The Wicked City has a dual timeline story, in the 1920s do we meet Gin Kelly a flapper who frequently visits the Christopher Club until the club is raided and she got an "offer" she can't refuse from Prohibition enforcement agent Oliver Anson who is after her step-daddy Duke Kelly, an infamous bootlegger. Several decades later has Ella Hawthorne moved into the house the Christopher Club used to be housed. At night strange noises can be heard from the basement, clinking classes, jazz piano voices, even though the speakeasy was closed down years ago...

I read this book and thought "wait a minute" could that be the guy from that other book by the author? I know now after reading A Certain Age, The Wicked City, and Cocoa Beach that there are no coincidences. I also know if it feels like there are loose ends in any of the books is it probably a reason for that. A reason that only Beatriz Williams knows. The Wicked City has two different storylines, and although both were enjoyable did I enjoy the present one a bit more, could be Hector, the hot neighbor, could be the strangely haunted basement, or it could be the mysterious discover that Ella did or her awesome Great-Aunt Julie who gave Ella some great advice, when she didn't talk about all the men she slept with. Loved that chapter in the book when Ella was visiting her Great-Aunt, the dialog was cracking. ( )

Another hit by Beatriz Williams. Loved the characters in The Wicked City and could not put this one down. ( )

I liked that this novel had the dual time line, Geneva "Gin" Kelly who gets herself wound up with bootleggers, shootings, the FBI, and someone from her past she swore she'd never have dealings with again. Then there is Ella, 1998 in New York City and she has just caught her new husband cheating on her, has moved out on him and doesn't quit know where to go in life. This new place works, but there is mystery to it, and little does she know the past in that building has a connection in her family. Following Gin through her adventure of the NY streets during the crime of bootlegging and illegal liquor making, and Ella trying to get back on her feet while learning about her families past and how to pick herself back up, as things could be worse. Pretty good read, although it took me a bit to get into Gin's character with how the writer writers her character POV. I do look forward to reading the next one. ( )

I love a good historical fiction story which this book has, however, the "modern day" story that is interspersed throughout takes away from the story. I feel like the two aren't fully linked and realized by the end of the book leaving me with more unanswered questions than answered. The dialogue from the 1920's feels authentic while the modern dialogue between the main characters feels forced and unnatural. There were several times I rolled my eyes because the conversation didn't seem genuine at all. Maybe the author offers more closure to the story in part 2. ( )

CHEKHOV�ÛªS GUN. We‰Ûªve all heard of it. ‰ÛÏIf you introduce a gun (or a mysterious box of buttons and a haunted speakeasy) in the beginning of the story, it must be fired (or their significance needs to be explained) by the end.‰Û

ANGE‰ÛªS RULE. I just made it up. When you choose the ‰ÛÏtold in alternate chapters by two different characters at separate times in history‰Û format for your novel, then at the end some sort of relationship between these two characters should be revealed.

The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams violates both of these rules.

The historic part takes place during the Prohibition. Ginger, a flapper with a heart of gold, frequents a speakeasy around the corner from her Manhattan rooming house. After being arrested in a raid, she is persuaded to participate in a dangerous plot to catch one of New York‰Ûªs most notorious and violent bootleggers, who also happens to be the stepfather she despises. Ginger is a fascinating and sympathetic heroine and her story was full of great descriptions and characters, action and intrigue.

The modern part takes place circa 1995. The building that once housed the speakeasy is now an apartment building, which Ella moves into after catching her rich, rat-bastard of a husband screwing a prostitute in the stairwell of her OLD building. Seriously. It seems the prostitute was delivering a pizza at the time, because that was the excuse he gave to leave their apartment and go downstairs. Totally sleazy, but I was thinking it was an ingenious business model. (The fact that I was contemplating the viability of a ‰ÛÏpizza and prostitute‰Û business indicates that Ella‰Ûªs part of the novel didn‰Ûªt hold my interest as much as Ginger‰Ûªs story.) Anyway, when Ella goes into the basement to do her laundry after a long day of moving in, she hears laughter and jazz music coming through the wall. Hector, the conveniently young, handsome and nice resident landlord, finds her there and suggests that she NOT go into the basement alone at night.

Almost at the end of the novel, Ella hears about the existence of Ginger from her great-grandmother, in a ridiculously coincidental way. Then the story just abruptly ends. Except for the box of buttons I mentioned at the beginning, there is literally no other overlap between their two stories. The ghosts in the basement, it is hinted, have something to do with Hector.

I don‰Ûªt care if you are starting a series, as I found out later this is the first book in a new one. In my opinion, if a book can‰Ûªt stand on its own, then it‰Ûªs sloppy writing and/or blatant manipulation to get you to read the next installment, neither of which I appreciate. It‰Ûªs a shame, because this had the potential to be awesome. I wouldn‰Ûªt read another novel by this author. ( )