Review for The Wicked Widow by Beatriz Williams

 The Wicked Widow by Beatriz Williams 

ebook, 288 pages

Published October 12th 2021 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Genre:  Historical Fiction

 

From Goodreads:  Gin Kelly, the wicked redhead, is back! Readers will delight in next installment of the Wicked City series by New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams.

June 1925. Audacious Appalachian flapper Geneva "Gin" Kelly prepares to trade her high-flying ways for respectable marriage to Oliver Anson Marshall, a steadfast Prohibition agent who happens to hail from one of New York's most distinguished families. But just as wedding bells chime, the head of the notorious East Coast rum-running racket--and Anson's mortal enemy--turns up murdered at a society funeral, and their short-lived honeymoon bliss goes up in a spectacular blaze that sends Anson back undercover...and into the jaws of a trap from which not even Gin can rescue him. As violence explodes around her, Gin must summon all her considerable moxie to trace the tentacles of this sinister organization back to their shocking source, and face down a legendary American family at a rigged game it has no intention of losing.

June 1998. When Ella Dommerich's ninety something society queen aunt Julie ropes her into digging up dirt on Senator (and Presidential candidate) Franklin Hardcastle in order to settle old family scores, she couldn't be less enthusiastic. Pregnant Ella's recently ditched her unfaithful husband and settled into cozy--if complicated--domesticity with her almost-too-good-to-be-true musician boyfriend, Hector. But then the Hardcastle secrets lead to a web of shady dealings Ella's uncovered in her job as a financial analyst, and the bodies start to tumble out of the venerable woodwork. With the help of her ex-husband and her mysterious connection to a certain redheaded flapper, Ella digs up more than mere dirt...only to discover herself standing alone between a legendarily ruthless family and the prize it's sought for generations.

What ugly secrets lurk in the opulent enclaves--and bank accounts--of America's richest families? And can two determined women from two different generations thwart the murderous legacy of the demon liquor?

 

My Thoughts:  The redhead is back.    Gin Kelley is back in the fourth book of the Wicked City Series.   I am entirely hooked on Beatriz Williams and love that she keeps bringing back a character that I love.    Gin Kelley is one of those characters that once you read about them you crave knowing more.    The Wicked City Series is her story.   Each book is a read alone but the story ends with more to tell.   

The dual timelines were perfect.   Each time had their own story, but they intertwined perfectly.   I liked that I did not have to guess as to what the connection was.  Ella’s story and her willingness to help Aunt Julie find out the truth about the family was so interesting.  I liked that even though it is more current there is still history being shared and discovered. 

Both characters had very interesting love lives.   I loved Gin’s husband and how they lived an interesting life, their life was not boring, and I was kept on my toes wondering where they would go next.   Ella’s husband was a trip, not in a good way, and her relationship with Hector kept me guessing at if they could find a way to be together forever.   

I am so very excited for this book and more to come in this series.   Gin Kelley has more to share.  

**Thank you Brittani Hilles at HarperCollins and NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange fo my honest review.

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Meet Beatriz Williams (from her website):  Beatriz Williams is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of Our Woman in Moscow, The Summer Wives, Her Last Flight, The Golden Hour, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, and several other works of historical fiction, including three novels in collaboration with fellow bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University, Beatriz worked as a communications and corporate strategy consultant in New York and London before she turned her attention to writing novels that combine her passion for history with an obsessive devotion to voice and characterization. Beatriz’s books have won numerous awards, have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and appear regularly in bestseller lists around the world.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Beatriz now lives near the Connecticut shore with her husband and four children, where she divides her time between writing and laundry.