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Published Jan 2022
224 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Deadly drinks, vicious gangsters, missing money...Reluctant sleuth Maddie Pastore is back with a bang, in the second Mystic's Accomplice historical mystery set in 1920s Chicago.
December, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore feels fortunate to be employed by the well-meaning but fraudulent medium Carlotta Romany. Investigating Carlotta's clients isn't work she's proud of, but she's proud of how well she does it.
Maddie's talents, however, draw them unwelcome attention: sharp-eyed Officer O'Rourke from the Chicago Police. He doesn't believe in spiritualism – but in a city packed with mobsters, con artists and criminals, he'll take any help he can get.
It's not long before Maddie has a case to bring him. Why did teetotal banker Herman Quillen die of alcohol poisoning? And who is the gold-toothed man claiming to be his brother, and demanding the spirits reveal where Herman hid his money?
All Maddie wants is to uncover the truth – but to her horror, she's soon mixed up in a tangled web of secrets and deception that leads to the heart of Chicago's violent gangs...and she'll need all her wits about her if she, and her loved ones, are going to make it out again alive.
Spirits and Smoke, the sequel to The Mystic's Accomplice, is an ideal pick for readers who enjoy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths, sparkling historical detail and Prohibition high-jinks.
"[A] vibrant sequel...Miley's storytelling skills do justice to her clever, gutsy, and endearing protagonist. This is a real treat for readers who love stories set in the Roaring '20s." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Miley's follow-up to her exciting series debut, The Mystic's Accomplice (2021), plunges her intrepid heroine into even greater danger in 1924 Chicago...All the colorful characters and historic details from the heroine's debut, fortified by a stronger mystery." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about Spirits and Smoke was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mary Miley grew up in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virginia, and worked her way through the College of William and Mary in Virginia as a costumed tour guide at Colonial Williamsburg. As Mary Miley Theobald, she has published numerous nonfiction books and articles on history, travel and business topics. As Mary Miley, she is the award-winning author of the Roaring Twenties mysteries and the new Mystic's Accomplice mysteries series.
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