Susanna Calkins may be the only Macavity Award-winning author ever to crew on a pirate ship.
And while the celebrated Elizabethan privateer, the Golden Hinde, on which she served, was a replica docked on the river Thames in London rather than afloat on the Spanish Main, the time she spent aboard is a clear reflection of the writer’s passion for the past.
Combined with a PhD in British History, Calkins’ hands-on experience of what life was like for the people of yesteryear gives her fiction a genuine depth. Inspired by writers such as Anne Perry, the Pennsylvania-born author’s work takes the reader into in the murky streets of 17th-century London and the glittering jazz dives of Al Capone-era Chicago.
Looking for a place to start? Here are five of the best Susanna Calkins books to pick up tonight.
Murder Knocks Twice
The first in what is sure to become a much-loved series, Murder Knocks Twice plunges us back into the Roaring Twenties—the era of Prohibition, illegal drinking dens, tinkling pianos, gorgeous dolls, and tough machine-gun armed bootleggers.
Calkins’ sassy heroine is Gina Ricci, a newly employed cigarette girl in Chicago’s most celebrated speakeasy, the Third Door. Gina thinks she has the resources to succeed in this wild and glamorous milieu, but then the club photographer, Marty, delivers a dark warning about the fate of her predecessor.
Soon Marty himself winds up dead, and, with rumors circling like vultures, Gina begins to uncover the truth about the glitzy speakeasy, its patrons and workers, and the fearsome owner, Signora Castallazzo.
A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
Calkins’ 2014 debut novel kicked off the celebrated Lucy Campion series. It was inspired by the author’s discovery of the tradition of English murder ballads, songs, usually sung in inns and taverns, that told the story of notorious slayings and which were the forerunners of modern true crime books.
Set in the English capital during an era that saw life in London blighted by the Black Death and The Great Fire, this richly atmospheric mystery begins with Lucy, a chambermaid to a local magistrate, learning of the brutal murder of a fellow servant.
When Lucy’s brother is accused and arrested for the crime, she turns detective, knowing that the only way to save her sibling is to find the real killer. Her quest will take her into London’s roughest streets, through Gypsy encampments and into the dreaded Newgate Prison, home to Britain’s most notorious villains.
The Masque of a Murderer
In the third book in the series, plucky working-class heroine Lucy Campion has moved on from being a household servant and become an apprentice printer. London is unsettled by the social upheavals following the return from exile of the louche and promiscuous King Charles II, and gripped by one of the coldest winters in British history.
On one icy night, Lucy is called to the deathbed of a man rundown by a horse and cart to record his final words (a common task at the time for printers). The man’s death seems like an unfortunate mishap, except that he is a Quaker, at the time a persecuted religious sect, and with his final breath reveals to Lucy that his death was no accident.
Our gutsy amateur sleuth is soon on the trail of a murderer who has powerful—and dangerous—friends.
Filled with fascinating historical details about an often overlooked period in English history, The Masque of a Murderer was a deserved winner of the 2016 Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award.
Death Among the Ruins
Apprentice printer Lucy Campion is preparing for her wedding to Adam Hargrave, who has helped her out in several earlier mysteries. She takes time off from party planning to help young, penniless ragpicker Mercy Sykes escape a prison sentence for grave robbery.
This act of kindness earns Lucy the girl’s eternal gratitude. So, when Mercy discovers the body of a young woman dressed in fine clothes lying in the charred ruins of Christchurch (destroyed in the Great Fire), she runs to Lucy for aid.
Lucy quickly learns that the young woman is a servant wearing her mistress’s clothes. But has she simply stolen them, or is there something more sinister going on?
Never mind bridal dresses, there is a mystery to solve, and Lucy is the one to do it.
The seventh book in this excellent series is a tale as sinuously twisting as a snake, and will keep you guessing until the final pages.
The Fate of a Flapper
We’re back with feisty night club cigarette girl Gina Ricci in the giddy whirl of 1929 Chicago in this, the second of the Speakeasy Series.
The Chicago Cubs are on track to reach baseball’s World Series, illegal alcohol is flowing, the cops have been paid off, and gangsters are swaggering around the streets without a care.
Meanwhile, at the Windy City’s most popular drinking den, the Third Door, two customers drop dead after knocking back several of the bartender’s signature cocktails.
Could it be that the establishment is selling suspect booze? Or are the deaths part of Chicago’s ongoing turf war between rival mobs?
Gina, naturally, is determined to find out the answer, no matter the dangers.
As sparkling as the Third Door’s chandeliers, The Fate of a Flapper was nominated for an Agatha.
Featured image: Mitch Harris/Unsplash
