Katharine Schellman’s third Nightingale mystery, The Last Note of Warning, is as gripping as the previous two in the series. The books all capture the atmosphere and grittiness of life for the working class in 1920s New York City. There’s glamour in the underground speakeasy, the Nightingale, but there’s the constant fear of a police raid or arrest.

Vivian Kelly works as a waitress at the Nightingale, and dances the night away on her breaks. When she drags herself to her day job, delivering dresses for a dressmaker, she never thinks that’s the job that will get her arrested. Mrs. Buchanan isn’t available when Vivian arrives at her house. She finds a household in chaos, and Mr. Buchanan is kind enough to offer the weary young woman a cup of coffee. When he’s called away, she doesn’t think much of it. When she finally has to leave, she wants to leave a note, so checks his study for paper. That’s where she finds Mr. Buchanan’s body, stabbed to death. She calls for help, but as a stranger in the household, a delivery person, Vivian is the primary suspect. She insists on one phone call, to Leo Green, a bootlegger and the police commissioner’s nephew.

Although Leo’s able to pull strings to get Vivian released from jail, she’s on a deadline. Find Buchanan’s killer in seven days, or she’ll be arrested again, and tried for murder. She can’t leave town without endangering her sister and brother-in-law. So, Vivian starts to beg for help. She’s not going to prison without a fight, even if it means she has to work with Hattie Wilson, a woman who heads a criminal enterprise. Honor Huxley, Vivian’s boss, breaks her heart and refuses to help her. But, between Leo, Hattie Wilson, Vivian’s best friend, Bea, and a sympathetic police officer, there must be someone with a clue to Buchanan’s killer. Vivian Kelly is on a timetable. Just seven days to find a killer.

Schellman skillfully uses history to develop Vivian’s story as a working class Irish young woman in New York during Prohibition. There’s excitement and glamour and fear and day-to-day drudgery in Vivian Kelly’s life. Schellman captures it all in this third compelling mystery, The Last Note of Warning.

And, just a note. Once again, the cover artist has a gorgeous perfect cover for this historical mystery.

Katharine Schellman’s website is http://www.katharineschellman.com

The Last Note of Warning by Katharine Schellman. Minotaur Books, 2024. ISBN 9781250325792 (hardcover), 352p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a .PDF to review this book for a journal.