An entertaining historical mystery romp. Bilyeau has a good eye for detail and is able to capture the specific atmosphere of early 20th century New York. The plot is paced fairly well and keeps you on your toes. The only gripe I have is the prose is a bit inelegant.

I was intrigued by the cover design and the title of the book.

This was an interesting read. I thought the writing style was quite dark but elegant, and I was interested in the characters, as I thought some of them seemed enigmatic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

This book is, I think, loosely based on fact. How much, I’m not exactly sure. You don’t learn this until late on in the novel and I’m not going to explain why. If you know more than I do about 1920s New York, it might be obvious to you, but the anti-immigrant and prejudice shown to Italians and others is a little harrowing to read.
How much this played into the events is anyone’s guess, but I believe it was substantially. People do things at a survival level sometimes…….
The story is told in flashbacks from 1963 to 1923 and is shown from a variety of perspectives. That of widowed Zia de Luca, her cousin Salvatore, a police officer and organised criminals. All in all, this was totally fascinating and even though it was slower paced than I typically like, the detail was riveting enough to keep me hooked.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, this has been one of my favourite reads in quite a while.

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Nancy Bilyeau – her Joanna Stafford Tudor Trilogy, her two Genevieve Planché thrillers set in the world of 18th century art, and Dreamland, her novel about a Coney Island theme park – so I couldn’t wait to start reading her new book, The Orchid Hour. The setting sounded intriguing: New York’s Little Italy during the 1920s, the era of prohibition, so I was anticipating another good read.

The novel opens in 1923 and introduces us to Audenzia de Luca, known as Zia, a young Sicilian woman whose husband was killed in the Great War. Zia is trying to build a new life for herself and her son and has started working at the Seward Park branch of the New York Public Library while also helping out in her in-laws’ cheese shop in Little Italy. At work one day, she is approached by a regular visitor to the library who asks if she could translate an Italian text into English for him. Zia agrees, but before she can begin the task, the man is found shot dead outside the library.

When a second murder follows the first, a sequence of events is set in motion that leads Zia to the doors of The Orchid Hour, an elegant nightclub that also operates as a speakeasy, selling illicit alcohol in defiance of prohibition. With the police investigation into the murders going nowhere, Zia decides to do whatever she can to uncover the truth. She believes The Orchid Hour holds the key to the mystery but when she discovers that her cousin Salvatore, to whom she is very close, is mixed up with the criminal underworld, she must find a way to bring the killer – or killers – to justice without endangering her own loved ones.

This is not my favourite of Nancy Bilyeau’s books, but with such a range of plots and settings, it’s inevitable that I’ll like some of them more than others and this was still a very enjoyable novel. It was interesting to read about Zia and her family and I found that I was learning a lot about the lives of Italian immigrants in 1920s New York, the way they were treated and the type of jobs open to them, as well as the constant threat of the Society of the Black Hand, who extorted protection money from their fellow Italians. The novel also explores other issues, such as attitudes towards prohibition and why the police would sometimes turn a blind eye, and the best conditions for growing delicate orchids. Bilyeau’s Author’s Note at the end of the book describes some of her research and sources and tells us which of the characters were fictional and which were based on real people.

I found the mystery element of the book slightly less successful, particularly as several chapters are written from the perspective of one of the gangsters, so we knew who was involved in at least one of the murders right from the beginning. Still, I enjoyed this book for the historical detail and because it immersed me in a world I previously knew very little about.

New York during the very tumultuous Prohibition Era with its mobsters, flappers, bootleggers and political corruption,The orchid hour is a delicious slice of the Big Apple during the Roaring Twenties.

The adventures and misadventures of Zia DeLuca, an young Italian American war widow caught within a large spiderweb of deceit, lies, corruption, racial discriminations and murder.

A captivating noir full of unexpected twists and turns and blessed with a terrific cast of exquisitely drawn characters that offers the reader a magnificent fictional tapestry of the Great Metropolis that never sleeps!

A hugely entertaining and superbly choreographed whodunit that really deserves to be discovered and enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Lume Books and Netgalley for this fabulous ARC!

I had a hard time getting into this one, unfortunately. I really was into the history aspect of this book, but had a hard time with the overall plot in characters. Sadly, I was a little disappointed.

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau is a novel that takes place in NYC during the Jazz Age when Prohibition and Speakeasies were a thing. The main character is Zia De Luca, who immigrated from Sicily as a child along with her family. Her character is fictional, but in this book she is related to a family that was real, the Lucanias. And Lucky Luciano (his real name was Salvatore Lucania) is her cousin. During this time, 1920s New York City, the Sicilian community was pretty complicated. This novel captures those complexities. During this period, details of things like the bootleg trade, the narcotics, the gang rivalries between the Italians, the Jews, and the Irish, the speakeasies, and the costumes. I enjoyed the mixture of history, fact and fiction. Speakeasies were set up all over the city under the noses of the police who all appear to be in the pay of the gangsters. So crazy! This was a fun book to read.
Thank you to the publisher, Lume Books and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the history in this book more than the characters. It took awhile to follow where the story was going. I did enjoy Zia’s strength and it had a satisfying ending. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the early read in exchanged for my honest opinion.

What a book! This was emotionally satisfying and yet and wanted so much more! There’s a murderer loose and a new nightclub with many people imbibing nightly. But you must know how to enter this club, it’s not for everyone’s eyes. When more death comes Zia releases she may be caught between connecting murders. Good classic mystery that will keep you on your toes!

