This is a bit of a tough one for me because, while I appreciated a look at queer culture in the 1920s and police corruption/brutality, I had more than a little trouble connecting to the characters and being fully invested in the mystery aspect. There was a lot more telling, it seemed, than showing, especially in regards to the characters and their relationships. Gertrude, Clara, and Milly are all supposed to be best friends, but I never really felt like they genuinely cared about one another. I recognize that this is, primarily, a mystery novel, so things like character relationships might get pushed to one side. However, I still feel like there could've been a bit more to give in that regard.

As for the mystery, not only did it not really grab my attention, but the big reveal ultimately didn't satisfy me either. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I do feel like the way the reveal was done as well as how the clues ended up stacking together in the end, didn't entirely work.

Overall, I don't believe this was bad, necessarily, it just felt like it fell short in multiple aspects for me.

I really liked this book. I love that it was set in prohibition era while also showing the roaring 20s. I love books in this time period. The narrative was great and was paced well. I was entertained through the entire book and I was constantly trying to guess what was going to happen next. I love the characters. Gertrude and her friends were interesting characters that I loved to learn about. This was such a fun book and has made Talley an author I plan to read more of

I really liked this! I think historical mystery is a really interesting genre and one that YA doesn't have enough of. I thought this embodied the era really well, and did a good job of setting up the victim to be someone you cared about even without having much time with her.