Stephen Spotswood

Books: Mystery | Historical | Queer

Pentecost and Parker: Fortune Favors the Dead (2020), Murder Under Her Skin (2021), Secrets Typed in Blood (2022), Murder Crossed Her Mind (2023)

Pentecost and Parker

Fortune Favors the Dead (2020) #1

Set in New York in 1945.

Will Parker ran away to join the circus, to escape her abusive father. But an event one night in 1942 in NYC changes everything, and she ends up working for Lillian Pentecost, a private investigator.

"I trust you to use your best judgment. Don’t do anything you aren’t comfortable doing."

"You realize I used to dress up like a showgirl and have knives thrown at my face. My threshold for uncomfortable is pretty high."

Lillian Pentecost is very good at what she does, but she is no longer able to easily do all the more active parts of her job.

I’d had a cousin who got that kind of hitch in her voice. Had a limp, too, though hers was a lot worse. I suspected that leaping up and clubbing a man wasn’t in Lillian Pentecost’s repertoire.

A year previously, Al Collins committed suicide. Now his widow has been murdered–and found in a locked room.

It’s 1945, and although Ms Pentecost and Will are good at their jobs, they are still in a male-dominated world.

I crossed my legs, and he glanced down to take in an eyeful. He wasn’t quick about it either. When he looked back up, our eyes met, and he knew he’d been caught. He didn’t even blink. Just gave a little what-are-ya-gonna-do smile.

It’s a decent mystery, and a fascinating look at that time period. I’ve read mysteries written in that time period, and I the language differences are very interesting. It’s got the language of the time, but the story has things you would not have found in a book written then–primarily LGBT characters and a somewhat frank attitude towards sex.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is interesting.

Characters: Willowjean Parker, Lillian Pentecost, Eleanor Campbell, Alistair Collins, Abigail Collins, Rebecca Collins, Randolph Collins, Harrison Wallace, Ariel Belestrade, Neal Watkins, Olivia Waterhouse, John Meredith, Dora Sanford, Jeremy Sanford, Lieutenant Nathan Lazenby, Hollis Graham, Ms. Anna Nowak , Mr. McCloskey, Jonathan Markel, Kalishenko

Cover by Rui Ricardo

Publisher: Vintage Crime

October 2021 | Rating: 7.5/10

Fortune Favors the Dead, Audio Book (2020) narrated by Kirsten Potter

Publisher: Random House Audio

February 2026 | Rating: 8/10

Murder Under Her Skin (2021) #2

Set in rural VA in 1946.

Will has been working for Ms. Pentecost for more than a year now, and is enjoying becoming a private investigator.

But when Will gets a telegram from her old boss–Big Bob Halloway–asking to look into the death of one of the Tattooed Woman–Ruby Donner, because one of their own, Valentin Kalishenko, was being held for the crime.

With no blood pumping through it, Ruby’s flesh had gone the sickly pale of the dead. Without that rosy background glow, the ink of her tattoos stood out brilliantly, floating on top of her skin like leaves on a pond.

The case is complicated because Ruby was from the town, and the police would prefer to blame one of the circus people rather than one of their neighbors, while the circus people feel as if one of their own is getting railroaded for a crime he didn’t commit, because the police weren’t interested in looking any further.

So Will and Ms. Pentecost head south.

I didn’t think the guy who’d gotten labeled the "Sheffield Valley Rooster Thief" was a good candidate for murder or attempted arson.

The writing is good, I love Will, and nothing is straight (HA) or easy. It’s not just about crime in the 1940s, but also looks at racism and queer lives.

So I look forward to another entry in the series.

Cover by Michael J. Windsor

Publisher: Doubleday

January 2022 | Rating: 8/10

Murder Under Her Skin, Audio Book narrated by Kirsten Potter

Set in Stoppard VA in 1947

Publisher: Random House Audio

June 2026 | Rating: 8/10

Secrets Typed in Blood (2022) #3

Set in New York City in 1947

This is one of the books that I wanted to read, but couldn’t get myself in the mood for. So I went ahead and read it.

First, I really hate the new covers.

Well, hate is a strong word. I don’t hate them, but I really liked the previous covers and these are kidna boring and don’t give the sense of time and place the previous covers did.

Luckily, aside from become wiser, Will hasn’t changed.

I slipped Hiram an envelope containing a handful of bills. It was more than on previous visits since we were buying Sam Lee’s cooperation as well. It would go in the expense report under "Specialist Consultation," which was my preferred spelling of "bribe."

Unluckily, Lillian Pentecost’s disease is continuing to get worse, so when they taken on a new case Will has to pick up some of the slack–despite already being placed as a temp in an agency they are investigating.

