In Maia Chanceβs follow-up to her acclaimed Prohibition-era caper Come Hell or Highball, Lola Woodby is hired to find a diary, but soon the diary ownerβs future mother-in-law is murdered.
After her philandering husband died and left her penniless in Prohibition-era New York, Lola Woodby escaped with her Swedish cook to the only place she couldβher deceased husbandβs secret love nest in the middle of Manhattan. Her only comforts were chocolate cake, dime store detective novels, and the occasional highball (okay, maybe not so occasional). But rent came due and Lola and Berta were forced to accept the first job that came their way, leading them to set up shop as private detectives operating out of Alfieβs cramped love nest.
Now Lola and Berta are in danger of losing the business theyβve barely gotten off the groundβwork is sparse and money is running out. So when a society matron offers them a job, they take itβeven if it means sneaking into a slimming and exercise facility and consuming only water and health food until they can steal a diary from Grace Whiddle, a resident at the βhealth farm.β But barely a day in, Grace and her diary escape from the facilityβand Graceβs future mother-in-law is found murdered on the premises. Lola and Berta are promptly fired. But before they can climb into Lolaβs brown and white Duesenberg Model A and whiz off the health farm property, they find themselves with a new client and a new charge: to solve the murder of Graceβs future mother-in-law.
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