time. Then there's Gina's not-quite available beau Roark who helps her try to figure out the mystery. Cousin Nancy is trying to move up in the police department, desperately attempting to solve a murder to help her break through the glass ceiling. Other great supporting characters include the Signora (who is the proprietor of the Third Door), the mysterious and menacing Morrish, Nancy's creepy parents, Gooch, young Jakob, Stella and so many more. I can't wait to revisit Gina and the Third Door; there are so many stories begging to be told!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

The Fate Of A Flapper is the second book in The Speakeasy Mystery series.

This book takes place in 1929 and is set in Chicago, Illinois. The country is dealing with Prohibition and speakeasy’s are popular for those that would like an alcoholic drink and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the Great Stock Crash are just around the corner.

Gina Ricci is a cigarette girl/waitress at the speakeasy, The Third Door. They are usually very busy and quite often have to turn patrons away. One evening the customers are packed in and Gina is very busy keeping up with the customer’s request for drinks and smokes. One gentleman has had far too much and has been ordered out of the establishment. Gina is also kept busy by another table that is occupied by two couples who have had a lot to drink and finally leave.

The next morning Gina gets a call from her cousin, Nancy Doyle, a police officer, asking that she bring her camera to an apartment where Nancy is investigating the death of a young girl. Gina has been able to prove her photographic skills since another cousin left his photographic equipment when he passed. Nancy is hoping that she can get a promotion if she can solve the case.

Gina is shocked when she arrives at the apartment and finds that the female is one of those from the previous evening at the speakeasy. It is thought that her death is from a drug overdose but when the body of one of the men is also found dead, they become suspicious that some “bad hooch” might have been delivered to the speakeasy. Gina wanting to help her cousin solve the murder and find out if bad gin was the reason for the death before The Third Door business becomes ruined.

This book is well-written and the time-period is well done. The characters are well-developed, interesting, and believable.

I will be watching for the next book in this exciting series.

Chicago Speakeasy 1929 Cozy Mystery
This is a wonderful piece of history as fictionalized in this cozy mystery. Chicago in 1929 had both the St. Valentine's Day massacre and the Great Stock Market Crash that ended the roaring twenties and opened the door to the Great Depression. It was a world of haves and have-nots with no social safety net. Besides being a great look at life in the 1920s, it has a wonderful cozy mystery that twists and turns like crazy. The final denouement was quite a surprise, but all of the loose ends were tied up by the end of the book. I have read both of the books in this series and can't wait for the next one. The books can be read in any order but would be best enjoyed if read in order. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Love love love this series. Another enjoyable edition to the series. The descriptions of the time period are so vivid that I feel like I'm living in the age of prohibition! The mystery was intriguing, and I was desperate to figure out the killer by the end. I can't wait to keep reading.

This is a fun mystery set in the late 1920s Chicago in the Prohibition at a speakeasy. I liked the 1920s time period setting and Chicago is where I grew up, so it was fun to read about it during that time period. I liked that Gina and her cousin Nancy were such strong characters in the book, dealing with trying to make it at a time when women didn't have too many rights. The Third Door Speakeasy where Gina works is packed, the stock market is up and the Cubs might make it to the World Series, when a handful of drunk patrons leave the bar, and not all of them make it home. Were they serves bad liquor? Or is there more? If you enjoy Agatha Christie or cozy mysteries, this should do the trick. I read it in one sitting and can't wait to read more from this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for the ARC.

The Fate of a Flapper is the second in a series of mysteries set in 1929 Chicago, during the age of prohibition, gangs, violence, and unrest. Gina Ricci is a young woman working as a waitress and cigarette girl, to try to support herself and her ailing father, at the not so secret speakeasy, The Third Door. Danger is lurking around every corner and a series of deadly bombings over the last weeks has Gina on edge. When Gina is approached by her cousin Nancy, an ambitious member of the police force, with a request to assist in photographing a crime scene, Gina has no idea what she's in for. Two customers with ties to The Third Door, have been killed, and even worse, Gina recognizes on of the victims. Could it be a simple case of tainted alcohol, or is there something more sinister at work? When a third patron when ties to the speakeasy falls gravely ill, Gina jumps into action, hoping to forestall any other tragic outcomes.
Susanna Calkins provides another fascinating glimpse into prohibition era Chicago, with many references and to real events prominent during the time, such as the Saint Valentine's Day massacre, and the upcoming crash of the stock market. The research is evident in the meticulously crafted atmosphere. Readers are thrust into the seedy underworld of 1920's Chicago, from the smoke laden speakeasies, to the fashion and dialogue true to the time period. The mystery was complex and intriguing, with plenty of drama behind the scenes, including the reappearance of a complicated love interest and the introduction of a new, potentially dangerous suitor as well. I highly recommend this book, as well as the first in the series, for those looking for a intriguing, historical mystery to get lost in.

