The White City by Grace Hitchcock is a mystery story set during the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. The World’s Fair and all its excitement has come to Chicago. Along with the displays and foods to try comes the inevitable rise in crime from pickpockets to more dangerous criminals preying on those enjoying their days at the fair. Winnifred Wylde, the daughter of Inspector Wylde observes a kidnapping in progress or least that is what she believes. He hurries to inform her father who is not convinced as she often believes a crime has been committed after reading the latest novel by Percy Valentine. While not convinced a crime has taken place, her father assigns his best detective to follow Winifred and protect her as he is sure she will try to get evidence. She quickly spots the detective and they decide to team up to solve the crime. Is there really a case to solve or is it Winifred’s very active imagination? Meanwhile her Aunt is trying to find her a husband as Winifred is almost an old maid at twenty. She is set up with Percival Covington who is the perfect match on paper but will he steal her heart? She is also wanting to uncover the mystery of who Percy Valentine really is. Will she be able to learn his true identity?
I enjoyed this book a great deal and anxiously await the next one. The characters were so realistic and did silly things, worried and forgot to pray like most of us do. The book is based on Christian principles but does not push Christianity onto every character or come across as preachy. The characters routinely read scripture, attend church services and pray, especially when in a bind. I give this book 5 of 5 stars and believe it will appeal to a wide audience. It has a bit of romance intertwined with the mystery as well as plenty of action to keep the reader’s attention. I found it difficult to put down and read it over two days.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

The story is based on a real serial killer—H.H. Holmes—who terrorized Chicago at the time of the Chicago World’s Fair. Winnifred, the heroine, fancies herself an observer of mankind and voraciously reads romance novels written by her favorite author—Percy Vallentine. Jude, the hero and a perfect gentleman, is a police detective assigned to protect Winnifred when she says she witnesses an abduction. The novel moves along at a good pace with Winnie & Jude’s romance entwined with Winnie’s sleuthing. This is my first book from Grace Hitchcock and I look forward to the next novel in the “True Colors” series. I recommend this one!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I didn't know what to expect when I began to read The White City, but it's basically Christian historical romantic suspense. While the heroine, Winnie, investigates a kidnapping she witnessed at the Chicago World's Fair, she has to chose between two men--one her father approves of and one he does not. Some historical romance heroines annoy me, but I liked Winnie: she is brave but not stupidly so, and she has other interests than her love interests. I really enjoyed The White City, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the True Colors series.

As this book has not been released yet, this is not a real review but I absolutely loved this story. Plenty of action, suspense and romance!!

This is an absolutely spellbinding book about Dr. H. H. Holmes, who was very real and became known as America’s first serial killer. This takes place during the World’s fair in Chicago in 1893. Although this book is fiction it brings to life the horrible person Dr. Holmes was. The book starts with a young woman, Winifred, attending the fair who thinks she sees a lady being kidnapped. Women have started to be reported missing and as her dad is the head of the police department, she goes to him with her concerns about the lady that she saw. She isn’t taken too seriously by her dad when she asks him if she could look into what she saw. He is not happy with the idea, but asks a new detective to follow her. Winifred becomes a secretary to Dr. Holmes suspecting him of the problems that have arisen. I’ll leave you to discover the rest of the book but I can assure you it is a wonderful, thrilling read. This is a debut book by Grace Hitchcock and I can assure you I will be looking for more of her books to come. I received an ARC from Netgalley for my review.

What a lovely debut!

Winnifred Wylde is the daughter of a police inspector and avid reader of romantic suspense novels. She fancies herself as observant and longs to catch someone in a crime. However, she has cried wolf one too many times and no one at the police station believes her crime leads.

The White City is based upon the serial killer at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. The author does a fabulous job of blending fact and fiction. Both Jude and Percival are wonderful male characters.

This novel reminded me a bit of A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin. I absolutely look forward to what this author writes next.

has a good balance between romance and crime, theres romance but not annoyingly so. well written and an overall good historical fiction. eagerly awaiting to read the next book!!

The White City is a well written story with characters who feel so real that I cared about what was happening to them as I was reading. The setting is Chicago during the World's Fair in 1893. Winifred Wylde is a beautiful young woman who would rather read than spend time with suitors who bored her. She is captivated by mysteries and crime stories and is sure she saw a woman being kidnapped by a man with a gun during a visit to the Fair. When she reports this to her Father, the newly appointed Captain of Police, he is skeptical but without telling Winnie he assigns Detective Jude Thorpe, a new transfer from New York, to follow her.

