oooh so much to unpack. first, what stood out to me about this novel is that it's not just a mystery novel—the little nuggets of historical info really make it feel like you're in 1940s berkeley, and the details (which readers who are less of a history nerd than i am may find a little digressive and annoying, but which i appreciated immensely) were illuminating. i also really appreciated the nuanced commentary about the bainbridge sisters—they were rich, and they were flawed, but they were human, too. i also didn't really guess at the ending until the end, which is kinda rare for me, having read all of agatha christie's books and many modern mysteries to boot. overall, an exciting debut, and i can't wait to read more!!

thanks to st. martin's press and netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

This book has so many layers that I am going to provide the synopsis given by the publisher as it is hard to "describe concisely in one sentence" as many book review outlets want

Synopsis:
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Amy Chua's debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.

In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the spectre of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years earlier: the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.

The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now adults: Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth—not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China's First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings—Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.

Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed-race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.

This book has a lot of layers: It is a millefeuille of a book.(Yes, I love my baking show analogies). It is not just a mystery, it is a look into racism, political change, how being an heiress is not all it is cracked up to be and how California has changed over the decades: not necessarily for the better.

I will highly recommend it to my readers of mysteries, historical fiction, social change and lovers of rich women getting what they deserve. as it's just a darn great read!

How can this be a debut fiction book?? Well, this incredible author is also a lawyer … and A TIGER MOTHER … so said recently one of the most profound things I have heard in a while.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT A FOREIGN ACCENT IS? IT'S A SIGN OF BRAVERY.

#shortbutsweetreviews

this was a great debut novel from Amy Chua, it was beautifully written and worked well in the historical novel. The characters were what I was looking for and everything worked well together. It does a great job in creating a good historical thriller and I'm excited to read more from Amy Chua.

"People kill for three things: money, power, and love. Give me a murder, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred, one of those three things will be your motive. But so far I couldn’t pin any one of them to either of my murders. I had a single witness placing one of the Bainbridge girls with Wilkinson at or near the time he died, but the truth is I didn’t have a clue why any of them would have been with him, or what they were doing together, or how long she’d spent with him. In fact, I didn’t even have an exact time of death."