Henrietta Von Harmon works as a 26 girl at a corner bar on Chicago’s northwest side. It’s 1935, but things still aren’t looking up since the big crash and her father’s subsequent suicide, leaving Henrietta to care for her antagonistic mother and younger siblings. Henrietta is eventually persuaded to take a job as a taxi dancer at a local dance hall - and just when she’s beginning to enjoy herself, the floor matron turns up dead.

When aloof Inspector Clive Howard appears on the scene, Henrietta agrees to go undercover for him - and is plunged into Chicago’s grittier underworld. Meanwhile, she’s still busy playing mother hen to her younger siblings, as well as to pesky neighborhood boy Stanley, who believes himself in love with her and keeps popping up in the most unlikely places, determined to keep Henrietta safe - even from the Inspector, if need be. Despite his efforts, however, and his penchant for messing up the Inspector’s investigation, the lovely Henrietta and the impenetrable Inspector find themselves drawn to each other in most unsuitable ways. ( )

Thoroughly enjoyed this first book with mystery, romance, action, history, and narrator was okay. What I enjoyed most was that the main characters had values but dealt with others without being "preachy".

Looking forward to the other books in the series.

Henrietta Von Harmon works as a 26 girl at a corner bar on Chicago’s northwest side. It’s 1935, but things still aren’t looking up since the big crash and her father’s subsequent suicide, leaving Henrietta to care for her antagonistic mother and younger siblings. Henrietta is eventually persuaded to take a job as a taxi dancer at a local dance hall - and just when she’s beginning to enjoy herself, the floor matron turns up dead.
When aloof Inspector Clive Howard appears on the scene, Henrietta agrees to go undercover for him - and is plunged into Chicago’s grittier underworld. Meanwhile, she’s still busy playing mother hen to her younger siblings, as well as to pesky neighborhood boy Stanley, who believes himself in love with her and keeps popping up in the most unlikely places, determined to keep Henrietta safe - even from the Inspector, if need be. Despite his efforts, however, and his penchant for messing up the Inspector’s investigation, the lovely Henrietta and the impenetrable Inspector find themselves drawn to each other in most unsuitable ways. ( )

This is a story of the time period of the Great American Depression. It is a time when jobs were very hard to find and the pay was very little to survive on. Henrietta was an older teenage girl. Her father was dead and as the eldest, was left to work and support her mother and her many siblings. She discovered an opportunity to work in an environment her mother and Priest would not approve of. She was able to successfully deceive her mother. It was a deception that put her in several compromising positions. She discovered she had a strange variety of friends. She also discovered shocking new things she never knew about in her young life. Would she live through it all?
This is a very well-written, captivating book. I really enjoyed it except for the occasional profanity and a sex scene that wasn't explicit but was still too descriptive.
The scenes were easily visualized and the characters seemed very real. One felt he/she was living the story in every way.
The Narrator, Jayne Entwistle did a very good job in her performance and was very consistent with the use of various "voices". ( )

1930s Chicago and uneducated 18 year old Henrietta Von Harmon is working any job she can get which results in her getting involved in a seedy police operation.
I found the naive and innocent Henrietta annoying. How foolish and easy was it of her to get involved in what was basically the sex industry, and I didn't really find her relationship with the much older Inspector that believable. So for me not enough mystery. I would definitely prefer a series based just on the Inspector and keep away from his private life. ( )

Henrietta is marvellous company for a few hours in 1930's Chicago
I enjoyed the characters and the setting of this book. The writing was good. The pace and plot added impetus to keeping the pages turning. ( )