ARC Review: Harlem After Midnight by Louise Hare

Harlem After Midnight
Author: Louise Hare
Series: A Canary Club Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Berkley (August 29, 2023)

Description: A body falls from a town house window in Harlem, and it looks just like the newest singer at the Apollo...in this evocative, twisting new novel from the author of Miss Aldridge Regrets.

Harlem, 1936: Lena Aldridge grew up in a cramped corner of London, hearing stories of the bright lights of Broadway. She always imagined that when she finally went to New York City, she’d be there with her father. But now he’s dead, and she’s newly arrived and alone, chasing a dream that has quickly dried up. When Will Goodman—the handsome musician she met on the crossing from England—offers for her to stay with his friends in Harlem, she agrees. She has nowhere else to go, and this will give her a chance to get to know Will better and see if she can find any trace of the family she might have remaining.

Will’s friends welcome her with open arms, but just as Lena discovers the stories her father once told her were missing giant pieces of information, she also starts to realize the man she’s falling too fast and too hard for has secrets of his own. And they might just place a target on her back. Especially when she is drawn to the brightest stage in town.

My Thoughts: The sequel to MISS ALDRIDGE REGRETS takes place in New York City in 1936. Lena has survived the problems of the first book but is in New York with no job and no friends except Will Goodman whom she met on the Atlantic crossing.

Lena is staying with Will's friends Claudette and Louis. She's a library assistant and he's a doctor. Lena is also learning more about Will. She meets his stepsister Bel and his niece Joey and lots of people in Harlem who remember him fondly. 

Lena is also looking for information about her father who recently died of tuberculosis. She met the woman who was her mother in the first adventure and has quite a few questions about her father's life that he never told her about. 

The book actually begins with a woman falling out of the window of Claud and Louis's apartment holding Lena's passport leading the reader to believe that it was Lena. Then the story slips backward to when Lena first arrives in New York. There are also flashbacks that let the reader take a peek into Lena's father Alfie's life in New York City before she was born. We learn about him before Lena does. 

This was an interesting historical story with a bit of mystery. Like in the first book, the mystery plot isn't the most important part of the story and isn't particularly strong. What is important is Lena's search for family and for the past her father never told her about. It is about the difficulties of being Black in New York City in 1936 even if your skin is light enough to pass. It's about the start of a romance that doesn't seem to have a future.

Fans of historical fiction will enjoy getting to know Lena and her world. 

Favorite Quote:

People made mistakes, but I wasn't entirely sure that we weren't meant to. Our lives were formed from those errors of judgment. Even the bad times sometimes begat the good. 

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