Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Last Call at the Nightingale

This was pretty good. I really like Katharine Schellman's Lily Adler mysteries, and I was interested to see their take on a 1920s murder mystery. I liked most of the main characters, and the mystery investigation and 1920s setting were done well enough. I think my biggest complaint is that some of the dialogue felt a little too clunky or loaded with unnatural exposition.

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marioosa517's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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mackreads1's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I listened to the audio version of this book and I quite enjoyed it! The elements of prohibition, romance, and diversity made it a fun and diverse world to fall into! I felt like each of the characters had detailed backgrounds and it made them interesting. The plot is a little disjointed, but it’s easy to pick up and it held my attention pretty well. A few of the details could be fleshed out a little better, but overall it checked my boxes!

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foldingthepage_kayleigh's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“I never said I was nice. But I would never hurt you, you know that, right?”

“No, I don’t know that.”

It’s 20s New York City, and Vivian Kelly is living two lives. The life of a poor, dress shop worker who shares a small apartment with her sister, and a glamorous baby vamp who hits the dance clubs nightly, escaping to a world of excitement. But then, she discovers a body behind her favourite night club and her whole world gets turned upside down as she gets ensnared in the dangerous side of Prohibition-era dance halls and has to find a way to navigate through before her two worlds collide with fatal results…

The cover and synopsis drew me in, I mean what’s not to like about a prohibition-era amateur sleuth? But I could not get into this book!

This is a fast-paced, plot-based, which really came at the expense of a more in-depth characterization of the main character Vivian—I didn’t really get her and thus my investment in her story was diminished. Which meant that I was mostly disengaged from Vivian’s story, and then when the stakes got higher, I just couldn’t bring myself to care as much.

I think part of the reason why I couldn’t connect to this one was the narrator. It’s set in 20s NYC, so having a narrator that sounds not so different than me just did not fit with the diction of the time and took me out of the story. I don’t know if my perspective is just coloured by seeing so much media from around that time or what, but the narration choice did not work for me.

I really wanted to like this one, but unfortunately, I was just not engaged.

This book might be for you if you enjoy:
- Going dancing
- Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
- Noir fiction

Thank you Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for this advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review!

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foreverinastory's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

3.5/5 I did enjoy this but I kind of wanted more from it.

Last Call at the Nightingale is a Jazz age mystery murder. Vivian Kelly is trying to make ends meet at her dress shop job with her sister, while at night she goes out dancing and drinking at the Nightingale. One night Vivian finds someone murdered, next thing she knows, she's being arrested in a raid. When the boss of the Nightingale, Ms. Huxley, asks Vivian to look into the murder, Vivian doesn't know if she should. But she wants answers herself, looking into the dark side of NYC puts her in deeper danger than she expects.

Vivian was an easy character to like. I totally got that she wanted to enjoy her youth, not just waste it working at the miserable dress shop. I do wish her relationship with her sister was better discussed. It mostly felt like Florence was made into a villain because she doesn't approve of Vivian's nightly activities. To an extent I get it, but Florence is entitled to her own opinion and likes. It felt like she wasn't given the page time to explore or explain this to her sister.

I loved the cast of the Nightingale. Bea and Danny were such great friends to Vivian. I loved these two so much. Then there's Ms. Huxley. I was so in love with this boss ass bitch. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Vivian and Hux, I wish we got more of it. I did enjoy her relationship with Mr. Green, but it didn't have the same intensity as Hux did.

The murder mystery was so well done. This part I have zero complaints. I loved seeing Vivian snooping around and figuring shit out. There were so many twists and turns and I enjoyed this part of it very much.

Rep: white bisexual female MC, Jewish male love interest, white lesbian female love interest, Chinese male side character, Black female side character.

CW: Illegal alcohol consumption (prohibition), blood, death, gun violence, injury/injury detail, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, queer slur, misogyny, murder, panic attacks, racism, sexism, violence.

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