Everything Glittered
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
In this queer historical thriller from a New York Times bestselling author, society girls try to find a murderer in a city filled with secrets and stunted by shame. Perfect for fans of Last Night at the Telegraph Club.
It’s 1927 and the strict laws of prohibition have done little to temper the roaring '20s nightlife, even in the nation’s capitol. Everyone knows the booze has never stopped flowing, especially among the rich and powerful, and seventeen-year-old Gertrude and her best friends Clara and Milly are determined to get a taste of freedom and liquor, propriety be damned.
But after sneaking out of the Washington Female Seminary to visit a speakeasy, they return to discover that their controversial young headmistress, Mrs. Rose, has been murdered.
Reeling from the death of her beloved mentor, Gertrude enlists her friends in her quest to clear Mrs. Rose’s reputation, while trying to keep her own intact. But in Prohibition Washington, it’s impossible to sidestep grifters, bootleggers, and shady federal agents when investigating a murder. And with all the secrets being uncovered, Gertrude is finding it harder and harder to keep her attraction to her best friends hidden.
A proper, upscale life is all Gertrude has ever known, but murder sure makes a gal wonder: Is all that glitters really gold?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1927, 17-year-old Gertie Pound lives a cloistered existence in Washington Female Seminary, learning to be a proper society lady by day and sneaking out to speakeasies with her best friends and classmates Milly Otis and Clara Blum by night. Though Gertie's family expects nothing more from her future than a rich and well-connected marriage, young and unconventional headmistress Mrs. Rose pushes Gertie to question societal expectations and examine what she wants out of life. But when Mrs. Rose is found dead under suspicious circumstances, the society rumor mill churns with speculation about her mysterious and potentially scandalous past. Seeking to clear her mentor's name and prevent the seminary from shutting down, Gertie and her friends launch their own investigation, which plunges them deep into the seedy underbelly of Prohibition-era Washington, D.C. Talley (The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre) examines intense queer longing and self-discovery through a well-realized jaunt into Gilded Era high society, juxtaposing suffocatingly stiff etiquette with an undercurrent of misogyny and homophobia. Though twists occasionally feel underdeveloped, tender explorations of Gertie's burgeoning awareness of her queer identity drive this glitzy murder mystery. Characters cues as white; Clara is Jewish. Ages 14–up. Agents: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
