Claire M. Johnson’s "Fog City" is a murder mystery with an extraordinary female protagonist, Maggie, that fully deserves a five-star rating. Set in the captivating backdrop of 1930s San Francisco and deep in the Prohibition era, the novel drew me in from the very first page and held my attention throughout. Johnson's vivid descriptions effortlessly transported me to the misty and fog-filled streets and the underground speakeasies of the city, making me feel like I was a part of the story.

The characters in "Fog City" are beautifully fleshed out and incredibly relatable, each with their own intriguing backstory and personal growth throughout the narrative. Their complex relationships and interactions kept me engrossed, and I found myself emotionally invested in Maggie’s journey from wanting to be more than just a secretary of a detective agency. She wants to run the agency as a detective.

Johnson's storytelling prowess is evident in the seamless blend of mystery, romance, and suspense, which kept me eagerly turning the pages, desperate to unravel the mysteries hidden within the fog. Moreover, the pacing of the book is impeccable, never leaving a dull moment, and the plot twists are expertly executed, keeping me on the edge of my seat until the very end. And I must say, I loved the ending!

Thank you #NetGalley, #ClaireMJohnson, and #LevelBestBooks for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It wasn't easy to get through, it was getting confusing at times but I enjoyed the plot. I enjoyed Maggie's character and the way she was portrayed in the book. She took on Nick's tasks with gusto and cracked the case.
Thank you for allowing me to read and review this ARC.

Mystery, murder and San Francisco is a cool formula for some fun noir! I really liked this classic style of noir mystery and especially liked that the protagonist was a young woman in the city in the late 1930s who is realizing that the traditional housewife scenario is no match to her natural skills as a private investigator. Maggie Laurent is the reluctant secretary of one of San Francisco's most respected and loathed private dick Nick Moore, of the Moore Detective Agency. When Nick goes on a wildly long booze bender, Maggie decides to try to save the Agency and Nick's reputation, by taking the lead in a seemingly easy missing persons case. She also hopes if she can solve it, Nick will give her a promotion from secretary to detective at the agency. What she didn't anticipate was the body count adding up around her and the double, triple, quadroople crosses she will need to navigate to safe herself, Nick, and her family. This is a page-turner and easy read for any mystery lovers.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.
I love well done historical books where you can feel yourself in the time period, and Fog City delivers on that.
Maggie is a secretary to an ex-Pinkerton, who's a private detective now, and she has to step up to save her job when his alcoholism gets out of control (it would be nice to have a bit more back story on Nick - he's pivotal to the story but kind of a non-character).
San Francisco - 1931ish - a society lady hires the agency to find her son, but it's not quite as simple as it seems. It's easy to visualize the plot playing out as a 30s noir film: there's the secret source, the untrustworthy boyfriend, the cheating black widow, crooked cops and politicians and Prohibition. There are 3 mysterious deaths and an attempted murder - are they connected?
Maggie has the help of her family (a bit grudging) and an old army buddy of Nick's - who's been sent off to dry out. There's lots of detail about daily life that keeps us anchored to Prohibition era California.
I found the ending maybe a bit too neat, but overall it was a fun read, and I hope to see Maggie in another instalment soon.
4 out of 5, recommend to fans of noir mysteries/female leads.

To begin with I loved this book; It drew my in right from the get go! With its snappy and witty dialog and the plot itself I knew I found a book I would enjoy. Maggie Laurent is a secretary at a detective agency whose boss Nick Moore is currently a bit under the weather (with an endless hangover). When a wealthy socialite, the wife of one of San Francisco's elite banker comes into the office, it is Maggie who takes on the case. What starts out as a "please find my stepson" and turns in to murder, Maggie is on the trail. Yes, we are in San Francisco during Prohibition with a wide cast of characters and several who could be the murderer. It seems as if everyone is "on the take"...the mayor, the police chief, et al. Will Maggie solve the murder, or will she be one of the victims? There are speakeasies, the booze is flowing, there are those with money living in wealthy and elite mansions. There is a good deal of fog that settles in the area practically everyday! A most enjoyable novel. As this is the first book in the series, I look forward to what is next. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

The author has created a great character the reader will want to spend more time with in San Francisco 1930 era. Maggie is brave, likable and vulnerable enough to get herself in some challenging circumstances where the going is rough. Speakeasies, fires and rum characters can't stop her determination in succeeding as a PI. Not even her disapproving mother can stop the "Maggie will" to succeed. This is a very enjoyable book.

