ARC Review: A Deadly Endeavor by Jenny Adams

A Deadly Endeavor
Author: Jenny Adams
Series: A Deadly Twenties Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (March 5, 2024)

Description: A serial killer is on the loose in Jazz Age Philadelphia in Jenny Adams’ debut historical mystery, perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Rhys Bowen.

Philadelphia, 1921. When Edie Shippen returns home after spending years in California recovering from Influenza, she’s shocked to discover that her childhood sweetheart is engaged to her twin sister. Heartbroken and adrift, Edie vows to begin living her life as a modern woman—and to hell with anyone who gets in her way. But as young women start to disappear from the city, her newfound independence begins to feel dangerous.

Gilbert Lawless returned home from the Great War a shell of his former self. He hides away in the office of Philadelphia’s Coroner, content to keep to himself until a gruesome series of corpses come into the morgue. And when his sister, Lizzie, goes missing, he risks his career to beg help from the one person Lizzie seemed to trust: her employer, Edie Shippen.

Fearing the worst, Edie and Gilbert desperately search for clues. It soon becomes clear that Lizzie’s disappearance is connected to the deaths rocking the City of Brotherly Love...and it’s only a matter of time until the killer strikes again.

With a lush Roaring Twenties setting and a wickedly smart sleuth to cheer for, A Deadly Endeavor is the perfect puzzling romp for fans of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

My Thoughts: It is 1921 in Philadelphia and Edie Shippen has come home from California after recovering from the influenza that killer her mother and almost killed her. Her only souvenir is migraine headaches. 

Gilbert Lawless has come home from fighting in World War I with severe shell shock which he is treating with heroin. He is working as a doctor at the morgue and raising his four-year-old daughter after the death in childbirth of his wife. 

The two come together while investigating the same problem. There is a serial killer taking young women. One of the Shippen household maids has disappeared as has one of Edie's cousins. Then Edie's maid, this one Gilbert's sister, disappears. The police were quick to right off the first maid's disappearance but the disappearance of young women from the highest class isn't so easy to write off. 

Meanwhile, Gilbert has been dealing with the bodies of young women found near the river with a variety of injuries. All of them have evidence of being strangled and have strange marks on their wrists and ankles. But the first body is missing its head, the second is missing all of her internal organs, the third has been skinned, and the fourth is missing her eyes and tongue. 

Edie is determined to find her maid and Gilbert to find his sister. Their search takes them to the underbelly of Philadelphia with meetings with gangsters and an illicit boxing match before they determine that the killer is someone much closer to Edie's home and life. 

This was an engaging story which stars two people who are damaged in various ways as a result of World War I and the influenza epidemic. I liked that Edie was trying to live her own life despite the pressure to be a safe, soft socialite. I liked Gilbert's struggles with his shell shock and his determination to give his daughter a good life. 

Favorite Quote:

And Edie...Edie didn't know what she wanted, other than to feel like she deserved the life she had. To feel like she'd earned a second chance. To feel...anything. Anything other than anger and guilt and so much damn sadness, the kind that threatened to drown her every time she closed her eyes.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.