Published 12th November 2020 by Wildfire Books.
From the cover of the book:
New York, 1946. Lillian Pentecost is the most successful private detective in the city, but her health is failing. She hires an assistant to help with the investigative legwork. Willowjean Parker is a circus runaway. Quick-witted and street-smart, she's a jack-of-all-trades with a unique skill-set. She can pick locks blindfolded, wrestle men twice her size, and throw knives with deadly precision - all of which come in handy working for Ms P.When wealthy young widow Abigail Collins is murdered and the police are making no progress, Pentecost and Parker are hired by the family to track down the culprit.
On Halloween night, there was a costume party at the Collins' mansion, where a fortune teller performed a séance which greatly disturbed Abigail. Several hours later her body was discovered bludgeoned to death in her late husband's office. Problem is, the door to the office was locked from the inside. There was no-one else in the room, and the murder weapon was beside the victim; the fortune teller's crystal ball.
It looks like an impossible crime, but Pentecost and Parker know there is no such thing...
It looks like an impossible crime, but Pentecost and Parker know there is no such thing...
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Fortune Favours The Dead is the first book in a brilliant new series by Stephen Spotswood that mixes all the nostalgic charm of the best classic books of the genre into a seemingly traditional murder mystery with some surprisingly modern features.
Pentecost and Parker are our unconventional feminist, crime-solving duo succeeding in a post-World War II male-dominated world. Pentecost is a force to be reckoned with in her own right, but failing health and a chance encounter with the extra capable Parker while on a case forges a partnership that has everything you want and more in a detective novel of the period.
This tale is beautifully crafted into an outstanding murder-mystery that brings in elements of some of my absolute favourite detectives and their authors. The story is narrated in an enchanting 'case-book' style by Parker, as sort of a Watson to Pentecost's Holmes, that takes us through the nitty-gritty of the Collins case from the intriguing locked-room murder, all the way through to a thought-provoking encounter with a criminal mastermind Moriarty type figure - but Parker is certainly no Watson! Instead her tale is spun in the way of a hard-boiled gumshoe in the Raymond Chandler mould, and it works perfectly. Throw in more than a little Golden Age murder mystery in the style of the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, and a hint of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown (especially in the form of the splendid housekeeper Mrs Campbell) and you have a winning combination that had me glued to the pages from start to finish.
The story plays out in the slickest and most entertaining of ways, against a New York full of a marvellous mix of characters from the so-called cream of society, down to the inhabitants of the dark underbelly of the city, and everyone in between - with dangerous dames and gorgeous guys, violent villains and cunning con-artists, everyone seems to have secrets that they would prefer stayed hidden, including our crime fighting duo. And it is on this front that the more modern elements of the story present themselves, especially in terms of the sexual predilections of some of the characters and the stark reality of the existence of the poorer residents of the city.
This really is a cracking book that leads you on a merry dance, and delights you when the pieces finally fall into place - with more than a few nicely contrived surprises. I loved every minute spent with Pentecost and Parker and cannot wait for the next book in the series!
Fortune Favours The Dead is available to buy from your favourite book retailer in hardback, ebook and audio formats now, or from Bookshop.org HERE.
Thank you to Caitlin Raynor of Headline Publishing Group for gifting me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Stephen Spotswood is an award-winning playwright, journalist and theatre educator. He makes his home in Washington, DC with his wife, young adult author Jessica Spotswood, their cat, and an ever-growing collection of books.
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