This intriguing novel is set in New York City in 1923. Prohibition has been the law of the land for just a few years—but long enough for mobsters to have established black market supply lines and set up speakeasies throughout the city.
The main character, Zia De Luca, is not the kind of person you’d expect to be mixed up in this kind of racket. She’s a Sicilian immigrant, yes, but she’s also a war widow who has a young son and works in a branch of the New York Public Library on weekdays and in her father-in-law’s cheese shop on weekends. On the other hand, her favorite cousin Salvatore has shady connections and a questionable reputation, so she’s closer to the Cosa Nostra than the proverbial six degrees of separation.
Then three things happen to catapult Zia into her cousin’s shadow world. First, a quiet patron who’s asked her to translate a Sicilian play is shot to death outside the library; the police question Zia about their conversations. Second, she’s laid off from her job because of budget cuts, leaving her wondering how to realize her dream of saving for her son to attend college someday. Finally, her father-in-law is murdered in his store by a man masquerading as a reporter who wants Zia’s story.
Realizing that the police do not see a connection between the two crimes—and observing that they show little interest in investigating either—Zia decides to go undercover working in her cousin’s new speakeasy, an elegant nightclub named the Orchid Hour, appropriately hidden behind a florist’s shop.
The settings of the book—from the speakeasies to the neighborhood of Little Italy—are filled with vivid sensory details. (You can’t read this book without craving authentic Italian lasagna or Lindy’s famous cheesecake, or perhaps wishing you could go to the Orchid Hour to hear the trio of Russian emigré muscians!) The story abounds with colorful characters: from Salvatore Lucania (later to go down in history as Lucky Luciano), to the fictional actor David DaCosta (rival to the great Valentino), the beautiful half-Sicilian Ziegfeld Follies performer Julia Morel, the intrepid and determined Zia herself, and even a cameo by J. Edgar Hoover.
The plot has enough twists and turns to satisfy any devotee of historical mysteries. I recommend the novel and rate it five stars.
Ruth Hull Chatlien 