Murder Knocks Twice
Susanna Calkins | April 30th, 2019 | Minotaur
Paperback ISBN: 978-1250190833 | Price: $16
Historical Mystery
Highland Park, IL – Beneath the streets of 1920s Chicago lie a dangerous, glittering underworld of speakeasies, where socialites sip bootlegged cocktails and rowdy soldiers play poker in a backroom. Macavity award-winning author and PhD historian Susanna Calkins writes of this world in her newest historical mystery novel Murder Knocks Twice (April 30, 2019, Minotaur Books).
When Gina Ricci takes on a job as a cigarette girl to earn money for her ailing father—and to prove to herself that she can hold her own at Chicago’s most notorious speakeasy, the Third Door—she is enchanted by the dark, glamorous atmosphere overseen by the club’s imposing owner, Signora Castallazzo. Yet she soon discovers that dark secrets lurk in the speakeasy’s shadowy corners as the staff buzzes with whispers about Gina’s predecessor, who died under mysterious circumstances, and the photographer, Marty, warns her to be careful.
After Marty is brutally murdered with Gina as the only witness, she becomes determined to track down his killer. What secrets did Marty capture on his camera—and who would do anything to destroy it? As Gina searches for answers, she’s pulled deeper into the sinister truths hiding behind the Third Door.
Susanna Calkins is the author of Murder Knocks Twice and the award-winning Lucy Campion series, holds a PhD in history and teaches at the college level. Her historical mysteries have been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark and Agatha awards, among many others, and The Masque of a Murderer received a Macavity. Originally from Philadelphia, Calkins now lives in the Chicago area with her husband and two sons.
http://www.susannacalkins.com/
My Review
Murder Knocks Twice is a new series by Susanna Calkin that takes place in 1929 Chicago during prohibition. We see Gina Ricci, the main character, start a new job as a cigarette girl in a speakeasy, replacing a girl who was murdered.
We meet a myriad of characters that work at the speakeasy, The Third Door owned by Signora Castallazzo, the customers, ie socialites finding some fun, ex-servicemen playing poker in a back room. Prohibition cocktails and mentions of gangsters such as Al Capone and there is also a mention of the St.Valentine's Day Massacre and the rise of organized crime.
I have not read much about 1929 Chicago other than the stock market crash. What does a cigarette girl do, she wears this box around her neck and goes around the speakeasy selling cigarettes and cigars, she also waits tables as needed. That is what Gina started doing but she also wants to be a photographer. The piano player, Marty is murdered and Gina comes upon the scene just as Marty is dying. Gina had learned that she and Marty were cousins on her mother's side so this murder was personal.
Gina finds herself right smack dab in the middle of trying to figure out who and why Marty was murdered. With a camera and a roll of film, that she learns how to develop, may give her answers. Will she find out what she is looking for? She does learn more about her mother's family and I see this as a big part of the series. Who her mother's family are and why were they estranged?
I enjoyed reading this book, not fast-paced but easy enough to read. I see this as a fun series that I would continue reading. If you love a good historical mystery that takes place during Prohibition, then this is the series for you.
I received a copy of this book for review purposes only.
An Interview with Susanna Calkin
What drew you to 1920s Chicago?
Initially, I was drawn to the fun. I mean, 1920s Chicago! It’s hard not to get a visual of flappers, gangsters, jazz players, cocktails, boas etc. That’s why I start the series with Gina’s first day on her job--a cigarette seller in a glamorous speakeasy--so that we could all enter this world together. But I wanted to explore other dimensions too--what is the impact of Prohibition on regular people?
Why do you think the National Prohibition Act had such an impact on society?