This book is proof it's possible to produce an exciting and interesting book without graphic sex, language or violence.
My thanks to Barbour Publishing for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are completely my own.
This book will be available in stores and on line March 1, 2019.
#TheWhiteCity #NetGalley

THE WHITE CITY ....Grave Hitchcock
Winifred life for her in 1893 during the White City Fair. Her adventure comes with her father being a police inspector, not in the books she reads. To her aunt’s dismay she is not interested in suitors either. Though she does have one and they share love of novels, the other one wants is adventure. After putting herself in danger after seeing a woman being mishandled, to prove she was more than someone waiting on a suitor. to her father. Interesting of that time period and these based on true crimes. Given ARC for my voluntary review and my honest opinion by Net Galley andBarbour .

The White City is by a new to me author. I really enjoy getting to read a new author and I enjoyed this book very much. This story is based on real crimes by a man dubbed as the first serial killer in America. Now, this may sound like the book may be gritty or gory. It is not. This is a romantic mystery that has light hearted moments as well as page turning action. This is set during the World's Fair in Chicago. I enjoyed all of the characters and fell in love with the hero, Jude. He showed himself to be a very heroic detective. Especially, at the end of the book. Wowser! The heroine, Winnie is an avid reader and enjoys adventure, while being very prim and proper at the same time. I enjoy a heroine who is feminine but doesn't mind taking risks and to help others. (I wouldn't let my daughter do it, but hey, it's fiction)
The book is easy to read and I read it at a steady pace. 4.5 stars!
*I was given a copy of this book by Barbour Publishing. I was not under any obligation to leave a review. This is my honest opinion.

Fiction and non-fiction collide in this stunning debut novel! Romance, missing women and crime all intermingled among the Worlds Fair in Chicago. Great characters, interesting storyline and enough intrigue to keep me wanting more!! Highly recommend!

Oh I liked this story! How fun that she read penny dreadfuls then saw crime everywhere she looked. Like the boy that cried wolf, no one believes her when she actually sees a crime. And thus the mystery begins. I liked the case of characters and the suspense. I totally recommend this book.

The White City (True Colors series) by Grace Hitchcock was a wonderful book of suspense taking place during the Chicago Worlds fair. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the author. The characters were believable and relate-able. Filled with suspense, danger and romance. When Winnifred visits the fair she believes she sees a women being kidnapped but her father, who is a police inspector doesn't believe her. But she is persistent and he lets her investigate by going undercover as long as she has a bodyguard with her; Jude Thorpe a policeman. Based on a real life crime this is an excellent book by Ms. Hitchcock. I can't wait for the next book in this series.

I received this book from NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

If you enjoy the era before automobiles, learning about the Chicago World’s Fair, and solving mysteries, you will enjoy this intriguing book! Winnifred Wylde is the police inspector’s daughter, she is the captive of her Aunt Lillian’s stream of suitors, and she is curious and observant of her surroundings.
Winnifred notices a young woman being threatened by a man with a gun at the World’s Fair, and she thought the man might be behind the series of abductions in the White City (Chicago). She was on a date with the boring Mr. Saunders at the time, but she quickly takes a grip car (trolley?) to her father’s police station.
Winnifred tells her father about what she saw, but she has previously led some of the officers on meaningless quests after she thought she had seen something important that pertained to a case. Winnifred was also an avid novel reader with a wild imagination.
However, her father wisely decided if she was going to pursue a criminal, she needed to be protected, so he put his newest detective, Mr. Thorpe on her trail to protect her when she went out.
Winnifred has a daily pass to the World’s Fair, she and Mr. Thorpe spot the criminal and Winnifred learns that he needs a secretary and so she volunteers her services. You will have to read the book for yourself to see what happens to Winnifred, Mr. Thorpe, and a wealthy suitor who is also a writer!

HIstorical true crime is the basis for this book. It was a bit slow. I thought that the characters were a bit cliche' and lacking in depth.

The first thing I enjoyed about The White City by Grace Hitchcock was the care the author took in creating the atmosphere of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The heroine of the story, Winnifred Wylde, loves to read, so each chapter of The White City begins with a quote from popular books from that time period. The author often used Charles Dickens and Jane Austin quotes to set the scene for the reader, as did the terminology of that historical time and place: reticule and grip car, for instance. Other details such as inserting her hat pin. Scenes such as Winifred and one of her love interests, Detective Jude Thorpe, eating creole food for the first time were delightful. This showed the impact that the World’s Fair had on increasing cultural awareness. It also served as a humorous and romantic scene.

