Murder Knocks Twice (Speakeasy Mysteries #1) by Susanna Calkins- Reshelved Books

Amazon posting for the book

I am happy to announce that I am moving on from my interest in the romance genre was now been replaced with an interest in the mystery.

I am also happy to say that this book was one that I enjoyed far more than The Glass Ocean (in case you're curious in knowing how I felt- that review can be found here)

This book is the first book in the series called "Speakeasy Mystery" by Susanna Calkins; the title of the book for this post is Murder Knocks Twice.  (I must admit, I'm excited for the next book to come out)


Set in the West Side of Chicago, during Prohibition (January 1929 to be exact), Murder Knocks Twice follows Gina, a young woman who just hired as a cigarette girl for the Third Door (which is a speak easy).  The timeline for this story happens VERY quickly.  I would be hard pressed to say that this entire book took place over the time frame of a month (and even that is a generous assumption!)

Lulu was already working at the Third Door asked Gina if she would be interested in working as a cigarette girl.  Against her better judgement and due to present circumstances, Gina accepts the position, without having to audition for the position (this makes sense later on), Gina is hired on the spot. 

Gina knew that she was hired to replace the space left open by Dorrie.  Unfortunately, Dorrie was tragically murdered right before the new year.  The circumstances surrounding her death were mysterious and something that *no one* at The Third Door was interested in talking about.  Gina also comes to find out that she is working with Marty Doyle, the photographer at the Third Door who happens to be her late mother's cousin.

Unintentionally, Gina witnesses the murder of fellow employee Marty.  In an effort of desperation, Gina takes and hides Marty's camera when he asks her to hide it to protect the information that he has.  In a series of twists and turns, Gina is able not only to solve the murder of Marty but of Dorrie too (plus a third person!).

According to a post that I found on Calkin's blog, she had originally written part of story featuring Gina as a supporting character.  She had placed the draft away to work on another project.  After years of sitting in what Calkins refers to as the "drawer", she removed the draft and read it.  Calkins discovered that Gina worked better as a main character and she re-worked her story. To read her blog post for yourself, click the link right here.

So, what did I think? 

I liked it! I liked the book.  I give it 4 coffee beans out of 5 coffee beans hands down. It was a fast read but it held my interest.  The back story of Gina's family history didn't overpower the story for me.  I liked more characters than others (I'm looking at Nancy and Roark). 

I really like Roark! I don't know why but I kept wishing that Gina would let him know what she had saw and what was going on earlier.  I feel like the idea of them together would be fun. I really didn't care too much for Nancy.  I thought she was a rather sour character, mainly because of her attitude toward everything.

If you're in the market for a new series that falls under mystery, I recommend this little gem!

~ Jillian