While a 1930s San Francisco detective is drowning in cheap alcohol, despite prohibition, his secretary, Maggie Laurent, sets out to cover for her boss and help their newest client. The wife of a banker asks the agency to find her wayward stepson and Maggie sets out to do so, though she is sure her client is not completely telling the truth. The case takes her into some dangerous places, including a speakeasy that she learns is owned by the stepson. Unraveling the mystery puts Maggie in the path of danger, including arson and murder.

As the title implies, this story has a cynical slant to it, which is reasonable considering the historical time period in which it is set. Even though this is not my preferred type of mystery to read, it is well done, and I enjoyed trying to figure out the motives of all the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Atmospheric, gritty, smokey and whiskey soaked this novel has all the best elements of noir. Set in 1930s you can smell and feel the city pulling you into a tale of murder and deceit.

I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery/thriller which takes place in 1930’s San Francisco. The description of the city, as well as society during that time was easy to visualize, especially with words such as “dame” and “skullduggery” used. You could picture yourself in the rolling fog. The main character, Maggie, is a secretary at the popular Moore Detective Agency and she decides to take on a case in order to help keep the agency afloat while her boss is sleeping off a bender, or two. I loved Maggie’s sass, her knowledge that she is smart and can figure things out on her own.

Fog City by Claire M Johnson takes you back to the 1930's, It reminds you of all the great detectives like Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe but with the female secretary taking over as the private eye. Maggie Laurent has the smarts, the looks, and the sass to take on her first case. She uses her spunky personality and Irish persistence to overcome the obstacles in her way as she investigates the murder of a prominent banker. Maggie finds her self digging deeper into not only the truth but into danger for herself and the ones she cares about.
Fog City takes place in gritty San Francisco during Prohibition. Here the criminals and police are both a little dirty. High society life style and bootlegging make for a volatile mix.
If you are a fan of The Maltese Falcon or Chinatown or The Big Sleep, this book will surely win you over. Maggie's plucky spirit and friendly, yet efficient demeanor makes for a perfect character. I would love to read more stories about Maggie.
Thanks to NetGalley, Level Best Books, and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for the advanced copy. The opinions are my own.

**Disclaimer: Thanks to NetGalley for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.**

Maggie Laurent is a young woman of her class and generation--and in 1930s San Francisco this meant as a good Catholic girl she was supposed to marry young, settle down in the neighborhood where she was born and raised, and start having children. Working as a receptionist in a detective agency was only a phase she needed to get out of her system--or so her family thought.

When Maggie's boss falls into the bottom of a bottle after a shattering case, Maggie does her best to hide the fact San Francisco's best detective has gone AWOL. What follows next is Remington Steele meets The Maltese Falcon, if that fictional detective agency was set in the moody, atmospheric, and dangerous San Francisco of the 1930s. This isn't your usual flash glam historical mystery--the grit, grime, and blood are real. This is noir at its best. Maybe even better because Maggie walks the fine line between her faith, family, and doing what she knows is right for her. A bang up debut to a stellar noir series. I can't wait for more Maggie stories.

What an enjoyable read this is! Johnson has created a historical world that you sink into without any feeling of falsity or contrivance. There’s no nod-wink, let-me-slip-in-a-bit-of Bertie-Wooster-slang to give you a flavour of times and place. Instead, this San Francisco is marvellously real, all cold summers and foggy mornings, dark and dangerous docks and upper crust yacht harbours, speakeasys and high dining, peopled by characters who feel rounded, real and three-dimensional. The sort of people you might run into any day of the week.

And to tell her story, Johnson’s created a narrator in Maggie Laurent who not only fits right in until she’s wearing the city like a second skin, but whose crystal-clear voice never wavers, never hesitates, always shows the character behind the narration: a funny, tough, street-smart and yet oddly vulnerable young woman determined to make her way in what, back in the late 1920s, was definitely a man’s world. Especially when that world is that of the private investigator, all dark alleys and guns and goons.

Gloomy, foggy San Francisco may be the real main character of the book, tbh, but Maggie is a wonderful narrator of life in a city with such a foetid underbelly of crime and corruption. Maggie is one of those wonderful tellers of stories who has a sparse style where not one word is wasted and which reflects the clarity with which she views her world; a cynicism and honesty that seems often at war with the Catholic faith she’s followed all her life; and an essential innocence that is never untouched by the evil she sees, but which is able to rise above murder and theft, arson and drug-dealing, leaving her bruised but uncorrupted. We see all the things she does—poverty, crime, corruption, dirty cops and dirtier politics—painted for us in clever, unvarnished, unflowery prose.

