Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets (A Jazz Age Mystery) - Softcover

Collier, Ellen Mansoor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0989417034 ISBN 13: 9780989417037

Publisher: Decodame Press, 2013

Synopsis

"Boardwalk Empire" meets "Miss Universe" in 1927 Galveston, Texas—the “Sin City of the Southwest.” Jasmine (“Jazz”) Cross is an ambitious 21-year-old society reporter for the Galveston Gazette who wants to be taken seriously by the good-old-boy staff, but the editors only assign her fluffy puff pieces, like writing profiles of bathing beauties. The last thing Jazz wants to do is compare make-up tips with ditzy dames competing in the Miss Universe contest, known as the “International Pageant of Pulchritude and Bathing Girl Revue.” She’d rather help solve the murders of young prostitutes who turn up all over town, but city officials insist on burying the stories during Splash Day festivities. After Jazz gets to know the bathing beauties, she realizes there’s a lot more to them than just pretty faces and figures. Jazz becomes suspicious when she finds out the contest is also sponsored by the Maceos, aspiring Beach Gang leaders and co-owners of the Hollywood Dinner Club, where the girls will perform before the parade and pageant. Worse, her half-brother Sammy Cook, owner of the Oasis, a speakeasy on a rival gang’s turf, asks her to call in a favor from handsome Prohibition Agent James Burton: He wants Agent Burton to raid the Hollywood Club during the bathing beauties dance routine--or risk revenge from the Downtown Gang leader. Her loyalties torn, Jazz is faced with an impossible task that could compromise both of their jobs and budding romance. Meanwhile, Jazz fends off advances from Colin Ferris, an attractive but dangerous gangster who threatens Sammy as well as Burton. In the end, she must risk it all to save her friends from a violent killer hell-bent on revenge. Inspired by actual events. (Sequel to FLAPPERS, FLASKS AND FOUL PLAY, the first "Jazz Age Mystery" in the series.)

About this title

About the Author:

Ellen Mansoor Collier is a Houston-based freelance writer and editor whose articles, essays and short stories have been published in a variety of national magazines. Formerly she's worked as a magazine editor and writer, and in advertising/marketing and public relations. A flapper at heart, she's the owner of MODERNEMILLIE on Etsy and DECODAME (www.art-decodame.com), specializing in Deco to retro vintage items. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Magazine Journalism, and lived in a c. 1926 dorm her freshman year. She worked as an editor on UTmost magazine and was active in Women in Communications (W.I.C.I.), serving as President her senior year.

Review:

The plot, the slang, the characters, the details- they swirled together with all the cinematic verve of a Billy Wilder film! Twists and turns in the story definitely had me guessing (and getting it wrong, lol) more than in the first book.

Jasmine Cross (aka Jazz), the ballsy belle the Jazz Age Mysteries revolve around, continues to be fleshed-out in BBBB and I fell in love with her character a little more. I loved being inside Jazz's head while she schemed all over town and connected overlooked dots to solve this Galveston murder mystery based on true events. Jazz is ready to move up from Society reporting and into the big time: Crime reporting.

There was a flicker of a romance in Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play that fans into a slightly bigger flame in Bathing Beauties. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Jazz and her love interest and can't wait to see where it goes in the next novel.

The author does a really great job at capturing the cultural climate of Prohibition era Galveston. Everything from the customs, mannerisms, dialogue and gender roles/expectations bring this historical mystery to vivid life. Ellen Mansoor Collier has a knack for describing all the decadence of the era from saloons, to brothels, to dresses, to perfumed lamps. It's like walking into a magical transporting antique store when reading the author's descriptions of stuff from the 20s. It made me want to run to the nearest flea market or antique mall to find the cool collectibles she references. In short, these books have basically made me want to ditch my modern life and become a full-time flapper journalist. Ha!  --Regina Reads

About this edition

• Publisher: Decodame Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0989417034
• ISBN 13: 9780989417037
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 253