It's 1929 Chicago on the eve of the Stock Market crash, the Cubs lost the World Series and illegal booze is flowing in the speakeasies. After a couple of the Third Door patrons die from seemingly bad alcohol, cigarette girl Gina Ricci, her cousin Nancy Doyle...a police woman...along with Roark work to learn how they were poisoned. This is a good mystery, with just a touch of romance. But when you read it take the time to immerse yourself in Gina's world! Susanna Calkins brings it alive with a colorful and diverse cast of characters that jump off the page. Along with the high flyers and excesses of the times we also get a look at poverty and desperation. I was surprised by the ending...I hadn't guessed who the killer was at all!
I also really enjoyed Murder Knocks Twice, the first book in the series. When I read these I feel like I'm in the middle of an old black and white Hollywood talkie. I heartily recommend this book!
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This historical mystery is set in 1929. It is Prohibition era Chicago and main character Gina Ricci works as a Cigarette Girl at a speakeasy. Early one morning her cousin, Nancy Doyle (police officer), calls her to come photograph a crime scene before the other police arrive. Nancy wants a chance for promotion, while Gina wonders if customers at The Third Door are being poisoned by a bad batch.

The setting and time period are richly described and the characters are interesting. I enjoyed being along for the ride as Gina tries to discover what is going on.

I am looking forward to the next installment in this series!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me a copy for review.

Prohibition era Chicago is the setting for this second in the series that started with Murder Knocks Twice. Cigarette girl and amateur investigator Gina Ricci is back, along with her boss, crime lord Signora Castallazzo, policewoman Nancy Doyle, and Gina’s more-than-friend Roark. Gina’s world is peopled by criminals, and the not-uncommon shootings and gang fights of Chicago are nothing new. But when Gina gets involved in investigating the death of good time girl Fruma, its clear that this crime has even deeper roots, possibly in the financial world.

The series is colorful and entertaining. I look forward to seeing what Gina will do next!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Historical mysteries are a favorite of mine and this series set in 1929 Chicago is a winner. Gina is a cigarette girl working in a speakeasy called the Third Door. It's located in the basement of a local drug store and the hooch is smuggled in by way of false bottoms in crates containing lotions, potions and such destined for the drug store shelves. Right under the noses of the Drys, the local nickname for the Feds who are tasked with enforcing the laws of Prohibition. Gina's boss, the Signora, is a force to be reckoned with but so is Gina. She is the major breadwinner for herself and her ailing father and she has learned how to stay on The Signora's good side. Not an easy thing considering she owns a large chunk of the neighborhood.
In the first book of the series, Murder Knocks Twice, Gina's cousin leaves her his photographic equipment and she has mastered photography well enough that she is asked by her cousin Nancy, a police woman who wants to rise in the ranks, to come to a crime scene and take pictures so she can do her own investigating. Gina is surprised when she sees the victim - a young woman she had served the night before at the Third Door. Soon another death occurs and Gina joins in the investigation. These are dangerous times in Chicago and some of the dangers might just focus on Gina.
The mystery is well plotted and satisfying but the real pleasure reading this mystery is the way it lets the reader become immersed in the time period. The sights, sounds, language, the historical events all lead the reader into Gina's world and I can't wait to read more.
My thanks to the publisher St. Martin's Griffin and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Gina's working in a speakeasy in order to help her sick father- and in 1929 Chicago, that's a lot to deal with. Not only does she have to stay on the right side of the Signora, she has to keep an eye out to make sure they aren't being raided. All's pretty much ok until one morning her cousin Nancy, a police officer, asks her to help photograph a crime scene- two women are dead. Two women who Gina saw drink a lot of drinks with a group of men the night before! Nancy, Gina, and Officer Roark investigate and find, of course, there's more than just bad booze out there. I had not read the first book so this was a standalone for me- and it was fine that way. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. It's an atmospheric and fun read that highlights Chicago during the late 20s.

Nineteen twenty-nine is a turbulent, troubled time in Chicago. The volatile stock market is showing signs of overheating. For nine months, Gina Ricci, the heroine of Murder Knocks Twice, has been a cigarette girl at Chicago’s premiere speakeasy. During the day she works at Mr. Rosenstein’s pharmacy while also lending at hand at her father’s in-house appliance repair business. Surviving without a safety net requires a “Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without!” mentality. Gina protects the pride of her disabled dad by fixing broken appliances surreptitiously, when necessary. Lastly, Gina has capitalized on her cousin Marty’s bequest of his photography equipment and studio, improving so much that she dreams of The Signora hiring her to be the Third Door’s photographer.

See Also: Excerpt of The Fate of a Flapper
Her personal life is complicated. She’s not interested in the overly handsy patrons who frequent the Third Door. She has her eye on Roark, a former policeman, but a ruin of a man when they first met. Roark’s life improved “since he’d been hired to take crime scene photographs for the nation’s first forensic lab.”

He’d never talked much about his time either on the force or when he was a lieutenant in the Great War, but both experiences had left him scarred and wounded in different ways. When she’d met him, he’d been using a cane to walk, but as he had healed, his vibrancy had returned.