Really this is noir detection at its best—a tight plot that’s unflinching about the dirt and darkness, but ending on a note of hope, in a city of characters who run the gamut from grotesque to inspiring. And through it all, Maggie Laurent slogs on, determined to solve the mystery and murder, and determined not to let herself feel even slightly less-than compared to the cops, Pinkertons and private eyes who make up her world. Maggie Laurent is a private investigator to treasure.

It will come as no surprise when I say I loved this book, can recommend it, and am sitting here hoping for more Maggie adventures in the future.

I received an ARC copy of this book via Netgallery.

Did you think that the best character in the 'Maltese Falcon' was the secretary? Did you also think that Hildy Johnson, Rosalind Russell's character in 'His Girl Friday', should have dumped both of those idiots and started her own newspaper? First off, we should be friends. Second, this is the noir story for you! I had so much fun with this book. It is a classic '30s mystery set in foggy San Francisco, but completely from the secretary's perspective, when her boss spirals after a particularly vicious femme fatale comes into their lives. To keep the business afloat, she takes on a new case with the help of her boss Nick's connections, friends and family members, and some aid from some surprising corners. Maggie is an Irish Catholic sassy, working-girl who was a joy to follow as she learns the ropes and plunges deep into a Prohibition-era underworld.

The cast of characters is great and there are twists and turns certainly reminiscent of the best Humphrey Bogart movies have to offer. I have read Raymond Chandler and this is an excellent homage to those worlds and that writing, but from the female gaze. I will add, there is a racial slur used at the end of the book that I do not think was necessary. While it certainly was a term used often at the time, it really didn't add anything to the text or the characters and I don't think this bit of 'authenticity' was needed and I hope it isn't used in the rest of the series. But I am so excited that I got to read this story and learn about this series and I look forward to continuing it in the future.

Thank you NetGalley, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and Claire M. Johnson for a free copy of this eARC in return for an honest review.
#FogCity #NetGalley

I loved this first episode of a new crime noir series starring a hardboiled detective’s equally hardboiled secretary who takes over for her boss when he goes on an extended bender. 1930s San Francisco where a wealthy elite doesn’t even give a nod to Prohibition, and absolutely everyone seems to be running their own con. A banker’s (second) wife comes to the agency to ask for help in locating her errant stepson. In no time we’re whirling about in opium dens, speakeasies, fancy restaurants, and police cells trying to get to the bottom of a widely expanding set of dead bodies. I loved the supporting cast (many of whom I look forward to meeting again in the next books) — all fully fleshed out, non dull, people with distinct and intriguing personalities, and I loved that there were plenty of opportunities for philosophical discussions on evil vs “regular” sin and morality in general. The style (and environs) reminded me of Dashiell Hammett at his best — with the clever substitution of the substituting secretary. Plenty of great male characters, by the way, and full acceptance of what women were able (allowed) to do at the time. I always like stories where some group has difficulty getting things done because of social conventions but they get on and do it anyway without bothering to whine about it!
A great surprise read for me!

This is one of the few mysteries I've read recently where I found myself really enjoying the memorable characters. Carefully selected elements brought the foggy 1930s San Francisco mood to life without feeling overdone, seamlessly integrating the setting into the fast-paced plot.

While I enjoyed the unique characters and setting, some aspects of the book seemed out of place. The beginning was a bit rushed and I'm not sure it was convincing enough to explain how Nick, the detective, behaves for the rest of the book. I also found the use of a racial slur to be quite jarring. While it may have been intended to contribute to the 1930s San Francisco perspective, it wasn't addressed enough in the book to feel fitting.

This was a solid 3.4 star book for me, and I'm looking forward to the second in the series!

**Disclaimer: Thanks to NetGalley for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.**

Wow, what a fantastic start to a historical mystery-thriller series! Set in 1930s San Francisco, Fog City is a fast-paced read with a setting you can see, hear, and smell through the viewpoint of our plucky MC, Maggie Laurent. This book picks up steam quickly, and as the bodies begin to pile up, it becomes harder to set it down. Fog City has a colorful cast of characters (suspects?) and a strong-voiced narrator, and I really, really enjoyed it. While I anticipated some of the twists, others caught me completely (pleasantly! I love a good mystery surprise) off-guard. The ending makes it clear that this is only the first we'll see of Ms. Laurent, but hopefully there is more to come. If historical fiction or mystery/thrillers are your speed, this book hits all the right notes.