The National Prohibition Act reveals a fascinating set of tensions that you can trace back to the founding of the country. On the one hand, there were the founders of the colonies (Puritans, Quakers, Baptists etc) who sought to create godly and orderly societies, and who widely viewed alcohol as a disorderly influence that brought about licentiousness and crime, and which need to be heavily regulated. On the other hand, there were those who manufactured and distributed alcohol, who viewed it as a reliable source of income and who regularly found ways to get around restrictive laws. And of course, in between, there are all the consumers who viewed alcohol as access to merriment, entertainment and a sense of escape. These tensions played out over the next few centuries, culminating in the National Prohibition Act. The impact of prohibiting the distribution and sale of alcohol was profound—because people were not willing to give up their alcohol, illegal access became the norm. Naturally, those who were willing to protect illegal access are operating outside the law. And because the illegal alcohol trade was so dangerous, people were willing to pay prices, putting money into the hands of criminals, leading effectively to the rise of organized crime in the U.S. as well as widespread political corruption. These long-standing implications were not resolved after Prohibition was repealed in the 1930s, and can still be felt today.
Your award winning Lucy Campion Mystery series is set in the 17th century London and this latest title takes place in 1920s Chicago. What did your research process look like for both of these series?
My research for the Lucy Campion mysteries began well before I even had the idea of writing a novel, the idea forming as I studied seventeenth century letters and diaries, and the penny press—broadsheets, pamphlets, tracts, ballads, etc—which often described sensationalized “strange news” and “true accounts” of odd happenings. I travelled to different archives in the U.S. and in London, scouring old documents. I also served on the Golden Hinde in London for a few months, a 16th century museum replica of Sir Frances Drake’s ship that is dry-docked on the Thames by London Bridge. As a “living history specialist” (tour guide! Pirate!) I was able to be somewhat immersed in the period as well. But because I was working on my dissertation at the time, I was also reading scholarly works and analyzing historic social and political trends from the period. When I actually started writing my book a number of years later—after becoming fascinated by a collection of “murder ballads” from the era—I realized that I had to figure out the everyday details of people’s lives—how did they live? What pastimes and merriments did they enjoy? How did the streets of London fit together? So I had to go back to the archives (which, thankfully, are largely online now), find historical maps, and used historical calendars to keep my details straight.
By contrast, my research for Speakeasy Murders was very different. While I’ve taught some American history, I don’t have nearly the background knowledge that I had specializing in early modern British history. But I live in the Chicago area now, so I’m able to walk around where my books are set. I’ve taken 1920s tours and visited a speakeasy from the era. I’ve watched a ton of period films (silent and talkies) and I listening to 1920s music. I’ve tried lots of Prohibition-era cocktails. I’ve read every edition of the Chicago Tribune from 1929, poured over the Sears and Roebucks catalogs, and watched old footage of different events on YouTube. And I’ve still read a number of scholarly sources about Prohibition, flappers, gangsters, etc. But the most fascinating difference that I’ve discovered is how the Prohibition is still “alive” in Chicago. When I tell people about my books, there’s always someone saying—‘oh my grandfather cut Al Capone’s hair,’ or “My great-Aunt was married to a bootlegger.”
After you research, how do you turn what you’ve found into a story?
For the Lucy Campion mysteries—my story began with a collection of murder ballads that told the story of a young woman, found strangled or stabbed, and in her pocket was a note. The note would say—“Dear sweetheart, meet me at such-and-such. Don’t tell anyone.” And then it would be signed some guy’s name. The community would find the note, figure out who the guy was, throw him jail, bring him to trial and he’d usually be hanged. I wondered had he been framed? Who was the woman? That became the premise of my first novel.
For the Speakeasy Murders, I scoured the Chicago Tribune, hunting for odd stories and questionable happenings. I started my story deliberately in Jan 1929, so that it could end close to the St. Valentine’s Day massacre in February. I came across some images of a young woman holding a kodak camera and that’s why Gina became a photographer. I had to learn a ton about 1920s photography. I thought about what it would really be like to work in a speakeasy, so I had to research music, cocktails, women’s clothes, as well as cigarettes and candy.
How does your passion for history influence your writing?
I love discovering strange and fascinating details of a period. I’m also intrigued by the big historical questions: Why did this happen? How did this happen? What was the impact of x on this community? Or, even more often– Is this the “true” story, or is there another plausible explanation? Each of my books has an underlying question. In the Speakeasy Murders, my fundamental question is: “What was the impact of Prohibition on regular people?” and even more specifically, for Murder Knocks Twice, “What was it like to sell cigarettes in a Chicago speakeasy in 1929?”
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