Named One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2016
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CHICAGO 1921: Al Capone is on the rise, and a new music called jazz fills the speakeasies. When talented young pianist Eve Riser is caught in a drive-by shooting that kills the bootlegger standing next to her, she forms an unlikely friendship with the bootlegger’s sister, Lena. Eve is looking for her missing stepsister, a popular night club singer, and Lena wants to find out who killed her brother.
Together these two women navigate the back alleys and jazz clubs of the Roaring Twenties, encountering charismatic managers, handsome musicians, and a mysterious gangster called the Walnut who seems to be the key to it all. As they fight racial barriers trying to discover the truth, Eve and Lena must learn to rely on each other and trust no one else. Sugarland mixes the excitement of early jazz with the darker side of Prohibition in a gripping story with “real suspense for anyone who likes a good mystery.” (Kirkus Starred Review)
PRAISE
“An absorbing whodunit full of gangsters and glitz.”
—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
“Conway’s a wonderful writer, and she sustains the reader’s interest throughout this gripping mystery.”
—San Jose Mercury News
“Conway’s description of the indescribable is excellent: the feel and spirit of early Chicago-style hot jazz.”
—Akron Beacon Journal