I just reviewed The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau. #TheOrchidHour #NetGalley

BRILLIANT! Absolutely Brilliant!

Couldn’t put this down which is why I’m doing this review at 1:35am!

There is NOTHING I don’t love about this book. The beautiful cover, the plot, the narrative…..the book hits the ground running and it doesn’t release its grip on the reader until the final word!

For me, this was the best book I’ve read in a long time and a completely new genre to what I would usually read but the author pulled it off with aplomb!

I enjoyed this novel of historical fiction. I loved Zia's strength and determination to fight for what was right, especially in such a dangerous and tumultuous time. I was shocked at the end to find out who her cousin really was in history - I'm not well versed so this was a surprise to me but may be obvious to others!

I did find it a bit slow and a little dry, but overall I enjoyed this novel.

The premise of this book was promising: New York in the 1920s, prohibition, underworld characters, a nightclub with an exclusive style. And the main character Zia, a widowed Sicilian woman who wants to solve a murder. Unfortunately the pacing wasn't balanced and events were very rushed at the end. The story has a lot of potential, but I would have loved some more details towards the end.

Still a great read for people who like the 1920s era, crime novels and movies about Al Capone,

I sped through this!! Having grown up in New York, this book transported me right back to the city streets I know (and miss!) so well - talk about a serious dose of nostalgia! Loved the heavy dose of Italian food, the detailed descriptions of orchids, and the abundance of real-life characters. It was such fun looking these characters up afterwards and learning more about their lives, and even seeing what they looked like!

I adored Zia, too. What a stellar main character. And good ole Frank, he felt very much the prototype, right down to his speech and mannerisms. There's definitely something magical about The Orchid Hour. I'll definitely recommend this to friends of mine who love New York and love historical fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Lume Books for allowing me an opportunity to read this book.

received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley. But all the opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable book to read. I enjoyed the 1920s, New York setting. It felt like a cross between The Great Gatsby and Agatha Christie. There were many times I couldn't put it down and the suspense was too much! It does have a little dark academia vibe with the libraries. I feel like this book is better going with little to no understanding of the synopsis.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book!

Firstly, I'd like to mention how easy and nice it was to read. I like the main character Zia and the focus of this book. I wasn't really aware Italians were outcasts in New York back then? So this isn't solemnly only a fiction book, there is some truth to it as well. The beginning was very long and hard to get through and in my opinion this book didn't give me the wow effect and I didn't feel like there was a point to it all? It felt more like a diary describing daily life. This definitely is a fast and easy read, the ending a bit rushed.

The Orchid Hour is an absolutely wonderful story! You will follow Zia after she has lost her husband in war and is living with her in-laws. Zia goes through the heartache of losing two other people and goes "undercover" herself to try to solve the crimes. In the end she discovers herself and chooses to live her life apart from her in-laws so she can move on.

It felt like a lot of build up to get us yo the orchid hour, setting the scene giving back stories, all the details of why and what.
I'm not complaining, I breezed through this book. It was an easy read , the words flowed right off the pages.
An interesting slice of American history, and how the Italian were treated when they immigrated.
The family dynamics in the Italian family were also interesting to me.
Seems like I'm saying I found the book interesting.

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau is an immersion into the exotic world of New York in the days of prohibition, speakeasies, crime gangs, flappers and brutal shootings in the street.

It’s a dense plot, with so many characters (some fictional and some real) that keeping track of them all is at times difficult. This isn’t helped by having many similar sounding character names, e.g. De Luca, Luciano, Louis, Lucania and so on. The first half of the story is somewhat meandering and could have been condensed. However by the time Zia, the main protagonist begins infiltrating the seedy goings on in the Orchid Room, the pace picks up.
I found the digressions into other points of view, e.g. Frank the cop and Louis the hit man weakened the story, particularly as neither of them were compelling characters.

But overall an entertaining read and a fascinating glimpse into old New York. And I should mention, the cover design is stunning!

Thanks to Lume Books and NetGalley for an advance review copy of the book.

As a big fan of historical fiction, I was exited for this one. Admittedly, I know very little about the Italian-American immigrant experience. I enjoyed this novel for both its historical aspects and the characters. I found myself rooting for all of the characters.

The Orchid Hour jumped right into the plot, which I appreciated. The frame story felt unnecessary; I wish there was more commentary from present-day Zia. The unraveling of the story sucked me in. I didn't really see the ending coming. But the ending did seem a bit abrupt and left me wanting more explanation.

I was so excited about this story. Being Italian and Sicilian I was very interested in the description of this historical fiction novel. However, I ended up being let down by the story as a whole. I enjoyed the historical aspects of the story line. I was drawn into the setting and atmosphere that the author created with her words but that’s where my enjoyment ended. I felt that I couldn’t get a deep enough connection with the characters and instead of wanting to keep reading I had to convince myself to just get through a chapter before calling it quits for the evening. I felt that the first 3/4 of the story dragged on leaving the remaining 1/4 feeling rushed to be completed. I would have like the storyline to flow better instead of dragging so that the ending could have been given the time and detail it deserved. There were also multiple typos/grammatically improper phrases in the text which is a big pet peeve of mine when reading a book. Overall,I thought this novel was a great idea with a ton of potential but it just fell flat.