Starred review from September 14, 2020
Turano (Diamond in the Rough) opens her Gilded Age–era Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency series with this lavishly imagined tale set in the upper-class homes of New York City. No one is who they seem in this upstairs-downstairs story featuring Gabriella, an outspoken seamstress in her early 20s who moves into a Bleecker Street boardinghouse after aging out of the orphanage where she was living. After fellow boardinghouse resident Jennette Moore is wrongfully accused of stealing jewels from the Linwood family estate, Gabriella teams up with the other young ladies of the residence to catch the real thief. Their plans, though, go outrageously, hilariously awry, as when, among other bungles, Gabriella ruins the Fairy Tale ball with her clumsy eavesdropping and pick-pocketing. During her sleuthing, Gabriella runs into an old friend from the streets, Nicholas Quinn, who is now a member of the city’s elite and a sought-after bachelor. Old friendships are rediscovered and secrets from the past revealed, leading Gabriella and Nicholas to rediscover their faith and recognize the defenses each had built around their own heart. Readers will laugh out loud at the witty dialogue and cheer when justice gets smartly served. This is Turano’s best yet.