Gina’s cousin Nancy Doyle, a policewoman, asks her to rush over to take photographs of a dead girl. Nancy tells Gina that she doesn’t want to be cut out of the investigation and that the photographs might give her a leg up. Affirmative action was not a thing in the Roaring Twenties. Gina recognizes Fruma, the dead girl. She and her friend Adelaide had been drinking heavily the night before at the Third Door.

Adelaide had begun to cry again. “Oh, I should never have gone to bed. What kind of again. “Oh, I should never have gone to bed. What kind of friend am I? She was suffering. I just know it. Maybe she want to do away with herself. Took an overdose?”



“Suicide?” Nancy asked, considering the body, peering down at the substance on the woman’s lips and nose. “Hmmm … Could that powder be cocaine, not a sleeping potion? Or heroin maybe?”

Since Gina was gifted her camera, she’s become an accomplished photographer but unlike Roark, she’s an amateur. He has questions.

“You saw me on the street, taking a walk near where my cousin Nancy Doyle lives.”



“You were visiting her?” When Gina didn’t reply, Roark continued. “Look. I know you were at Fruma Landry’s apartment. Don’t bother denying it. What I don’t know is what you were doing there.”



Gina folded, giving up the pretense. It seemed pointless to lie, particularly since he’d probably find out the truth sooner or later anyway. “Nancy called me around eight a.m. Asked me to bring my camera. She asked me to photograph the scene.”



“What?” he exclaimed. “Why you?”



The question stung. “Why not? I’m plenty good enough.”



“Settle down, bearcat. You are plenty good enough.” Without asking, he began to study some of the recent photographs that she’d left spread across the table. “You definitely getting very comfortable with the camera.” He smiled at her then, with the funny twisted smile that made her heart lurch. Then his jaw clenched. “Tell me why Officer Doyle asked you to photograph the scene. Be straight with me.”



Gina sighed. “She wanted her own set of photographs.”



He looked exasperated. “In heaven’s name, why?”



“Nancy just wanted in on the investigation. The men on the force keep her off the good cases.”

Roark shrugs, more perturbed at a civilian on the scene of a possible criminal investigation than at Nancy’s slights from her fellow cops. But Gina understands Nancy’s wish to be on the team.

Back to Fruma’s inexplicable death, might she have drunk bad liquor? Tainted alcohol was a problem.

Certainly there were stories in the news, practically every day, about people dying from alcohol poisoning. People would take all sorts of stuff to get squiffy. Wood alcohol, grain alcohol.

Prohibition didn’t stop people out for a good time from frequenting the vibrant underground speakeasy scene while other people drank to drown their sorrows. Take Stan Galinsky, the father of a newspaper lad Gina knows, who’s “still yukking it up with his pals.” Stan’s drinks take food out of his family’s mouth. “All of them drinking away their weekly paychecks.” Gina confronts Stan but he has a few home truths of his own.

A flicker of shame danced in his eyes before he turned away. “Lemme alone,” he slurred. “Or I’ll tell the Signora you’re trying to drive away her customers. She wouldn’t like that, would she?”



That’s true, Gina silently agreed, taking a step back. What would the Signora do if she warned off a paying customer?

Gina is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. She knows how much folks are suffering, and she has a moral compass that she can’t ignore. She notices the interaction between the police and the speakeasy employees, an uneasy détente at best. Does it seem as if there’s too much on Gina’s plate? Not really because she focuses on what’s truly important: her family, her friends, and her community. If a woman died, if other patrons got seriously ill, after drinking cocktails at the Third Door, Gina will get to the bottom of it.

For light relief, the book takes place during the 1929 World Series when the Philadelphia Athletics faced Chicago’s Cubbies. When it comes to baseball, hope always springs eternal. Readers will be very interested in Gina’s fate after the stock market crash of 1929—roll on Speakeasy Murder number three!

NIcely done and evocative historical mystery. Likable protagonist and an interesting mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

This was a fun historical mystery in a unique setting, a Chicago speakeasy during the late 1920’s. I really enjoyed reading the story of Gina and her cousin Nancy. They are both strong women trying to make their way in the seedier side of Chicago. The mystery part of the book kept me guessing and I didn’t figure out the murderer until the very end.

I really liked the glimpses into 1929 Chicago during prohibition and just before the stock market crash. I also appreciate that the author provided some of her factual research and historical backstory in her Author’s Note at the end of the book.

This is the second in a series and I hadn’t read the first book, Murder Knocks Twice, but I didn’t feel lost at all. This could easily have been a stand-alone because I didn’t feel like I missed anything by not having read the first book. However, I loved this book and the characters so much, I am going to go back and read the first in the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fun and entertaining read. I recommend this book to all historical/cozy mystery lovers. 4/5

Calkins does a wonderful job balancing the tropes of the Prohibition era — the flappers, the moonshiners, and the stock market gamblers — with enough depth to make the characters truly interesting. Fans of Rhys Bowen’s Molly Murphy or Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher will enjoy Susanna Calkins’s Gina Ricci.