mixologist, law-enforcement, lawyers, friction, friendship, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, amateur-sleuth, pet, dog, situational-humor, recipes, NYC, family-dynamics, family-drama, poisons*****

Meet Val (Valentine from the "Wild West") and her husband Roderick (Roddy) DeVere (of the wealthy DeVeres) in 1899. A former law school mate ropes Roddy into a business deal and an investigation into Chicago police allegations that the man's wife was murdered. The investigation appeared to be hard work while Val had to deal with her totally disapproving mother-in-law, dissention among the servants, trying to overcome her own disdain of society rules, and her dislike of several people who needed investigation. Meanwhile Roddy has his legal work, social obligations, and trying to figure out how to distance himself from some odious patent medicines of the day (and the fun of devising new cocktail recipes). Good research, interesting characters, fine descriptions, and a lively sleuthing. Delightful!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

Roddy DeVere is interested when Martin Coates, an old law school ally now living near Chicago, suggests that they go into business together making bitters, an essential ingredient in the cocktails Roddy is so good at inventing. He and his wife Val are therefore a bit nonplussed when Martin begs for their help: his wife Lydia had fallen down a staircase in their home and died, but the police in Chicago suspect that he might have killed her and Martin is desperate for his name to be cleared. He quickly entangles the DeVeres in his family’s drama, including his brother Owen who has received the bulk of the estate of their multi-millionaire father; his sister Celia, given a measly one million but determined to spend it all as quickly as possible; and the enigmatic, rather sinister, Sara Dow, who was a kind of companion and friend to Lydia who also received a hefty legacy when Lydia died. Martin himself has only been left the original family business of Vitalene, an elixir very popular for all sorts of health conditions, but really a deadly concoction that Martin wants to discontinue. As the DeVeres travel to Chicago to try to unravel the threads of this deadly case, they discover that even their status high up in New York Society won’t protect them from all the Windy City has to offer….This is the fourth book in the Val and Roddy DeVere series, and like the three before it, there’s a lot to chew on here. Ms. Tichi is an expert in the history of the Gilded Age in New York (represented here by the year 1899) and her depictions of life both in the upper and lower echelons of society are very well researched and described; her branching out to Chicago in this book also rings very true, from the thousands of homeless, hopeless and threatening people on the streets of that city to the impulses behind the founding of Hull House, an early example of social work in practice. I also loved the passion with which the scourge of so-called “miracle cures” of the era is addressed; these elixirs were truly dangerous compounds, as likely to poison you as to addict you. I think one should read these books in sequence, as I almost always say of series books, but if the reader were to pick this one up first, on a whim, s/he would not be disappointed; recommended! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )