The Last Drop of Hemlock

by Katharine Schellman

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

The Last Drop of Hemlock is the second historical mystery featuring the prohibition era jazz club The Nightingale written by Katharine Schellman. Released 6th June 2023 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.

This is a well written historical cozy(ish) mystery with an ensemble returning cast of characters and based on a fictitious New York City speakeasy during prohibition. There are a number of gender-fluid, bi-, and otherwise non-traditional presenting characters which was nice to see. The cast is also racially diverse and the story is blissfully without "token" representations. It might not be, strictly speaking, historically accurate, but it was refreshing to read. Other than the kindly wishful anachronistic diverse cast, the book seems to do a good, relatively accurate job with the official/police and political corruption of the time. 

The central murder mystery revolves around the poisoning death of the uncle of the club's chanteuse, Bea. A series of threatening letters and thefts in the neighborhood sees the Nightingale's employees turn amateur sleuth. There's a significant romance subplot, so readers who enjoy romance and mystery will find a lot to love here. There's also an ancillary overarching multi-book mystery concerning the parentage and family history of two of the main characters, sisters Viv and Flo. 

Despite being the second book in the series, it works well enough as a standalone, and the main mystery is resolved in this volume. The language is mostly accurate to the period and adds a lot to the read. 

The unabridged audiobook format has a run time of 10 hours, 12 minutes and is well narrated by series narrator Sara Young. She has a warm and rich clear alto voice and does a good job delineating the widely varied accents of a range of characters of all ages and both sexes including elderly and young voices. Sound and production quality are high throughout the recording. 

Four stars.

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