Deadly Spirits
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Medium's assistant - and reluctant sleuth - Maddie Pastore is shocked when her long-lost sister is accused of murder, in this twisty, atmospheric mystery set in 1920s Chicago.
Summer, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore has been working for fraudulent spiritual medium Madame Carlotta for nearly a year - if 'work' you could call it. Investigating Carlotta's clients, and attending seances as her shill, keeps Maddie and her young son Tommy fed and clothed, and she's grown to love the kind, well-meaning spiritualist like family.
Still, Maddie - estranged from her abusive parents for over a decade - can't help but wonder what fates befell her brothers and sisters. So when she lucks into two free tickets to a glamorous Chicago speakeasy and recognizes the star performer as her pretty little sister Sophie, she's beyond delighted.
But before Maddie can meet with Sophie again, the telephone rings. It's Sophie's husband, calling in a panic to tell her that his wife is locked in the Cook County jail, charged with first-degree murder . . .
Enter a dark and deadly world of seances and speakeasies, populated by fake mediums, sultry singers and dangerous mobsters! An ideal pick for readers who enjoy glitzy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1924 Chicago, Miley's gripping third Mystic's Accomplice mystery (after Spirits and Smoke) finds young widow Maddie Pastore, who lost her husband, a driver for Al Capone, to a hail of bullets two years earlier, continuing to make ends meet for herself and her toddler son by working as a shill for Madame Carlotta, a good-hearted "mystic" who offers comfort to the bereaved by connecting them by séance to the great beyond. It's a living, but not a terribly lucrative one, so Maddie is thrilled to receive two free tickets to hear a singer at a local speakeasy. Much to her amazement, she recognizes the singer as her own younger sister, Sophie, whom she hasn't seen in years. But three days later, Sophie is arrested for a murder she doesn't remember committing. Determined not to lose her sister so soon after finding her again, Maddie approaches Chicago's real-life lady detective Alice Clement to help her prove Sophie's innocence. Besides smoothly blending fact and fiction, Miley delivers clever plot twists, including one involving a scheme by a rival mob boss of Capone's, Hymie Weiss, to carry out a hit at a séance. Readers will hope to see a lot more of the resourceful Maddie.
Customer Reviews
Loved every minute!
Great story And fantastic period detail! I’m a student of the 1920s and even I didn’t know many of the things. So clever to have the main character Maddie be a fake seance assistant. Loved finding out that the female detective was actually Chicago’s first one, and her dialogue was taken from quotes in newspapers of the day. Lots of twists and turns to the story with an Agatha Christie type ending (of course it was that person!) and an easy smooth read. Delightful. Will be reading all the rest in the series now. Thank you Mary Miley for making the 1920’s come alive, and from a strong woman’s “flapper” perspective.