Kiss Me Deadly

Amazing writing and i love the era for this novel.
Many thanks to Hudson Square Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Roaring Twenties are on fire!

This second episode is simply mind-blowing! Cherished characters are coming back and the sizzling decade is obviously taking everybody aback. Raeder Lomax is a fantastic wordsmith and he is once again taking us on an incredible fictional journey throughout one of the most exciting periods in American history!

But it's the writing that I find absolutely magnificent! I took my time to savor this really beautiful novel! It is so fabulous! It should definitely appeal to anyone familiar with the speakeasy lingo of the liberated flappers and sexually frustrated wannabe mobsters!

The perfect read if you are temporarily down!

Many thanks to Hudson Square and Netgalley for this terrific ARC!

Kiss Me Deadly Midnight Sleeper Series Book 3 by Raeder Lomax

428 Pages
Publisher: Hudson Square Press HSP
Release Date: June 30, 2023

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, 1920s, Prohibition, Bootlegging

Camilla Knight is an aging stage performer known for her kiss me deadly snake dance act. Shelby Prevettee left her Mississippi family estate and lives with Virginia Swain, a stage actress. They met in December on the train when Shelby shared her bootleg rye whiskey. Zola, Shelby’s cousin, is a journalist in New York, is helping Al Nachman, a Mississippi attorney. He is looking into the blackmail photo of Addison Prevettee, Shelby’s father with Camilla in a compromising position. Beau LaHood is fired from his Pullman Porter position because of a boy’s death last year. The boy drank cheap liquor and died. Beau did not have anything to do with it but his parents need someone to blame.

The entire cast, plus some more are back in the second book in the series. It has a fast pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in third person point of view. Because of the era, there are derogatory names and racial slurs. If you like the jazz era, prohibition, bootleggers, and/or trains, you will enjoy reading this book.

Oo this book picked up right were book 1 left off. But when I got to the end of v this book I wanted more. Legit couldn't put this book down. Kept me pulled into it. 5 star book. Blurb is what caught my eye big time. Already told a few people that they need to get this series. Highly recommend it

Hello, yes, I have once again read another book in a series without refreshing myself on the previous book. I mean. I read the first book in April but still. I read a lot of books and have a terrible memory so, once again, I decided to live ~dangerously and fly blind.

But it's okay. It worked out. I used context clues and eventually figured out who everyone was, haha.

So. This one had very different ~vibes to Midnight Sleeper. Which was okay. It was still an amazing book that I really enjoyed.

BUT. That meant that some of my favorite characters weren't in this as much. I also missed the train setting since it kept everything more ~contained. This series has A LOT of characters all of whom have a lot happening so there were some threads that were picked up later in this book that had me just a little lost because I'd completely forgotten about them. (Some of them, I think, were throwbacks to the first book? Which might have been why I had forgotten them.)

So this is definitely a series that I would recommend reading close together. And I didn't ~quite like this one as much as the first book. But I still really, really enjoyed it! This is such a fun an interesting series that covers one of my favorite time periods! (And one of, I think, the most fascinating time periods.)

And the next book is set in Berlin? Um, yes please! I am so intrigued!! I'll be starting the last book here soon and I cannot wait!!! This series is lovely and I'm enjoying my journey with it so much!! If you also enjoy Prohibition era historical fiction, please check this series out!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Hudson Square Press for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review!