Passing Fancies (A Julia Kydd Novel, #2)

by Marlowe Benn

Julia Kydd returns in a new mystery set in the beguiling world of the Harlem Renaissance, where reckless revelry leads to devastating crimes.

When stylish young bibliophile Julia Kydd returns to 1920s New York, she’s determined to launch her own private press. Julia’s aspirations take her into the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, a literary movement unlike any she’s known—where notions of race, sexuality, and power are slippery, and identities can be deceptively fluid.

At a risqué soiree, Julia befriends singer Eva Pruitt, whose new book is rumored to reveal lurid details about the Harlem nightlife. But Leonard Timson, a local nightclub owner, is furious when he suspects he’s the inspiration for a violent character in the book. By morning, Timson is dead, and both Eva and her manuscript are missing.

Julia finds herself immersed in a case as troubling as Jazz Age race relations. More questions than answers surface about Eva’s mysterious world, and powerful interests conspire to protect dangerous secrets. Still, no man can stand between Julia and the truth: appalled by violent injustice, she must use her wit and guile to find the killer.

• ISBN10: 1542044642
• ISBN13: 9781542044646
• Publish Date: 2 June 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Amazon Publishing
• Imprint: Lake Union Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 331
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Passing Fancies is the second Julia Kydd mystery by Marlowe Benn. Released 2nd June 2020, it's 331 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book (and the first in the series) is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a competently written period murder mystery set in NYC in 1925. The protagonist is a (recently) independently wealthy young woman who is a publisher of small run special edition art books. In her search for new authors to publish and promote, she moves in social circles with artists, writers, and musicians. The avant garde attend the same parties without regard to race or to the segregation laws of the time and she meets and befriends an author whom she is surprised to find out is of mixed race background. How their friendship develops is central to the plot. Much of it turns on themes of sexism, racism, rape, segregation, and rigid patriarchy in addition to the murder and subsequent investigation.

Although this is the second book in the series, it works well enough as a standalone. The necessary backstory is given in the narrative and I never felt lost or had trouble keeping the characters straight in my head as I was reading.

Although it seems to mostly be a light period mystery, there's a fair amount of graphic violence, racism, discussion of rape, etc etc. I found myself uncomfortable with some of the discussions as well as the relentless racism (especially in the context of "that's the way it is"). The author is unquestionably a competent writer and I love books with a bibliophile theme. I'm motivated to at least read the next book in the series. I also found the denouement rather tough going and the resolution left me somewhat dissatisfied.

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.