"Your boss is a very interesting woman," he said as he bundled up. "I didn’t buy Klinghorn’s line. About Lillian Pentecost fishing. But I guess it makes sense."

"How so?" I asked.

"Well, if she were really interested in these cases, she’d have sent you."

As with the previous books, one of my favorite things was the setting.

"''National' doesn’t mean much when you’re a one-title shop," Brent explained. "It was different before the war. Along with Strange Crime, we had Midnight Detective, High Class Crime, Dark Romance. This place was really jumping then."

"What happened?" I asked.

"There was the paper rationing, of course," Brent explained. "And then I and quite a few of our regular contributors got to go on a tour of Europe. That really put a crimp in things.

"Look, Sarah, an ad in Strange Crime is a billboard in forty-eight states, the District of Columbia, and a bunch of Canadian provinces."

Between the continuing war-crimes trials, Truman pushing a loyalty order on federal employees, Congress proposing a Twenty-second Amendment, which would set term limits for the U.S. president…

It was a good mystery, and I do want to read the next, but I think I’ll wait a bit, until my brain is in a better place for it.

Characters: Willowjean “Will” Parker, Lillian Pentecost, Holly Quick, Michael Perkins, Connor “Conny” Haggard, Flavio Checchetto, Darryl Klinghorn, Brent And Marlo Chase, Jessup Quincannon, Detective Donald Staples, Lieutenant Nathan Lazenby, Eleanor Campbell, Sam Lee Butcher, Ken Shirley, Olivia Waterhouse

Cover by Michael J. Windsor

Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

December 2023 | Rating: 8/10

Secrets Typed in Blood, Audio Book (2022) narrated by Kirsten Potter

Set in NYC in 1947

Publisher: Random House Audio

July 2026 | Rating: 8.5/10

Murder Crossed Her Mind (2023) #4

Set in NYC in 1947

Defense attorney (and ower of apologies to Lillian Pentecost) Forest Whitsun has come asking for help. His friend–the retired secretary for the law firm he used to work for–is missing, and he is certain something bad has happened to her.

“It wasn’t because she didn’t have the money. It was that she didn’t like to go outside anymore. It was all changing too fast, she said. She felt safer in her apartment.”

In the meantime, Parker got herself into trouble on the boardwalk, and is worried about the consequences of that trouble. And since Holly is at a secluded cabin trying to finish her novel, Will doesn’t have anyone to confide in, so she makes poor choices.

I actually put the book down for a bit because I was not happy with Will’s choices in the face of the possible consequences she could be facing, but I discovered Will did have a plan. Her stupidity was solely in not trusting her boss.

We also see some of the characters making appearances, such as Maeve, the fortune-teller from the (now defunct) circus. Who isn’t quite as bad as you might think.

“With Mildred, there is a dead husband. She lost him in the war. But I don’t chat with him. Kind of the opposite. Mildred needs to get over it, get on with living. I do this whole thing about me seeing this dark specter of grief with these tendrils that tie her down, keep her trapped and unhappy.”

The story has a lot to say about society, from the way the old are treated.

She was still an old woman who died alone in her apartment, but now she was an interesting old woman.

To the past queer culture in NYC:

There was a time, the elders have told me, when there were joints all over the five boroughs where two men could cuddle in a corner or a couple of ladies could take a turn around the dance floor without fear of being booted or billy-clubbed.

and the foreshadowing of things to come.

A couple years prior, my friend Hollis Graham said something to me that I never forgot: Nails that stick out get hammered down. At the time, I waved him off. Now I could see it. The start of it anyway, and maybe worse to come.

I did dislike the stupid choice Will made in hiding her trouble from everyone, but that was dealt with in the story. The mystery was good, and I absolutely had the wrong person pegged as the murderer. But I really really hate cliffhanger endings, so points lost for that.

Characters: Willowjean “Will” Parker, Lillian Pentecost, Perseverance Bodine, Forest Whitsun, Agent T. S. Faraday, John Boekbinder, Clark Gimbal, Ken Devine, Leonard Teetering, Donny Russo, Lieutenant Nathan Lazenby, Eleanor Campbell, Hiram Levy, Maeve Bailey, Miss Holly Quick, Julia Fennel, Nicholas Ramirez, Sergeant Erasmus Grady, Mrs. Diane Murphy, Rosa Rivera, Silas Culliver, Mr. Jessup Quincannon, Rodney Camper, Andnej Wocjik, Daniel Snejbjerg, Delbert Johnson, Barbara Johnson, Donny Russo, Manny Casper, Detective Donald Staples, Pearl Jennings, Hollis Graham, Tom Cappachi, Sofia Bellucci, Sally Madder

Cover by Michael J. Windsor

Published by Doubleday

Rating: 8/10
Points lost for unnecessary cliffhanger ending