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'Flavored with 1930's slang and fashion, this first volume in what one hopes will be a long series is absorbing. Henrietta and Clive are sexy, endearing, and downright fun pair of sleuths. Readers will not see the final twist coming.' - Library Journal, starred review

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Henrietta von Harmon works as a 26-girl on Chicago’s northwest side after her father kills himself because of the Great Depression. As the oldest of eight children, young Henrietta strives to make money for the family and is eventually persuaded by a friend to take a job as a taxi dancer at a local dance hall, where she dances with men for ten cents a dance.

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When the dance hall matron turns up murdered, aloof Inspector Clive Howard arrives on the scene to investigate.  Charmed by Henrietta’s extreme beauty and naiveté, he persuades her to go undercover for him as an usherette in a burlesque hall, where he suspects a killer, Neptune, is operating.

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Henrietta accepts the position, eager to please the attractive detective and also to earn the extra money he has promised, and is very quickly taken under the protection of a lesbian gang, Lucy, Rose and Gwen.  From them, Henrietta learns about “The White Feather Club,” an apparent prostitution ring, and takes steps to become a part of it, hoping to find out more about Neptune. 

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Meanwhile, a bumbling neighborhood boy, Stanley Dubowski, who believes himself in love with Henrietta, follows her everywhere in an attempt to protect her. When the Inspector and Henrietta agree upon a sting operation in which Henrietta agrees to pose as a prostitute, the plan is foiled by Stanley’s interference, which results in both Clive and Henrietta eventually being captured.  They manage to escape, with the help of the lesbians, but not before declaring their love for each other.

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Neptune has escaped capture as well, however, and several weeks later, sets a trap for Henrietta, whom he has become oddly obsessed with possessing.  Clive manages to thwart him, though, and an arrest is made, followed by a hasty proposal of marriage, which Henrietta accepts. 

 

 

Additional Information:

Published 2016 (She Writes Press)

ISBN: 9781631520167 - 288 pages - Paperback - Rights: World