Gin and Panic
Gin and Panic A Mystery by Maia Chance St. Martin's Press Minotaur Books Historical Fiction Pub Date 24 Oct 2017
Review
The prohibition may be in full swing, but it doesn't put a damper on former socialite Lola Woodby’s pursuit of a good time and the objects she and her partner Berta are hired to retrieve. This time Berta and Lola are hired to retrieve a rhinoceros trophy from the mansion of big game hunter Rudy Montgomery. The situation is complicated by the discovery of raw diamonds and a suicide that looks suspiciously like murder. Lola and Berta look to be in over their heads, particularly after one of New York’s leading gangsters gets involved. Fortunately they have backup in the form of Lola’s leading man, also a private detective who has been hired to keep an eye on Lola and Berta. Armed with cake, gin and an appetite for adventure Lola and Berta can take on just about anything.
Maia Chance serves readers a heady cocktail of madcap adventure, comic coincidences and tantalizing mystery with just the right dash of romance. Gin and Panic is fun, funny and fast paced. I absolutely adored this delectable cosy and look forward to Maia Chance’s next novel featuring the Discreet Retrieval Agency.
5 / 5
I received a copy of Gin and Panic from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
--Crittermom
Description
“Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets—and has a high old time doing it! So will you.”—Ann B. Ross, New York Times bestselling author of the Miss Julia series Former socialite Lola Woodby, not-so-discreet private eye in Prohibtion-era New York City, along with her grim Swedish sidekick, Berta, take on a piece-of-cake job: retrieving a rhinoceros trophy from the Connecticut mansion of big game hunter Rudy Montgomery. After all, their client, Lord Sudley, promises them a handsome paycheck, and the gin and tonics will be free. But no sooner do they arrive at Montgomery Hall than Rudy is shot dead with a houseful of suspicious characters standing by. Lord Sudley ups the ante, and Lola and Berta take the case. Armed with handbags stuffed with emergency chocolate, gin flasks, and a Colt .25, Lola and Berta are swiftly embroiled in a madcap puzzle of stolen diamonds, family secrets, a clutch of gangsters, and a flapper who knows her way around a safari rifle. Gin and Panic continues the Discreet Retrieval Agency Mysteries from beloved crime writer Maia Chance.