Broadway Butterfly by Sara Divello

Embodied with the feel of the 1920s gangster era when political corruption had long tentacles that could reach from the police to the president, Sara Divello pens a beautiful historical fiction about the murder of Dot King, the Broadway Butterfly.

Dot was a model, a showgirl, a get-around, a ladder climber. She knew what she wanted and had the skills to get it until she was killed. The investigation surrounding her murder ensnared female crime reporter (a true rarity in the day) Julia Harpman and police inspector John Coughlin as they parried against one another, trying to learn the truth of whodunnit: The illustrious John Kearsley Mitchell III, son-in-law of the infamous E.T. Stotesbury of J.P. Morgan fame, or the slimy gigolo Albert Guiarmes; both of whom were Dot's lovers.

Oh, the twists and turns in this real-life drama. The housekeeper knows more than she telling. The dancer-friend who knows something but not much. The alibi for Guiarmes, who ends up dead. The wife of Mitchell who becomes socially ostracised. And the President of the United States, who has a tie in all this. Well done, Sara DiVello.

While the Broadway Butterfly will not change history, it is fascinating to read how things were 'back in the day' and how far we've come or not.

You will enjoy this one.