“A Jazz Age mystery with heart, depth, and sparkling glamour, Passing Fancies will utterly transport readers back in time with its crisp and elegantly wrought detail. In a time of glitz and glamour, heroine Julia Kydd seeks justice armed with brilliance and a style all her own.”
Lydia Kang, bestselling author of A Beautiful Poison
“Passing Fancies features a remarkable protagonist in stylish, smart, and compassionate Julia Kydd, and I was riveted by her story and by the mystery that unfolds. Highly original characters and a fascinating time and place of Jazz Age New York pulled me in and kept me turning pages. Underlying social issues evoke some strong parallels to today, making this a must-read novel.” Nancy Bilyeau, acclaimed author of historical suspense fiction
“A must-read novel.”
Set in the publishing world of Manhattan’s Jazz Age, PASSING FANCIES delves beneath the era’s glittering surface to reveal fissures and frictions still raw today.
It’s 1925. Elegant young bibliophile Julia Kydd settles in New York, eager to join the city’s lively literary scene. Julia is befriended by Harlem singer Eva Pruitt, author of a manuscript rumored to reveal secrets of the glamorous nightclub where she works, which caters to fashionable white-only audiences. Publishers are competing for Eva’s novel, keen to exploit fascination with “New Negro” exoticism.
When the club’s owner is found shot to death and the police brutally question Eva, Julia realizes her friend has already been judged guilty. Shaken and ashamed at her own naïveté about American justice, Julia vows to find the murderer before the police can hunt down the fugitive Eva.
Julia’s search draws her into Eva’s world, where Julia must confront her own cultural blind spots even as she pursues an elusive killer.
“An intelligent, likable heroine, New York City, and the Harlem Renaissance combine to add vibrancy and complexity to a finely wrought historical novel with depth and style.”
Megan Chance, award-winning author of Bone River and Inamorata