Lola Woodby is still struggling from her social fall from
grace: going from a wealthy New York socialite to a near-
penniless widow is not easy, especially as her detective
agency, Discreet Retrieval Agency, isn't doing too well
either. But she, and her faithful Swedish sidekick and
former cook Berta Lundgren, snag a case to retrieve a
missing diary from a debutante who is at a health farm, it
looks cut and dried, until the first murder happens.
While the first
book was fun, I liked TEETOTALED even
better. Berta and Lola almost know what they're doing;
Lola still plays it a bit by ear, but Berta, the voice of
reason curtails Lola's impulsiveness. The indignities Lola
must endure: bloomers for exercise, eating celery and bran
biscuits, no alcohol, and to add to the torment, Lola's
maybe beau, Ralph Oliver is away in Cuba. The search for
the diary is only the beginning, as murders begin to
accumulate...
Ms. Chance has created two unique characters in Lola and
Berta, they make a mystifying but very entertaining team
as they improvise and fumble their way to resolving their
cases. I love the terrific banter they share; in fact, the
dialogues are brilliant all around, especially with the
delectable 1920s slang thrown in. TEETOTALED's overall
cast of characters is just as dazzling as our two stars: a
Yankees pitcher, a stuttering rich fella, a Canadian soda
pop tycoon, a nurse whose repartee nearly steals the show,
and the unforgettable Baby Doll Mallone, not your average
gangster's moll. The high-jinks are hilarious, and it's so
well written that had I not known that the book had been
written in 2016, I would never have guessed it hadn't been
written in 1923. The fantastic, and stunningly accurate,
historical details make it nearly as good as the intrigue;
never distracting from the suspense, the period details
enhance the general mood. The story is solid, rather
complex, and the pace is very quick; there are also a few
surprising plot twists with an added touch of romance to
sweeten the pot. Don't forget your Pond's Vanishing Cream
and your Hershey's chocolate bars!
In Maia Chance’s follow-up to her acclaimed Prohibition-era
caper Come Hell or Highball, Lola Woodby is hired to
find a diary, but soon the diary owner’s 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 could—her deceased
husband’s 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
Alfie’s cramped love nest.
Now Lola and Berta are in danger of losing the business
they’ve barely gotten off the ground—work is sparse and
money is running out. So when a society matron offers them a
job, they take it—even 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 “health farm.” But barely a day in, Grace
and her diary escape from the facility—and Grace’s future
mother-in-law is found murdered on the premises. Lola and
Berta are promptly fired. But before they can climb into
Lola’s 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 Grace’s future
mother-in-law.
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