The Pearl Dagger

Set in 1937, Chandlar’s frenetic third Art Deco mystery (after 2018’s The Gold Pawn) is a paean to Depression-era New York City. After a cop friend is killed in an ambush, feisty Lane Sanders, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s personal aide, and her detective boyfriend, Finn Brodie, stumble on a gangland threat to the crime-busting mayor. Evidence points to an international crime syndicate called the Red Scroll Network being behind the plot. But Red Scroll collapsed years earlier when mastermind Rex Ruby died. Could Ruby have an heir who is resurrecting his criminal empire? To find out, La Guardia sends Lane and Finn to England, where they uncover secrets, not least of which is that the Red Scroll is somehow connected to the mysterious deaths of Lane’s parents when she was 10 years old. It’s easy to get lost in the myriad plot threads of this gleefully rendered story with its colorful characters, both real and fictional. Readers who don’t mind lengthy digressions and a surfeit of period detail will have fun. Agent: Jill Grosjean, Jill Grosjean Literary. (Sept.)