Last Dance Before Dawn

[cornerofmadness]

Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I requested this on Netgalley, I missed that this was book 4 of 4 and I hadn't read the first three. So I'm a little sad that I read the last book in the series as my introduction to the series. The Nightengale is a NYC speakeasy where Vivian Kelly works as a waitress (and as a seamstress in the day) This is her place, her found family and now Danny, the bartender is family, her sister Florence's husband and father of their little girl, Mei.

Viv and Florence have tracked down their father's sister (the girls growing up in an orphanage) in their bid to find family and this becomes (no spoilers) a prominent thread throughout this book. As is Vivian's growing attraction to her boss and owner of the speakeasy, Honor. Naturally there is fear there not just because of their very unequal social status but, of course, how lesbian relationships were seen in the 1920s.

But there is no place Vivian is happier to be, no place and people she would protect more ferociously than those in the Nightengale. And into this comes a handsome redheaded mob boss, O'Keefe, who believes Honor and her people know who he is looking for, a man named Hugh Brown. People die just to get Honor's attention and more will die potentially, Vivian, her sister and family, her friend Bea and Honor herself unless they turn over Brown to him.

The problem is O'Keefe is mistaken. they have no idea who Brown is nor do they want to play ball even if they did. Still, Vivian has to discover who this name is and find a way to foil O'Keefe or she'll lose everything.

It's a good mystery, the slow reveals and the red herrings good. It's an ending that should satisfy the fans. Four books seems short for a series but in a way I appreciate that better than the thing limping along for 30 books that haven't been good since book 11. It's open enough that if she ever wants to revisit these characters down the road she can. As for me, even though I know how it ends I'm going to look for the first three books.



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