murder knocks twice a mystery susanna calkins

Things aren’t all Lucky Strikes, gin, and jazz, however, because Gina soon gets pulled into a murder investigation when a photographer, who may have snapped something he wasn’t meant to see, is killed. In this delightful 1929-set mystery, Gina Ricci takes a job as a cigarette girl at a glamorous Chicago speakeasy called The Third Door. The film versions of their escapades, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, were staples of my childhood. Nick’s somewhat hard boiled past sometimes clashes with Nora’s more sophisticated style, but that only makes their zippy dialogue more enjoyable.

Nick and Nora are one of the original married couple/crime-solving teams, and they set the standard for the romantic detective duos that came after them. Nick finds that investigations are different with a wife in tow, but the two of them make an excellent team and still have time for plenty of illegal cocktails along the way. Set a year earlier, in 1932, the story follows Nick and Nora Charles, a former private detective and his socialite wife, as they get pulled into a murder mystery by one of Nick’s former clients. Here are a few of my favorite books that take a look at crime in the age of Prohibition.Ī list of my favorite Prohibition-era novels wouldn’t be complete without this classic of crime fiction, which was first published in serial form in December of 1933, the same month Prohibition ended. Amidst the levity and lawlessness, there are countless stories to be told, both real and imagined. They didn’t call it the Roaring Twenties for nothing, and this era provides plenty of fodder for writers. In the course of the novel, Amory and her husband, Milo, visit speakeasies, encounter gangsters, and try to solve a murder that may or may not be linked to bootlegging.

So when I began to write my newest Amory Ames mystery, which is set in New York at the tail end of Prohibition, I knew I needed to add some Jazz Age flair to the story.

Ever since my high school days, I’ve enjoyed reading about this larger-than-life period in American history. A classic film buff from a young age, I watched countless gangster films as a teenager, and, though I’ve always been pretty straight-laced myself, I was fascinated by the law flaunting, which was often frivolous but sometimes deadly.

I’m not sure what first drew me to the time period, but I suspect it had something to do with my love of old movies.

Murder knocks twice a mystery susanna calkins