Grace Hitchcock crafted the plot well crafted. I would describe this author as a weaver of words, interspersing, history, romance, mystery and idealism in perfect measure.

One of the things I enjoyed the most was how “clean” The White City was. It never lost its integrity and was never hokey. The White City is absolute proof that you can write a Christian novel without being preachy. Christian values came through naturally and appropriately. This was especially impressive considering the background mystery was drawn from one of the evil serial killers in all of American history. As a reader, I feared for the main characters. Yet never once did the author describe the details of HH Holmes’ gruesome crimes.

I loved every minute of The White City and had a hard time putting it down. This novel is part of the True Colors—a new series of Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime. I hope to see more of the characters we were introduced to in The White City. They came to life on the page and it was hard to say goodbye at the end of the book.

It’s a rare book of which I can’t find something wrong. This is one of those perfect books. I am proud to recommend Hitchcock’s debut novel, The White City, to anyone who likes mystery and romance with a dash of history. This would especially resonate with women young and old (and teenage girls).

I give The White City an enthusiastic 5 stars!

The White City is currently available for presale. It will be released on March 1, 2019.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The White City: True Colors: Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime

This is a new series called True Colors by Grace Hitchcock, with The White City being her debut novel in the series. As you can see, they are historical stories of romance and American crime, which is what got my interest. It must have been a late night when I was sleep deprived when I chose this one because somehow I mistook this for non-fiction. But since I agreed to it, I’m going to read and review it anyway. I tend to like my true crime well, true. Strictly non-fiction and the lines have blurred when it comes to putting these books out on that category, despite them being fiction. With that said, I read the book with an open mind and it turned out to be rather good, all in all.

The author chose a real serial killer to base her story on, H.H. Holmes who was active at the time of the Chicago World’s Fair when he had his famous hotel with the strangely built rooms on the upper floors. There were bad rumors of all sorts about it, but it didn’t stop people from staying there anyway, as rooms were hard to come by with people coming from all over the world to see the fair. While I found the premise of the story a bit shaky, the story itself worked quite well and the characters were pretty likable. By the end, I was pretty pulled into it and wanted to see how it was going to end. It is listed as a Christian book but there wasn’t an overload of that type matter as it went along, it just sort of blended in with what was going on. I think romance readers will go for this series, especially those of a Christian nature. My thanks for the advance electronic copy that was provided by NetGalley, author Grace Hitchcock, and the publisher for my fair review.

A great read regarding historical facts surrounding Chicago’s World Fair, 1893.
Winnifred is a likeable character that I enjoyed. Historical fiction with a little suspense and romance. I would recommend this to any fan of this genre as well as true crime.
Thank You NetGalley, Grace Hitchcock Barbour Books for the chance to read for an honest review.

This was my first Grace Hitchcock book and it definitely won't be my last. Everything about the plot and characters flowed perfectly from the first paragraph. I truly enjoyed spending time with Winnie and Jude. I always love a character like Winnie who loves books and she is quite fun and witty to boot. Jude is earnest and dependable all in an alluring, charming way. And the supporting cast of characters were lovely as well, including Jude's rival.

My only problem with the book was the historical inaccuracy in the account of H.H. Holmes. However, I am a real history buff and a particular fan of the Gilded Age so I am quite familiar with this story. There is actually a lot of accuracy with regards to his crimes and how he operated so the author obviously did a lot of research (great details about the World's Fair too!), but there was no investigation of him until much later. However, I was so absorbed in the story that I enjoyed the book despite what would normally be a deal breaker for me. That says a lot about the quality of the writing and the story. I highly recommend it.

I did receive an ARC in exchange for a fair review of this book.

I was highly intrigued by this story when I first saw the description of it. For me, the story itself was okay, but didn't hold as much suspense as I was hoping or expecting. In the beginning I felt the action started without getting a full grasp of the scene, but then after that the pace became too slow. I wasn't gripped by the story as much as I was hoping I would be. I would have like to at least see some clues along the way to reveal that the characters were on their way to solve the crime. Instead there are moments when Winnie is afraid for her safety, but no real effort goes into investigating. It was more of a waiting game than a criminal investigation. I don't want to discourage anyone from reading this since I know everyone has their own tastes and I already know of several others who thoroughly enjoyed this story. It was just a bit too slow for me. 

*I received a copy of this book through CelebrateLit. Thoughts and opinions expressed are mine alone.