St. Louie Slow Drag

In 1910, racial tensions are fueled by ragtime and riots targeted at Black neighborhoods.

In 1910, Julia Nye has an unconventional position as a typist for the St. Louis City Police. And one steamy August evening, she goes on an unconventional date, to hear ragtime masters in St. Louis' seedy, prostitution-laced Mill Creek Valley. When the rag club erupts in flames and a Black musician is found dead in the alley, Julia realizes she can make a contribution to solving the crimes. The authorities are unlikely to find out anything from the young Black woman Julia has befriended.

Meanwhile, the chief of police wants Julia to use her other skill-with a rifle-to tame a riot situation. His demands may mean a loss of what Julia holds dear, her suffrage activities and her romance. What she doesn't see coming is that her involvement has put her in someone else's cross-hairs: she has become the woman whose death could spark the riot.