Stevie‘s review of Romancing the Rumrunner by Michelle McLean
Historical Romance published by Entangled: Scandalous 09 Jun 14
I do like twentieth century stories set in decades when women were finding ways to explore their newfound freedoms – the 1920s being a prime example. Of course, if we’re talking stories set in the US, then that also means the era of Prohibition, which brings with it a whole host of sources of danger and conflict for our heroines. This story has plenty of both.
Jessie has inherited her adoptive father’s butcher shop, but also his debts to a particularly nasty gangster. Fortunately, perhaps, there’s a second potential source of income for her in the form of the many barrels of homemade liquor he also left her, along with a network of interlinked tunnels – old cellars in the main – running from beneath her shop to all over their part of Chicago. Jessie invents a mysterious entrepreneur – the Phoenix – and passes herself off as his girlfriend and point of contact with the local populace, in order to distance herself somewhat from the illicit club she runs in the secret tunnels, where drinkers can consume her father’s booze. But, of course, the authorities are trying very hard to catch her out – and to catch the Phoenix.
Tony used to be a cop, and he was hoping to become a federal agent, until his partner was killed in the line of duty under circumstances for which Tony feels responsible. So now he works as a private investigator, desperate to make enough money to give his mother a better life than she’s had so far. Struggling to make ends meet, Tony is hired to track down the Phoenix and set up as a rival club owner using premises and booze seized in a recent raid. He offers Jessie a job as the new singer in his club, in order to learn more about the mysterious Phoenix, and she accepts in order to try and find out what he’s up to.
The attraction between the two of them works very well for me, and I enjoyed the scenes between Jessie and her friends, as well as those with Tony’s mother. On the other hand, I have a few niggles about the accuracy of a couple of scenes involving Tony’s car (something I’ve spotted in other stories set in the US in the same era, but have yet to get a definitive answer on as to whether this is a regional difference from the vintage cars I’m familiar with or a true anachronism), and also regarding some of the attitudes of the characters relative to the era and their situation in life, so this one just misses out on getting top marks.
Overall, though, a fun read from an author whose work I’d like to read more of.
Grade: B
Summary:
Prohibition Era Chicago
She’s worked too hard to be run out of town…
Jessica Harlan spends her nights as The Phoenix, the owner of the most popular speakeasy in town. Her days are spent running her respectable butcher shop and dodging prohibition agents and rival club owners who all want to put her out of business.
He’s worked too hard to let his heart get in the way…
When the opportunity arises to go undercover for the Feds to catch The Phoenix, Gumshoe Anthony Solomon jumps on it. But he never suspected the notorious rumrunner would be a dame – or that he’d be so drawn to the feisty little minx.
They play a dangerous game of cat and mouse, knowing they can’t trust the other, but unable to walk away. While their hearts dodge the crossfire, the mobsters raise the stakes, and even The Phoenix may not rise again.
Read an excerpt.
